Manhattan-based commercial real estate owner Hidrock Realty is planning a new hotel a block from the World Trade Center site.
Hidrock, in a joint venture with Robert Finvarb Companies, paid $27.9 million for the vacant lot at 133 Greenwich Street.
The partners plan to spend an additional $70 million to develop a 28-floor, 300-room hotel which will serve the booming tourism industry in Downtown Manhattan. The hotel is slated to open in early 2015.
This is the second joint venture between Hidrock and Robert Finvarb Companies – a development company that specializes in Marriot-branded hotels. The first venture was a SpringHill Suites by Marriott, which is currently under construction at 25 West 37th St. in Midtown.
“This is a rare time in the marketplace where we can invest in a prime neighborhood such as the Financial District with relatively low leverage and bring about opportunistic returns north of 20 percent,” said Abraham Hidary, president of Hidrock Realty.
“While we haven’t yet ruled out other options for the site, a hotel will be a big draw for tourists visiting the Word Trade Center and traveling businesspeople alike.”
Developer Sam Zell had previously bid on the site in 2010 after its Israeli owners filed for bankruptcy. They had paid $45 million at the height of the real estate boom and planned 203-room hotel.
Greenwich Thames Realty beat out Zell’s Equity Residential with a winning bid of $19.6 million for 133-135 Greenwich St. Eastern Consolidated associate director Robert Khodadadian, executive managing director David Schechtman, Esq., and senior director Lipa Lieberman represented the seller Sam Shapiro; while senior director Adelaide Polsinelli acted on behalf of the buyer, New York City-based developer Hidrock Realty.
Schechtman said he was pleased to get what he considered a fair price for the site.
“I sell a lot of development sites in New York City every year, but this is one of only a handful of parcels that sits less than 150 ft from the World Trade Center,” said Schectman.
“It is located in what is the southern entrance to what will be one of the most visited sites in the USA and. I think any project in this location will be a smashing success.”
Hotel development has taken off in New York, with the city surpassing 50 million visitors in 2011, and is on target to reach that mark again in 2012.
Hidrock, traditionally an office owner, recently made its first foray into hospitality ownership with the purchases of the office conversion at 960 Ave. of the Americas and the ground-up development at 25 West 37th St., slated to be a Courtyard by Marriott and SpringHill Suites by Marriott, respectively.
The purchase of 133 Greenwich St. is part of Hidrock’s larger goal to acquire $250 million in new assets by mid-year 2013.
