Hersha buys Chang’s new Water St. hotel

Sam Chang and the Holiday Inn Express at 126 Water Street

Hotelier Sam Chang has unloaded the Holiday Inn Express at 126 Water Street in Lower Manhattan for $36.7 million, Real Estate Weekly reported. The buyer was a subsidiary of Hersha Hospitality, for which this will be the 15th hotel in New York City. Chang, who runs the McSam Hotel Group, had purchased the property for $9.5 million in 2005 when it was a two-story retail and restaurant space. The 26-story, 112-room hotel that now stands in its place was completed during the summer of 2010, but by November, the property had been hit with a lis pendens, which marks the beginning of the foreclosure process. [REW]