Hidrock Realty has purchased the vacant lot at 133 Greenwich Street for $27.9 million in a joint venture with Robert Finvarb Companies, and will develop a hotel there, a statement from Hidrock today said. The joint venture will develop a 28-floor, 300-room hotel at an estimated cost of $70 million, the statement said. The new inn, between West and Washington streets in Lower Manhattan, should be open for business in early 2015.
This is the second joint venture between Hidrock and Robert Finvarb Companies — the pair is in the process of developing a SpringHill Suites by Marriott at 25 West 37th Street in the Garment District.
“This is a rare time in the marketplace where we can invest in a prime neighborhood such as the Financial District with relatively low leverage and bring about opportunistic returns north of 20 percent,” Abraham Hidary, president of Hidrock Realty, said in the statement. While they have not ruled out other uses for the site, a hotel is the most likely use, Hidary indicated, citing increased tourism in Lower Manhattan due to the new National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Robert Finvarb Companies confirmed the purchase declined to comment further.
The seller was Sam Shapiro, who bought the parcel in December 2010 for $19.6 million, according to a source with knowledge of the deal.
David Schectman, Adelaide Polsinelli and Lipa Lieberman at Eastern Consolidated represented both seller and buyer in the off-market sale.
This purchase is part of a larger push as well; Hidrock hopes to acquire $250 million in real estate assets by mid-2013, the statement said. — Guelda Voien