http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=119155&page=3
Jay-Z Gets $66M Site for Five-Star Hotel
By Natalie Dolce
December 12, 2007
Entertainment mogul Jay-Z has earmarked a Chelsea development site as the location for J Hotel, an upscale five-star 150,000-sf luxury hotel. The hotel will be the flagship for his new hospitality brand, which he intends to roll out in select cities following this New York City debut.
J Hotel, in the heart of the gallery district between 10th and 11th avenues at 510 W. 22nd St., also known as 511 W. 21st St., will be a prominent new addition to the burgeoning High Line neighborhood, according to Eastern Consolidated, who exclusively represented the seller. An Eastern Consolidated spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that they cannot disclose the identify of the seller at this time; however, they did note that the seller is a private locally based investor who has owned the property for a long time.
Eastern Consolidated director David Johnson, with executive directors Ronald Solarz and Eric Anton, represented the seller of the prime block-thru site, and also procured the buyers. The site was purchased by Jay-Z partners Charles Blaichman of CB Developers and Abram Shnay, along with son Scott Shnay, of SK Development Group in two separate transactions, namely the acquisition of the base site for $51 million, followed by the acquisition of the air rights for $15.4 million, totaling $66.4 million.
“West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenue is arguably the heart and soul of the West Chelsea High Line district and is a perfect location for an upscale life style-oriented five-star hotel,” notes Solarz. According to Johnson, “we were able to obtain a benchmark price for M-zoned land in the High Line district.”
Currently the site is occupied by a five-story 88,000-sf warehouse and parking facility net leased to Time Warner Cable Inc., which will vacate. Joseph Hershkowitz of Frenkel, Hershkowitz & Shafran represented the seller, and the buyers were represented by Larry Drath of Holman & Drath LLP.