Bank OZK finances GFI, Elliott Management’s Parker New York buy

Developers planning on converting some hotel rooms into condos

From left: the Parker New York hotel at 119 West 56th Street, Allen Gross, and George Gleason (Credit: Google Maps and Bank OZK)
From left: the Parker New York hotel at 119 West 56th Street, Allen Gross, and George Gleason (Credit: Google Maps and Bank OZK)

Allen Gross and the investment firm Elliott Management Corp. closed on their $420 million purchase of NoMad’s Parker New York hotel with financing from Bank OZK.

Gross’ GFI Capital Resources Group and Elliott Management plans to pump an additional $100 million into renovating the 37-year old hotel south of Central Park at 119 West 56th Street, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The new owners may convert many of the 729 hotel rooms into private residences, the newspaper reported.

Bank OZK, which last year changed its name from Bank of the Ozarks, provided a $350 million loan to finance the acquisition and renovation, sources told The Real Deal.

Representatives for GFI, Elliott Management and Bank OZK could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Newmark Knight Frank hotels team of Larry Wolfe, Adam Etra and Mark Schoenholtz brokered the sale of the property on behalf of the seller, the Jack Parker Corporation. A Newmark debt team of Dustin Stolly and Jordan Roeschlaub secured the debt.

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The brokers declined to comment.

GFI and Elliott brought on architect Thomas Juul-Hansen to design about 67 residential condominiums at the top of the hotel.

“The location is something to die for,” Gross told the Journal. “It’s Billionaires’ Row, and this piece of real estate is right smack in the middle of it.”

GFI, whose affiliate developed the Ace Hotel New York and the NoMad Hotel, has experience with hotel/condo hybrids.

The company bought the landmarked Temple Court tower in Lower Manhattan in 2012 for $64 million, and developed it into a luxury hotel and adjoining condo tower at 5 Beekman.

Bank OZK, meanwhile, lent Gary Barnett’s Extell Development $63.8 million late last year against a hotel-development site he’s assembling in the Diamond District.