Adding to a portfolio that includes the Seagram Building and Lever House, developer Aby Rosen's RFR Holding has bought the Paramount Hotel for $275 million from Walton Street Capital and Highgate Holdings, according to an article in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal by Craig Karmin. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011.
RFR had an incentive to buy, the Journal said, taking advantage of a tax law by reinvesting proceeds from a recent sale to defer a capital-gains payment.
The 597-room hotel, situated at 235 West 46th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, was transformed in the 1980s by hotelier and then-owner Ian Schrager and designer Philippe Starck into a fashionable Manhattan nightspot and underwent a $40 million renovation and received landmark status in 2009, the article said.
New York City tourism is booming, the article said, attracting a record 48.7 million visitors last year and Manhattan occupancy rates are close to their peaks but room rates remain well below their pre-crisis highs. "The hotel's website," it added, "is offering rooms starting at $259 a night for a Saturday night stay, relatively cheap for a prime location."
The 1928, French Renaissance-style building has a copper roof and large arches on its ground floor and was declared a landmark in 2009.
Recently, RFR bought out Mr. Schrager's interest in its Gramercy Park Hotel and the article said it is looking for capital and operating partners for its 520 Fifth Avenue project where "Mr. Rosen plans to develop...a 54-story hotel, condo and luxury retail building designed by Cesar Pelli. Its Shangri-La Hotel project at 610 Lexington Avenue has defaulted on its loans.
In other developments,ab article by Jane L. Levere in today's edition of The New York Times said that "two of the world's largest hotel companies are reaching out to other industries to establish partnerships that they hope will help their luxury brands continue their recovery."
RFR had an incentive to buy, the Journal said, taking advantage of a tax law by reinvesting proceeds from a recent sale to defer a capital-gains payment.
The 597-room hotel, situated at 235 West 46th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, was transformed in the 1980s by hotelier and then-owner Ian Schrager and designer Philippe Starck into a fashionable Manhattan nightspot and underwent a $40 million renovation and received landmark status in 2009, the article said.
New York City tourism is booming, the article said, attracting a record 48.7 million visitors last year and Manhattan occupancy rates are close to their peaks but room rates remain well below their pre-crisis highs. "The hotel's website," it added, "is offering rooms starting at $259 a night for a Saturday night stay, relatively cheap for a prime location."
The 1928, French Renaissance-style building has a copper roof and large arches on its ground floor and was declared a landmark in 2009.
Recently, RFR bought out Mr. Schrager's interest in its Gramercy Park Hotel and the article said it is looking for capital and operating partners for its 520 Fifth Avenue project where "Mr. Rosen plans to develop...a 54-story hotel, condo and luxury retail building designed by Cesar Pelli. Its Shangri-La Hotel project at 610 Lexington Avenue has defaulted on its loans.
In other developments,ab article by Jane L. Levere in today's edition of The New York Times said that "two of the world's largest hotel companies are reaching out to other industries to establish partnerships that they hope will help their luxury brands continue their recovery."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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