World's tallest Holiday Inn up for sale

China-based developer Jubao Xie has put the 50-story Holiday Inn Manhattan-Financial District up for sale for an undisclosed price. Xie tapped Marcus & Millichap to market the property. 

Xie developed the 492-guestroom hotel near the World Trade Center with New York-based developer Sam Chang before buying Chang out in September 2014. In the following month, UBS handed the hotel—the tallest Holiday Inn in the world—$135 million for refinancing. Meridian Capital Group brokered the deal on the two-year loan with interest-only payments. “The existing debt was $45 million from Cathay Bank. The new lender was willing to provide $135 million in proceeds with no operating history and closed the same day the hotel opened for business,” Emmanuel Westfried, VP at Meridian Capital Group, told Mortgage Observer. 

Sources told The Real Deal that Xie is aiming to sell the Holiday Inn for more than $300 million. If the hotel sells for this asking price range, the price per room will be more than $600,000. 

Both Chang and Xie have developed and invested in Holiday Inn properties. While Chang has developed the brand in New York, Xie opened his own in Redmond City, Wash., in partnership with HDS Investments. 

While the Financial District Holiday Inn is the tallest of the brand in the world, Makkah’s Holiday Inn is the largest with 5,154 guestrooms. The Holiday Inn Makkah Abraaj Al Tayseer, which was developed in partnership with Al Majd Al Arabiah, opened in 2015 near the Grand Mosque and Al Masjid-Al-Haram.