Lightstone Lands $260M Refi for Times Square Hotel

By Barbra Murray

Image courtesy of Lightstone.

Lightstone knows how to reel in the big bucks for its portfolio of new Moxy-branded hotels. The real estate investor and developer recently landed $262 million in funds for the refinancing of Moxy Times Square, marking the second financing deal this year for the group of four Moxy hotels planned for New York City.

Goldman Sachs provided the funds for the refinancing of the 612-room Moxy Times Square, allowing Lightstone to repay the original $205 million construction loan from Square Mile and Bank of the Ozarks. “Our close relationship with Goldman Sachs has been and continues to be instrumental across our wide-ranging portfolio,” Mitchell Hochberg, president of Lightstone, said in a prepared statement.

Lightstone developed Moxy Times Square, the flagship U.S. property of the Millennial-focused brand, in partnership with Marriott, giving the century-old former New Mills Hotel a brand-new life. Sited at 36th St. and 7th Ave., the 17-story lodging destination made its debut in September of this year.

MAD ABOUT MOXY

The Moxy brand, launched by Marriott in 2014 as a stylish-but-affordable line of hotels with a focus on communal spaces, appears to be a winner for Lightstone when it comes to getting the lending community’s attention. In early 2016, the company secured $125 million of capital from two institutional investors for Moxy Times Square, a transaction announced simultaneously with the Square Mile loan. And almost precisely one year ago, Lightstone obtained financing from Bank of the Ozarks and an institutional investor for the development of the 349-key Moxy Nomad on 28th St., the second property in the company’s Moxy collection.

With two additional hotels scheduled to join the Times Square and NoMad locations, Lightstone will add an aggregate 1,500 rooms to the New York City lodging market.