SOURCES have just whispered to us that the much-touted Ian Schrager-created hotel group for Marriott International could simply be dubbed “Schrager Hotels.”
After all, everyone refers to them as Schrager hotels, anyway, right?
“There is a name-recognition factor,” said John A. Fox, a hotel adviser with PKF Consulting who was unaware of the new moniker.
The plan calls for Schrager to oversee the creation of newly developed hotels with world-renowned architects and designers in several major cities.
We’ve also learned that the first project could be an approximately $23 million redo of the existing Marriott South Beach, an Art Deco beachfront hotel. Our spy added: “They are close to something in New York.”
The official announcement is supposed to come later this month.
Schrager’s people had no comment.
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The first offering this year from Darcy Stacom‘s group at CB Richard Ellis is 360 Lexington Ave., a 250,000 square foot building on the northwest corner of East 40th Street.
Stacom marketed the white brick building five years ago when it was sold to current owners, Himmel + Meringoff Properties and Prudential.
The Grand Central-area property will now likely fetch around $150 million. Pricing should shake out anywhere from $550 to $625 a foot.
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But in Da Bronx, you can pick something up cheap and give it a total makeover.
The former American Bank Note Building in Hunts Point was bought by a joint venture led by Taconic Investment Partners for $32 million, or about $70 a foot.
Denham Wolf Real Estate, which was leasing the 400,000 foot complex for the former owners, the Blauner family, brought the deal to Taconic and joined in the venture.
Credit Suisse and the NYC Investment Fund also invested, while iStar Financial provided financing arranged by Evan Pariser at Holliday Fenoglio Fowler.
Taconic Partner Charles Bendit said the group will upgrade the three-building complex into an arts-oriented center for non-profits. In addition to offices, there will be an area set aside for art storage and private galleries, and a local retail food market on the order of Chelsea Market.
The building, bounded by Lafayette and Garrison avenues and Barretto and Tiffany streets, is south of the Bruckner Expressway and has a black, saw-tooth roof.
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For their very first office purchase, sources tell us that Ronnie Hackett‘s Claret Group and Prudential signed a hard contract to buy 180 Madison Ave. for $150 million, or $540 a foot.
The 275,000 square foot building on the southwest corner of East 34th Street will remain offices.
Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Secured managed the marketing on behalf of Sitt Asset Management. Four years ago, Harmon also handled Sitt’s $91.5 million purchase of the same building from SL Green Realty Corp.
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RFR Holdings and Sotheby’s have settled their differences over the sale of the auction house’s 1334 York Ave. headquarters.
On Jan. 8 Sotheby’s plunked down $50 million toward a $370 million buy-back and is taking over a $235 million mortgage, Commercial Real Estate Direct reported.
A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission also revealed that RFR principals and well-known art collectors Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs will receive “certain terms for future sales of works of art at Sotheby’s auctions,” which could be worth untold millions.
Sotheby’s sold its 406,000 square foot purpose-built building to RFR for $175 million to pay fines in settlement of its price-fixing scandal and since then has been leasing it back.
When RFR put it up for sale for $500 million last year, Sotheby’s cried foul, claiming they had a buy-back option.
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In the first transaction under its new ownership, 660 Madison Ave. signed up London-based high-end financial firm Kazimir Partners for a 3,000-foot portion of the 14th floor facing Central Park. It has asking rents of $160 to $180 a foot through Fisher Bros.
Robert Emden, David Emden and Stephen Gordon of PBS Real Estate brought in the tenant.