NEW YORK | 525 Lexington Ave (NY Marriot) | FT | FLOORS

[NYguy]

Things are not going well for hotels. Another classic will close its doors to be redeveloped or rebuilt.












https://pointsmilesandmartinis.board...stside-closed/

New York Marriott Eastside Permanently Closed





October 6, 2020
by Points, Miles & Martinis

In a wake of hotel closings, the New York Marriott Eastside has officially closed. This news follows several other hotel closings in NYC including the W New York Downtown, Maxwell New York,and the Omni Berkshire Place.

This iconic Marriott property dates back to 1924 and was once one of the brands flagship properties in the city boasting 655 guest rooms and suites.

If you are looking for other Marriott properties in the area the newly renovated Le Meridien New York, Central Park is now reopened on 57th and 6th Ave. The Lexington Hotel, Autograph Collection plans to reopen on January 2, 2021.

The coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected the hotel industry across the board, but specifically in New York which once was the heart of the virus. We’ve seen many hotels shutter their doors permanently and will remain closed through the pandemic.

Once we’re on the otherside, it remains unclear what will happen to these assets. There is a possibly that the properties could be sold and a new owner could open then up again under the same brand. They could also be sold and rebranded and reopen under a different hotel company. Some properties could be converted to residential or office space depending on zoning rights, or some could sit vacant.

It’s still too early to tell what the future of the once New York Marriott Eastside will be, but as of now the hotel has permanently closed its doors and laid off all its staff.

[NYguy]

http://www.frequentbusinesstraveler....-be-reopening/

Marriott East Side, Once One of the City’s Tallest Hotels, Won’t Be Reopening





By Kurt Stolz
8 October 2020

The storied Marriott East Side hotel, which first opened its doors to guests in as the Shelton Towers in 1924, won’t be reopening and the location, at 525 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, may not necessarily remain a hotel in the future.

The property closed temporarily in March along with hundreds of others amidst the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Romanesque Revival structure was designed by Arthur Loomis Harmon and the hotel’s developer was James T. Lee, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ grandfather. It stands 387’ (118 m) tall and was one of the tallest hotels in the city if not the tallest at the time it was built.

It was quickly supplanted by the opening of the Ritz Hotel Tower, which opened in 1926 at 541’ (165 m), the Hotel Sherry-Netherland, which opened in 1927 at 561’ (171 m), and the Waldorf-Astoria, which opened in 1931 and stood at 627’ (191 m). The latter three properties were also the tallest hotels at the time they opened, and the Waldorf held that title for 24 years until the Hotel Ukraine, which stood at 650’ (198 m), opened in Moscow in 1955.

Intended at first as a hotel club for men, it featured numerous amenities appropriate for that mission including a gymnasium, a bowling alley, a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, squash courts, billiard tables, and a barber shop. It nonetheless ended up opening to women later in 1924.

“Stay at New York Marriott East Sideand get the most out of your trip to NYC,” the chain’s website said about the property until earlier in the year.

Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keefe were two of its more well-known long-term residents, while in 1926. Harry Houdini performed an escape from an airtight container at the bottom of the hotel’s pool.

After closing to the public in 1971, the hotel reopened as Halloran House in 1979, and it became a Marriott property in early 1990. Later that year, Rabbi Meir Kahane was assassinated in a hotel conference room.

[JSsocal]

Glad this is an individual landmark- hopefully a residential conversion in store. Then again it could sit fallow long enough to find another hotel operator in the future.

[Crawford]

I don't believe it's an individual landmark, so it will probably be demolished and replaced with an office tower.

But if it were a landmark, it would just reopen as a hotel, because that would be the highest and best use for such a property. It's in the middle of that hotel row along Lexington in Midtown. Not really a residential site.

And a lot of hotels will temporarily close till there's a vaccine. The hotel union wage/benefit costs are so high in NY, it often makes more sense to just lay low until people start traveling again.

[JSsocal]

It's a landmark, Discover NYC Landmarks is a helpful tool.

And idk about highest/best use. NYC hotels have been trending smaller, and there's been a relative boom of hotel rooms for the last several years- we might have a glut for a while. But reopening as a new hotel would certainly be the easiest option.

[NYguy]

It's hard to say what will happen at this point because neither the hotel nor the condo market is looking good right now, and probably won't for a while.

But I can foresee a redevelopment like we are seeing with the massive Waldorf, another landmark just up the street. The site only offers a 15 FAR with the rezoning, so any addition would be minimal.


https://untappedcities.com/2020/04/0...es-renovation/

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/2020/10/12/l...st-side-hotel/

Lawsuit accuses Marriott of misappropriating funds at East Side hotel
Landlord claims hotelier used $12M to boost battered balance sheet




TRD New York
October 12, 2020

Marriott Hotels has been sued by a Manhattan landlord for the alleged misappropriation of $12 million at its now-defunct Marriott East Side hotel.

An Ashkenazy Acquisition-backed joint venture, which owns the building at 525 Lexington Avenue, filed the lawsuit against Marriott in New York State Supreme Court last week, Crain’s reported.

According to the suit, the hotel used $12 million from maintenance and repair reserves to boost its balance sheet. The landlord also seeks $42 million for breach of contract.

“Marriott has made a simple calculation: issue inflated demands for capital; avoid providing detailed support for these demands; pressure owners in every way imaginable — including contacting their lending institutions, issuing bogus default notices, demanding that hotels anticipating staggering losses remain open; and seizing funds that are the rightful property of the owners — all in an attempt to bolster its corporate balance sheet, which is weighed down by billions in debt,” the lawsuit reads.

Marriott declined to comment to Crain’s.

