Starwood Sells 1 Hotel Central Park For $265M

The largest U.S. hotel REIT has closed on a major Manhattan acquisition.

Host Hotels & Resorts paid Starwood Capital Group $233.8M for 1 Hotel Central Park, according to records filed with the city Tuesday. A Starwood spokesperson told Bisnow that the total sale price was $265M, higher than what was recorded on the deed.

Bloomberg reported in June that the companies were nearing a deal on the 18-story hotel at 1414 Sixth Ave.

Barry Sternlicht's Starwood opened the hotel in 2015 and the next year looked for buyers who would pay more than $1M per room, but no sale took place at the time. The deal seems to achieve Starwood’s goal, as the sale of the 229-key hotel pencils out to just over $1M per room. 

Neither Starwood nor Host Hotels & Resorts immediately responded to Bisnow’s request for comment.

Host’s investment comes as New York City hotel performance has thrived. Last year, average revenue per available room in the city hit an all-time high of $245.77, 144% higher than the U.S. average. Investors dropped $3.3B on NYC hotels in 2023, the most since 2016.

But it’s not just the Big Apple. The majority of hotel investors across the country say they plan to buy more this year, according to a CBRE survey of 300 investors.

In addition to 1 Hotel Central Park, earlier this year Host scooped up the 1 Hotel and Embassy Suites in Nashville from a group that included Starwood, Crescent Real Estate and High Street Real Estate Partners.

Host also bought Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu, Hawaii, from Blackstone Real Estate for $725M. The sale price is double what Blackstone paid for it.

Host, which also owns the 1,971-room Marriott Marquis in Times Square and 515-room New York Marriott Downtown, is back to being bullish on New York City after it unloaded the Times Square Sheraton in 2022 for a roughly $400M loss.

UPDATE, JULY 17, 2:40 P.M. ET: This story has been updated to reflect the total price Starwood says Host paid.