Maverick Real Estate Acquires 323-Key New York Hotel – An IHG Indigo Brand Yet To Open
Main Photo: The new hotel as imagined in 2021
Date: May 2022
Name: Was planned as an Indigo Hotel….
Location: West 34th Street, New York City, NY, USA
Number of Keys: Planned as 323 keys
Seller: Chetrit Group
Buyer: Maverick Real Estate Partners
Maverick Real Estate Partners has purchased the $110 million note on Chetrit Group’s planned 323-key hotel at 255 West 34th Street, sources familiar with the trade told Commercial Observer.
Maverick — a New York City-based firm that acquires and originates commercial real estate loans — purchased the loan at a “slight discount” to par, sources said, although the exact purchase price couldn’t immediately be ascertained.
The debt opportunity wasn’t widely marketed but rather “quietly shopped” by Cushman & Wakefield’s Adam Spies, Lauren Kaufman and Daniel OBrien, sources said.
According to city property records, Arbor Commercial Mortgage was the previous lender on the project. Arbor officials declined to comment.
One source said the loan was current and “nearing maturity” at the time of the sale.
Construction is currently underway at the hotel, which sits in a prime spot between Seventh and Eighth avenues overlooking Moynihan Train Hall and across from One Penn Plaza.
The 155,594-square-foot hotel is designed by Stonehill Taylor Architects, whose portfolio includes MOXY Times Square and the NoMad Hotel, and planned as a Hotel Indigo, which is part of the IHG hotels and resorts family of brands.
Like most other buildings under construction in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel’s development stalled during 2020, picking back up in late 2021. Chetrit is said to have recently invested a further $25 million into the asset.
The developer jointly purchased an assemblage of retail properties at 251-263 West 34th Street with Cornell Realty Management in 2014. The two firms later parted ways and divided the assemblage — each taking 80 feet of frontage — with Chetrit getting the 255 West 34th parcel and closing construction financing for its hotel and retail asset in 2017.
The property includes 15,000 square feet of retail space, with hotel rooms starting on the fourth floor.
In the 2000s the Chetrit Group became a major player in real estate, buying and selling properties such as Willis Tower in Chicago, the Standard Oil Building at 26 Broadway, the International Toy Center, the Chelsea Hotel, 1107 Broadway and many others. The company ended up making some $2 billion worth of trades in the first decade of the new millennium.
The Chetrit Group’s interests extend into residential and hospitality too. In June 2019, it purchased a portfolio of more than 10,000 apartments spread across several states, including New York, and the company refinanced another 5,400-unit, multi-state apartment portfolio with a $280 million loan from Arbor Realty.
In Brooklyn, it owns the hotel-condo hybrid 500 Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, and its reach has extended into Hudson Yards with 545 West 37th Street. In the Financial District, it owns 65 Broadway—a.k.a. the American Express Building and spent $181.5 million buying 1 Whitehall Street.
Elsewhere in New York City, Chetrit Group is having a busy second quarter. Only last week, the firm locked down $714 million in financing for the two Upper East Side rental towers it owns with Stellar Management.
Officials at Chetrit Group couldn’t be reached for comment. Officials at Maverick Real Estate Partners didn’t return a request for comment. A C&W spokesperson declined to comment.
Price: $110m – plus construction costs to finish?
Price per Key: N/A
THPT Comment: Let’s hope this now can see the light of day, given planning consent was granted on 2016.
First Seen: Commercial Observer
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