The Marriott East Side closed permanently in March and laid off more than 300 employees.

It’s one of the many hotels in the city that have either temporarily or permanently closed because of the pandemic. Hilton Times Square, Courtyard by Marriott in Herald Square, and W Hotel in Downtown Manhattan have also announced they will permanently shut down.

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/commer...kenazy-charges

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/2023/01/31/h...st-side-hotel/

Hawkins Way, Värde buy defunct Marriott East Side hotel
Property could be turned into student housing


Jan. 31, 2023
By Pat Ralph

Hawkins Way Capital has picked up another shuttered hotel on Manhattan’s East Side.

The Beverly Hills–based company and the investment firm Värde Partners acquired the former New York Marriott East Side hotel at 525 Lexington Avenue in Midtown, according to a press release. The price was not disclosed.

Hawkins Way managing partner Ross Walker said in a statement that the property “represents a compelling opportunity to increase our footprint in the heart of Manhattan at a favorable basis,” a possible reference to the price being low.

It’s unclear what Hawkins and Värde have in mind for the Lexington Avenue property, but sources with knowledge of the deal said it could be student housing.

Hawkins manages a $2.5 billion nationwide portfolio that includes 5,700 units and 9,500 beds, according to the firm.

The sale of the former New York Marriott East Side hotel caps a turbulent era for the property. The 35-story, 406,000-square-foot building, which opened in 1924 as the Shelton Towers Hotel, was last sold in 2015 for $270 million to a joint venture between Deka and Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp.

The joint venture tried to sell the property starting in 2016. Three years later, Deka sued Ashkenazy, claiming its partner pulled out of a $174 million deal to take full control of the hotel.

The 655-key property permanently closed in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. The joint venture then sued Marriott, alleging over $12 million in hotel revenue was misappropriated to boost its balance sheet.

Deka, which owned an 85 percent stake in the hotel, moved to foreclose on the property in February 2021 after the joint venture allegedly failed to pay off the $53 million mortgage when it came due in July 2020. Later that year, an appellate court ruled that Ashkenazy had to pay its share of a $135 million loan on the hotel.

[chris08876]

Looks like a conversion.

IMO, wouldn't want this completely replaced, looks nice. There's about 600-700 hotel units in here, so any conversion would be ideal with housing but it would be a pity if the demolished it (which I doubt).

Modernizing it.

[Busy Bee]

Beautiful building. I'd be shocked if demolition was proposed here.

[JMKeynes]

I think that it’s landmarked.

http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2557.pdf

[Busy Bee]

Student housing sounds like a beneficial interim use until the hotel market bounces back and makes a siginificant renovation more financially workable.

[JMKeynes]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Student housing sounds like a beneficial interim use until the hotel market bounces back and makes a siginificant renovation more financially workable.

I'd like to see it come back as a condo. It's a gorgeous building.

Lexington Ave needs the streetscape makeover that Fifth is getting: close lanes and add trees. Return NYC to the pedestrians.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Student housing sounds like a beneficial interim use until the hotel market bounces back and makes a siginificant renovation more financially workable.

It should go condo, like the Waldorf. They want to mix in more residential in parts of midtown. Student housing sounds too transient, especially for a building that as a landmark can be fixed up.

[Crawford]

Ugh, it might be landmarked? So this dark, brooding mass isn't going anywhere, I take it? No desperately needed new housing, I guess.

If NYC wants to get serious about new housing, there needs to be a top-to-bottom review of individual landmarks and landmarked districts. Not everything is the Sistine Chapel, and you need to demolish old buildings, even nice old buildings, if you want new housing. Half of the landmarked buildings could be de-landmarked tomorrow, with no big deal. Most of the landmarked districts are just NIMBY efforts at preventing new housing from being built. Probably 80% of the districts should be removed.

The only buildings on Lex that should be landmarked are Grand Central, the Waldorf, the Chrysler Building and Central Synagogue. Everything else that's old can and should be demolished.

[NYguy]

This building is already landmarked. That’scahy I say if they are going to save it, it may as well be upscale so they can dovit right, and not just throw in some student housing.



https://untappedcities.com/2016/12/1...in-midtown/10/

The Shelton Hotel (now the New York Marriott East Side) is noteworthy because it is one of the first skyscraper residential hotels, as well as one of the premiere buildings constructed along “hotel alley” on Lexington Avenue. Built in 1922-23 in the Romanesque Revival style, the edifice is considered to be the first to successfully abide by the 1916 Zoning Law, which established limits in building massing. The regulation was put in place in order to make sure tall skyscrapers did not prevent light and air from reaching the streets.

Notice the setback recessions as the skyscraper gets higher and higher. Its noteworthy design, which has received awards, largely impacted the aesthetics of other hotels and apartment complexes to come.

Upon its completion in 1923, it was utilized as a men’s residence with 1,200 bedrooms. It later opened to women in 1924.

https://www.nyc.gov/site/lpc/designa...t-midtown.page

The report…
http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2557.pdf

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Ugh, it might be landmarked? So this dark, brooding mass isn't going anywhere, I take it? No desperately needed new housing, I guess.

If NYC wants to get serious about new housing, there needs to be a top-to-bottom review of individual landmarks and landmarked districts. Not everything is the Sistine Chapel, and you need to demolish old buildings, even nice old buildings, if you want new housing. Half of the landmarked buildings could be de-landmarked tomorrow, with no big deal. Most of the landmarked districts are just NIMBY efforts at preventing new housing from being built. Probably 80% of the districts should be removed.

The only buildings on Lex that should be landmarked are Grand Central, the Waldorf, the Chrysler Building and Central Synagogue. Everything else that's old can and should be demolished.

Does character as a concept register with you at all?