By Al Barbarino
Real estate firm Westbrook Partners has paid $105 million for the 259-room, 33-story Ritz-Carlton hotel at 50 Central Park South, city records show.
The seller, Millenium Partners, had purchased the prestigious hotel from Macklowe Properties for $88.8 million in July 2006 (Macklowe paid $69.5 million in August of 2003).
A Millenium spokesperson declined comment; Westbrook Partners did not immediately return phone calls requesting comment.
The 1930’s building, originally the Hotel St. Moritz, includes 47 suites among its features and 259 guestrooms, as well as expansive views of Central Park South. Room prices range from $595 to several thousands of dollars for premier suites.
A number of condos, dubbed The Residences, opened in the building in April 2002. The Residences occupy 12 floors and 80,457 of the building’s 324,293 total s/f, according to PropertyShark.
The condos have fetched tens of millions of dollars, with one unit selling for $30 million in August 2011, city records show.
The Hotel St. Moritz was designed and built in 1930 by the Hungarian-born architect Emery Roth and constructed by the Harper Organization, according to the Yale University Press’ The Encyclopedia of New York City. The building cost at the time was about $6 million.
*this article appeared in the Feb. 22, 2012 print edition of Real Estate Weekly
