Carey Watermark Buys Manhattan’s Courtyard Times Square West Hotel for $95M
Carey Watermark Investors has made its second Manhattan acquisition, buying The Courtyard Times Square West, a 224-room select service hotel, for $95 million.
By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor
Carey Watermark Investors Inc. has made its second Manhattan acquisition, buying The Courtyard Times Square West, a 224-room select service hotel, for $95 million.
The hotel at 307 W. 37th St. had been owned and managed by Stonebridge Cos., which opened it in May 2013.
The $95 million investment includes the purchase price, acquisition-related costs and planned capital expenditures, according to a release from the non-traded lodging REIT. The acquisition was financed with $56 million of debt.
“The acquisition of The Courtyard Times Square West represented the opportunity to invest in a newly-built, high-quality, select-service property with strong brand affiliation in one of the strongest domestic hotel markets,” Michael Medzigian, Carey Watermark CEO, said in the release. “Given these attributes, we believe that the investment will be a solid cash flow-generating addition to our growing portfolio.”
The 27-story hotel has 655 square feet of meeting space, fitness and business centers, an outdoor patio, restaurant and bar. It is in the heart of midtown Manhattan within walking distance to Times Square, Madison Square Garden, the theater district and the Jacob Javits Center.
New York City is the strongest performing hotel market in the United States, averaging 78 percent occupancy from 1991 to 2013 compared to the national average of 61.8 percent during the same period, according to Carey Watermark. New York City’s RevPAR was $161 year-to-date through March, 142 percent higher than the U.S. average, the REIT added. Carey Watermark also noted that The Courtyard is one of the most desirable select-service brands in the lodging industry and Marriott has one of the world’s most popular hotel loyalty programs.
The acquisition comes nearly one year after Carey Watermark bought the 226-room, 24-story Holiday Inn Manhattan 6th Avenue in Chelsea for $113 million. The Midtown South hotel was Carey Watermark’s first lodging purchase in New York City.
More recently, the REIT acquired the 296-room upscale select-service Hyatt Place Austin Downtown in Texas for $87 million. Carey Watermark, which is advised and managed by affiliates of W.P. Carey Inc. and Watermark Capital Partners, announced the purchase in April. The17-story hotel was built last year and is located close to the Austin Convention Center, the Sixth Street entertainment district, state Capitol building and University of Texas campus. Carey Watermark capped off a busy 2013 with the acquisition of the Renaissance Chicago Downtown, a 553-room hotel, for $139 million.
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