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A photo posted by Charissa Fay (@charissa_fay) on Jun 12, 2015 at 1:55pm PDT

Macklowe's 200 East 59th Penthouse

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Helmsley Trust Sells Park Lane Hotel next to Central Park for $ 660 million USD

The 47-story, 466,000 square foot, 605 room hotel would now be rebranded as the Park Lane New York, quashing initial rumours of a possible early conversion to residential use.

The Witkoff Group announced on Tuesday that it had closed a deal to acquire the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, which directly faces Central Park at 36 Central Park South.

The seller was the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, published reports show.

Witkoff Group and a Hong Kong-based equity majority partner Jynwel Capital, paid US$660 million for the hotel, the company confirmed after the closing.
Jynwell Capital is led by its Chief Executive Officer Mr. Jho Low.    >>  Jewish Business News

"This was a unique deal because we're keeping the hotel operations," Mr. Witkoff said. "It's a cash flow deal, the hotel earns about $20 to $25 million annually, which is enough to service this debt while we consider longer term plans."

Mr. Witkoff said that the building could eventually be renovated, either fully or partially converted over to residential use, or demolished and redeveloped from the ground up as either residential, hotel or a mixture of both.

"What we like is that there are a lot of options here and we're still contemplating them," Mr. Witkoff said.

Several minority partners have also invested in the deal. They include New Valley, Highgate Holdings, and Macklowe Properties. Mr. Witkoff said Highgate, an operator of hotels, would help run the Park Lane Hotel. Macklowe Properties would appear to bring additional development experience. That company, chaired by Harry Macklowe, is in the process of co-developing a project in that neighborhood, the nearby residential spire 432 Park Ave.

The Park Lane Hotel, which was built by Harry and Leona Helmsley, and sold by the late Mrs. Helmsley's trust, sits along Central Park South between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, a stretch that is considered one of the city's most valuable locations. The area has seen several plans take shape in recent months for a new generation of super-tall ultra-luxury towers that offer sweeping view of Central Park and are asking for record prices.     >>  Crains NY