Shuttered East Side Marriott sold for $100M+ discount, records reveal

Hawkins Way Capital’s purchase of a shuttered Marriott on Manhattan’s East Side came at a heavy discount from what the property last sold for, newly filed city records reveal.

In a deal first reported last week, the Beverly Hills-based firm teamed with Värde Partners to acquire the former New York Marriott East Side hotel at 525 Lexington Avenue from German investment firm Deka Immobilien.

City records filed Monday show that the firms paid $153.4 million for the 655-key property — a little more than half the $270 million Deka paid for it in 2015.

Madison Realty Capital provided Hawkins and Värde with acquisition financing, according to the records.

The century-old hotel permanently closed in 2020 after years of turmoil, including disputes between Deka and its former joint venture partner, Ben Ashkenazy’s Ashkenazy Acquisition, as well as between Deka and Marriott International.

The deal comes a year after Hawkins Way and Värde snapped up the former Midtown DoubleTree at 569 Lexington Avenue for $146 million. That deal also represented a staggering loss; seller RLJ Lodging Trust paid over $330 million for it in 2010.

The firms’ plans for the former Marriott on Lexington Avenue are unknown, but sources with knowledge of the deal said they could involve student housing.

JLL’s Jeff Davis brokered the deal on behalf of Deka, subsidiary of German-based DekaBank. Hawkins Way did not respond to a request for comment, while Värde declined to comment.