The 600-room Watson Hotel in New York City has sold for roughly US$175 million in one of the largest lodging transactions since the Covid-19 pandemic began, according to a Bloomberg report.
Yellowstone Real Estate Investments acquired the hotel on West 57th Street, according to Bloomberg’s unnamed sources familiar with the off-market deal. The owner of the property, which was previously operated as a Holiday Inn, defaulted on its loan, leading lender HSBC to find a buyer for the mortgage.
Yellowstone also acquired the ground lease in a simultaneous transaction. Eastdil Secured advised both HSBC and the ground owner.
The last big deal in New York came in December of last year when it was announced that London’s Reuben brothers paid US$150 million for the Surrey Hotel.
“The Watson represents for us a unique and rare opportunity to acquire substantial scale on West 57 Street,” Yellowstone’s Issac Hera told Bloomberg via an email. “We are big believers in the strength of the U.S. market as a whole and the New York market specifically.”
Hera also told Bloomberg that his firm is still evaluating potential plans for the Watson, which has been viewed in the past as a potential redevelopment site for offices or apartments.