Developer Steven Witkoff has teamed up with a Hong Kong equity partner, Jynwel Capital, to buy the Park Lane Hotel on Central Park South for $660 million. The transaction, which was financed by Wells Fargo and Criterion Real Estate Capital, closed on Monday, the partnership between Mr. Witkoff and Jynwel announced.
The deal is the latest of several high profile real estate transactions completed with an investor from the Far East. In late October, the Kwee family from Singapore invested $300 million into a planned mixed use tower at 53 W. 53rd St., which has been popularly known as the MoMA Tower because it will provide expansion space in its base for the MoMA, which is next door. Asian financiers also bankrolled that project’s $860 million construction loan, according to a report in?The Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Witkoff, one of the city’s most prolific developers of residential space, said that Jynwel shared his vision of continuing to operate the property as a hotel, while contemplating future plans for the site.
“This was a unique deal because we’re keeping the hotel operations,” Mr. Witkoff said. “It’s a cash flow deal, the hotel earns about $20 to $25 million annually, which is enough to service this debt while we consider longer term plans.”
Mr. Witkoff said that the building could eventually be renovated, either fully or partially converted over to residential use, or demolished and redeveloped from the ground up as either residential, hotel or a mixture of both.
“What we like is that there are a lot of options here and we’re still contemplating them,” Mr. Witkoff said.
Several minority partners have also invested in the deal. They include New Valley, Highgate Holdings, and Macklowe Properties. Mr. Witkoff said Highgate, an operator of hotels, would help run the Park Lane Hotel. Macklowe Properties would appear to bring additional development experience. That company, chaired by Harry Macklowe, is in the process of co-developing a project in that neighborhood, the nearby residential spire 432 Park Ave.
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