NEW YORK CITY-The Cassa Hotel—a boutique 165-room Times Square hotel topped by residential condo units—has been sold to a Chinese company, HNA Property Holding Group.
The hotel, located at 70 W. 45th St., is managed by the Viceroy Hotel Group.
HNA bought the hotel for approximately $130 million, which includes a $65 million senior loan provided by PCCP LLC, a real estate private equity firm. HNA had entered into a binding contract for the acquisition in April 2010. The company plans undertake a minor renovation of the property, followed by a rebranding. Assa Properties, the seller, has retained ownership of the residential portion of the building.
“The sale of the hotel portion of Cassa is on target with our original business plan,” Assa CEO Solly Assa said in a prepared statement. “We will continue to source new development projects here in New York City, and remain attentive to opportunities in international markets.”
The $65 million senior loan that PCCP, LLC provided is secured by the hotel and retail portions of the building—the lower 24 stories and basement level of the 45-story tower.
“This investment gives PCCP the opportunity to originate a loan at an attractive basis on a newly constructed luxury hotel in a market with strong fundamentals,” Rob Cohen, a senior vice president with PCCP, said in a prepared statement. Other pluses in PCCP’s view included proximity to Fifth Avenue shopping, the Midtown office market and Rockefeller Center. Another PCCP vice president, Kevin Chin, also said that he thought that the property would “benefit from the opening of the BLT restaurant and improved management by an experienced owner.”
The BLT restaurant Chin references is scheduled to open early 2012 in 11,000 square feet of restaurant space it has leased there.
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