Mark Gordon, managing director and head of New York-based Sonnenblick-Goldman Co.'s international lodging and leisure group, advised the seller in the transaction. Trump won the bid from a short list of four potential buyers including Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs; Alan B. Friedberg; and Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias.
"The deal generally summarizes investors' belief in New York City," says Mark J. Gordon, managing director and head of Sonnenblick-Goldman's international lodging and leisure group. "We called for offers on Nov. 15 and we still got 12 offers from highly qualified international buyers. Investors still believe that New York is the global financial center and always will be."
Located at Park Ave. and 59th Street, the Hotel Delmonico is a 300,000-sf, 31-story structure built in 1927. The property was owned by local real estate legend Sarah Korein until her death three years ago. It has been controlled by Korein's estate and has been run by her daughter, managing partner Elysabeth Kleinhans and general manager Joseph Kaminski since 1991. Kleinhans reportedly plans to turn the small building she owns next to the hotel into a not-for-profit theater when the Kaplan Deli's lease there expires in April. It was converted to a 193-unit luxury apartment building in 1974, and reconverted into an all-suites 525-key hotel in 1990.
Though his bid for the 32-story hotel was reportedly not the highest of the final four--reports say Friedberg bid $118 million--Trump's willingness to put substantial cash into the deal before taking title is said to have put him over the top with the Korein family, who were represented by New York commercial real estate firm Sonnenblick-Goldman Co. Details of Trump's financing for the 502 Park Ave. property have not been released and published reports indicate that the developer has yet to firm up the necessary funding. GlobeSt.com's source says the deal will close early in first quarter 2002.
Korein bought the Delmonico from developer William Zeckendorf Jr. in 1990 for $32 million and spent $11 million to turn the property back into a hotel with roughly 200 suites. Completed in 1929 for $5 million, the Delmonico was originally a 525-room hotel called the Viceroy. It was sold at auction for $1.8 million in 1936. Zeckendorf bought the bankrupt hostelry in 1974 and converted it to a luxury residential building, leasing commercial space to Christie's auction house and Regine's, the once-popular nightclub owned by Regine Choukroun.
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