According to Haute Living, the founder of Spanish clothing and accessories retailer Zara has acquired the 205-room 70 Park Avenue hotel for $67.6 million.
That's right: Amancio Ortega, who founded Zara in 1975, is stepping out from clothing into hotels.
The Murray Hill hotel, which previously operated as a Kimpton and now is affiliated with Iberostar, was built in 1928 and previously owned by KHP Capital Partners, whose CEO was recently profiled by HOTEL MANAGEMENT.
The 16-story, 83,000-square-foot building was sold to KHP for $88.5 million in 2016.
Ortega is reportedly the second richest man in the world with a net worth in excess of $65 billion. As Haute Living points out, he has purchased a number of U.S. properties over the past few months through his real estate investment company Ponte Gadea. Recently, the billionaire purchased a SoHo office building at 490 Broadway for $145 million and an entire block of real estate on Miami Beach for $370 million.