LaSalle leads off new year by closing on NYC's Park Central Hotel

3 Jan, 2012 By: David Eisen

LaSalle Hotel Properties wasted little time in 2012 to make an acquisition. The first hotel to officially change hands in the new year is the 934-room Park Central Hotel in New York, which LaSalle has closed on for $396.2 million. As The Washington Business Journal reported back in Decemeber, Bethesda-based LaSalle, which owns 37 full-service hotels, expanded its borrowing capacity by at least $300 million and used some of it toward the Park Central purchase.

The hotel is located on Seventh Avenue, between West 55th and West 56th Streets, in midtown Manhattan, across from the street from famed Carnegie Hall. Word is LaSalle received a $9.3-million reduction from the original purchase price in accordance with the terms of the purchase and sale agreement.

The Park Central Hotel was originally constructed in 1928 and has undergone more than $33.0 million in renovations since 2004. LaSalle plans to invest upwards of $35-million into the hotel toward renovations of guestrooms and guest bathrooms, corridors and the hotel's lobby. The renovation is expected to commence late 2012 and conclude during 2013.

Highgate Holdings will continue to manage the Park Central.