Host Hotels & Resorts, Bethesda, Maryland, bought the 1,949-room New York Marriott Marquis for US$19.9 million from the state entity Empire State Development Corp. under the terms of a deal negotiated in 1998.
The Real Deal reported that Host has leased the hotel since 1982, and in 1998 agreed to amend its lease deal so that it would expire in 2017 but allow Host to opt to buy the hotel for US$19.9 million beforehand.
New York City Comptroller John Liu called the deal, which was negotiated under Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration, “one of the worst deals since Manhattan was sold for US$24.”
