Two luxury Manhattan hotels have been sold in separate transactions, a sign of returning investor confidence in New York’s high-end hospitality market.
In one of the city’s priciest hotel trades in recent years, Kam Sang Company has snapped up the Edition Clocktower Hotel at 5 Madison Avenue from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for around $250 million, or more than $800,000 per key, according to people familiar with the deal.
That makes it one of the highest price-per-key purchases for a New York City hotel in the past two years; MML Hospitality scooped up Nine Orchard in August for $92 million, which worked out to $814,000 per key.
The $250 million sale price is still a steep drop from the $337 million the sovereign wealth fund shelled out when it bought the hotel from Marriott International in 2015 as part of its $815 million purchase of three Edition hotels.
Hudson Bay Capital provided a $155 million loan for the purchase. The 273-key property, housed in the iconic clock tower overlooking Madison Square Park, will continue to operate under the Edition brand.
In a separate deal, Cain closed on its $175 million purchase of the Dominick Hotel in Soho from CIM Group, sources said. Madison Realty Capital provided a $180 million loan for the deal.
CIM acquired the 391-key property, formerly known as the Trump Soho Hotel Condominium, through foreclosure in 2014. The firm rebranded the 46-story tower in 2017 after ending a licensing agreement with the Trump Organization. CIM considered selling the hotel several times in recent years, first in 2019 and then again in September 2022. Cain will likely look to reposition the property, according to Bloomberg.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Kam Sang, CIM Group and Cain International did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Eastdil Secured’s Jeffrey Davis and Scott Ellman advised on both deals. Eastdil’s Rob Turner and Adam Licari arranged the financing. Eastdil declined to comment.
The deals come as New York’s occupancy rates approach pre-pandemic levels and the city’s luxury hotel market surges on the back of rebounding tourism and business travel.
The average occupancy rate surpassed 84 percent a week in 2024, up from a pandemic low of about 50 percent, according to a report by Lodging Analytics Research & Consulting. But expenses tied to labor costs, high interest rates and property taxes have hampered the recovery.
“It’s a healthy hotel market from a revenue perspective,” said Daniel Lesser
of LW Hospitality Advisors. “There are and will continue to be challenges in terms of turning revenue into bottom-line profit.”
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