THE Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, where Leona Helmsley lived in a palatial suite with her pampered pooch, Trouble, will soon hit the sale block, sources said.
Although her estate has not yet hired a broker to market the 46-story tower over Central Park, an offering is known to be in the works – one that might rekindle the sputtering investment-sale market, however briefly.
A spokesman for Helmsley’s estate, Howard Rubenstein, had “no comment” on a possible sale offering.
When the Queen of Mean died last summer at 87, the Park Lane was among a batch of properties that went into a trust controlled by her heirs. Its fussy façade of travertine and glass with oddly moorish, arched windows at the base has been part of the Central Park South scene since 1971.
Based on current Manhattan hotel sale values of between $1 million and $1.5 million per room, the luxurious Park Lane could fetch close to $1 billion, according to hotel analyst Sean Hennessey, who is not involved with the property.
“And even in a weakened condo market,” Hennessey predicted, “a residential condo developer would likely outbid a hotel bidder.”
Eastdil superbroker Doug Harmon had long handled sales for Helmsley. Now, a number of other firms, including Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman, are said to be vying for the plum assignment.
Even if the Park Lane remains a hotel, a new owner will need to renovate it. The 1971 tower’s public spaces are “like a time warp back to the Nixon years,” one hotel-savvy traveler called it.
Among its most antiquated features are its third-floor Room With a View restaurant, which has been called the only room that makes Central Park gloomy, and Harry’s Bar, both of which are closed for renovations.
But for all the Park Lane’s dated aspects, not even the mushrooming credit crunch will likely quell interest in the rarest of trophies – a Central Park skyscraper with unbeatable park views.
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In the latest twist on his attempt to sell the retail portion of heavily leveraged 666 Fifth Ave., owner Jared Kushner has convinced Brooks Brothers to leave its precious East 53rd Street corner years before its lease expires.
The space is up for grabs as of Feb. 1, 2009, according to a Cushman & Wakefield brochure sent to retail brokers. Brooks Brothers’ impending exit will only increase the value of the office tower’s 90,000 square feet of retail, which has been estimated by Kushner and a prospective partner at nearly $1 billion.
Kushner, who bought 666 Fifth a year ago for a then-record $1.8 billion, hoped to sell the retail component as a condominium. But as we reported last week, he’s nearing a deal with an unidentified private equity firm to form a joint venture that would let Kushner retain operating control of the retail while simultaneously refinancing the tower.
Like other stores at 666 Fifth, Brooks Brothers pays a below-market rent – in this case, around $600 a square foot, thanks to a lease signed in 1999 and not due to expire until March 2014, sources said.
The Brooks space has 9,400 square feet on the ground and 14,000 square feet on the second floor with expansion possibilities. The brochure does not ask for a specific rent, but rather seeks proposals from prospective tenants.
“If I were offering it for a client, based on current Fifth Avenue prices, I would ask double the $600,” said Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo.
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The landmarked Metro Theater at 2626 Broadway (West 99th Street) is up for sale, with the owners seeking in the low $20 million range.
After the cin ema closed a few years ago, the owners, a local partner ship, disap pointed fans of the Art Deco the ater by gutting the interior and trying to rent it out to a store or restaurant – presumably a more lucrative tenant to have next door to Extell’s new Ariel apartment tower, on a fast-gentrifying stretch of Upper Broadway.
However, they’ve now decided to go the sale route via Eastern Consolidated’s Peter Hauspurg, Jeffrey B. Troy and Peter Carillo.
According to Carillo, the building just received Buildings Dept. approval to be converted into a three-level store plus mezzanine with 15,000 square feet.
He also said the owners filed for a tax abatement worth $250,000 a year in real estate taxes over the next 15 years. The tax break is courtesy of the city’s Industrial and Commercial Incentive Program.
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A 35,000 square-foot development site in Williamsburg has sold for $20 million. Buyer Heatherwood properties plans a 6-story luxury rental apartment building on the half-block site at 580 Union Ave., which also fronts on Frost and Richardson streets.
The land is now home to vacant warehouses and empty lots. The sale was brokered by Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates’ Bob Klein, who noted, “Contiguous, developable land parcels in [the area] are nearly impossible to find.”
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Hedge fund Aurelius Capital Management is leaving Greenwich, Conn., for 535 Madison Ave., where it’s taking 15,000 square feet. The firm was repped by Cushman & Wakefield’s Alex Chudnoff, Haley Klein and Jon Caplan. steve.cuozzo@nypost.com