Judge O.K.'s W Union Square Plan

NEW YORK CITY-A federal bankruptcy judge has confirmed the plan first announced last month to transfer ownership of the W New York—Union Square to a group led by Host Hotels & Resorts LP. LNR Partners Inc., the special servicer on the high-end hotel’s $115-million mortgage, had filed papers last week in US Bankruptcy Court in Delaware objecting to the transfer on grounds that the mortgage debt holders hadn’t given their consent.

In an order dated this past Friday, Judge Kevin Carey ruled that the plan filed by Hotels Union Square Mezz 1 LLC and Hotels Union Square Mezz 2 LLC was in accordance with the US Bankruptcy Code and could proceed. The plan calls for some of the proceeds from the transfer to be used to satisfy the $61-million claim of senior mezzanine lender DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, but otherwise leaves the mortgage holders out in the cold. A spokeswoman for LNR tells GlobeSt.com the company has no comment.