Developers eyeing Roosevelt Hotel site

Real Estate Weekly, June 4, 2003 by Elaine Misonzhnik

A prime piece of real estate in the Grand Central district is up for sale and many developers are licking their fingers.

Pakistani International Airlines is putting the Roosevelt, a 22-story, 1,013-room hotel at 50-60 Vanderbilt Ave., on the auction block for $225 million. According to the experts, however, what the developers are after is not the hotel itself, but the block-long land parcel it occupies.

In the past year, the Roosevelt brought in $12.7 million in revenues, a sum not large enough to make it worth the trouble for the Pakistanis and their partner Prince Faisal bin Khalid of Saudi Arabia, who bought the hotel in 2000 for $36.5 million. But if the hotel is converted into an office building when the next up cycle comes around, it might prove to be a gold mine.

"In today's environment hotels are not doing very well and the Roosevelt is distinctively a second-rate hotel," said Lawrence Fiedler, president of JRM Development Enterprises. "If it turns out a small amount of money in the next few years, it can be utilized as an eventual assemblage piece when the next cycle of office construction comes along. It is definitely a hell of a good assemblage piece."

Kenneth Patton, associate dean of the Real Estate Institute at New York University, thinks it's all about future development possibilities as well.

"As a building it has no value, it's really about the land," he said. "This being an avenue location with a large foot print seems to me a stronger office prospect than a hotel. But then the only thing I can say is that it is highly speculative in either case, with the way the market is right now. There is very little demand for either."

According to Lawrence B. Wolfe, managing director of Eastdil Realty, who is serving, as an advisor for the owners, several big-name developers have already expressed interest in the Roosevelt.

"We've' heard 'from-all of the prominent New York developers, as well' as 'a couple of hotel' companies, so it could 'be a partnership between the two," said Wolfe. "Donald Trump has been 'in contact, Macklowe Properties, 'the Vornado Trust, the Related Companies. But it's still early on. We will be looking for offers on July 22nd."

The Pakistanis are hoping to get about $250 million for the property. Whether the buyers would be willing to pay such 'a sum is still unclear, however.

"They won't get it," said Fielder. "The land value is about $100 to $125 million."'

"Historically, the hotels command a lower land price per square foot, whereas office buildings go up $100 or $120," said Patton. "It all depends on the number of square feet that you can build."