Real estate firm Westbrook Partners has bought the 259-room Ritz-Carlton Hotel at 50 Central Park South in New York for $105 million, according to city records.
Millenium Partners was the seller. It bought the property for $88.8 million in 2006 from Macklowe Properties, according to property records.
Officials at Millenium and Westbrook were not immediately available for comment.
In addition to the hotel, the Ritz-Carlton at 50 Central Park South includes a number of condos, known as the Residences at Ritz-Carlton, which are owned separately. The Residences comprise 12 stories and 80,457 square feet of the 33-story, 324,293-square-foot building, according to PropertyShark. The building was formerly the St. Moritz Hotel.
Investors have flocked to hotels in Manhattan and other prominent cities, as strong tourism has helped keep hotel vacancy rates low.
Westbrook has been active in the sector: In 2010, it bought two-thirds of Millennium's ownership in three luxury hotels, saving Millennium's Four Seasons San Francisco from foreclosure.
Westbrook also bought the St. Regis Washington hotel for $100 million last May, foreclosing on Irish firm Claret Capital, which paid $170 million during the 2007 peak.
Millennium owns Ritz-Carlton brand hotels in New York's Battery Park, as well as Washington, D.C., and Boston. It recently made a deal to develop the long-stalled development site that was the location of Filene's Basement's headquarters in Boston, which was controlled by Vornado Realty Trust.
SOURCE IBTimes
