Sultan of Brunei Eyes Pierre Hotel Acquisition

The monarch of a Southeast Asian nation — and one of the richest men in the world — is ready to flex his wealth in Manhattan’s hotel market.

Hassanal Bolkiah, the sultan and prime minister of Brunei, is in talks to purchase the Pierre Hotel at 795 Fifth Avenue, a person familiar with the situation told the New York Post. The deal isn’t finalized and the sultan isn’t the only interested buyer.

The hotel is owned by its shareholders and has been leased to Taj Hotels, a luxury chain headquartered in Mumbai, India, since 2005. Among the building’s shareholders are Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who purchased a penthouse co-op for $80 million under ask back in 2017; he and his wife have never lived there.

Ownership put the property on the market last year. The Newmark Group — which has ties to Lutnick after he handed the reins of the company to his children upon joining President Donald Trump’s administration — is advising on the sale process.

The hotel includes 189 rooms, retail space and restaurants. The 41-story property also has 80 co-op units from a conversion launched nearly a century ago when the building was owned by Getty Oil founder John Paul Getty.

Today, the whole property is valued at roughly $2 billion. The deal the sultan is eyeing could include any number of co-op units in the building, from none to all. The co-op owners will need to approve the sale; those include fashion designer Tory Burch, media heiress Shari Redstone, musician Art Garfunkel and former Disney head Michael Eisner.

“Everybody is scared and no one is talking,” a source told the Post of the co-op owners.

Bolkiah is partnering with Essam Khashoggi on the proposal. Khashoggi is the brother of late Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and the uncle of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate of Turkey in 2018.

The sultan previously made a play for the Plaza Hotel in 2015, and his interest drew protests.

— Holden Walter-Warner