Maefield May Not Be Closing Down Times Square Edition Hotel After All

Maefield Development has reportedly worked out a deal with its lender to reopen the doors at the Times Square Edition hotel, if the city keeps the coronavirus at bay.

Natixis, the lead lender on the property, has reached a deal alongside other parties to restructure the debt, Commercial Observer reports. The 452-room Times Square Edition at 701 Seventh Ave., a piece of Maefield's 20 Times Square property once valued at $2.4B, officially opened last year.

But hotel operator Marriott International told employees back in May the hotel was set to close permanently starting in August, because of a bank loan default from Maefield, per CO.

However, a debt restructuring means the hotel may live to see another day, though the timing of a reopening comes down to whether or not the city sees another surge in coronavirus cases. 

“Maefield and the lenders desperately wanted to keep the hotel in place because without it, the property would be near-empty during the worst crisis in the city’s history with no prospect of being refilled,” a source told CO.

Times Square has been battered by the dearth of tourists, as Bisnow previously reported. Roughly 380,000 pedestrians entered Times Square on an average day last year. Since the pandemic hit New York, its foot traffic is down 90%, according to the Times Square Alliance.

Hotels across the city are facing an uncertain future, as stay-at-home orders and a surge in cases of the virus this year have crushed tourism and business travel. Experts have predicted thousands of hotel rooms in the city will go offline, and delinquency rates on hotel CMBS loans are north of 20%, according to a recent Trepp report.