The November 2021 sale of the Martinique New York on Broadway hotel to Burnett Equity of Oklahoma City capped more than a year of hurdles involving the French Renaissance-style building with a storied history at 32nd and Broadway, around the corner from the Empire State Building.
Broker Eric Anton of Marcus & Millichap, who with Nelson Lee represented seller Herald Hotel Associates, said those challenges included navigating a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in 2020 by the seller; handling complicated renegotiations of the property’s land lease, which was held by a different owner; and working with other brokers to fill all six of the property’s long-empty ground-floor retail spaces.
These came amid dealing with delicate project agreements to satisfy union labor requirements and keeping on track a major renovation started about five years ago by the seller, all as the hotel faced a pandemic that decimated New York City’s tourist traffic. In the end, the deal for the landmark 531-room hotel at 49 W. 32nd St. in Manhattan, which opened in 1899, came together for $55.5 million.
Chosen from among “seven or eight” prospective and serious bidders, according to Anton, Burnett Equity plans to wrap up the renovation started by the seller, which is expected to bring the buyer’s total investment to about $110 million.
On Broadway, of Broadway: Construction on the property started in 1897 under William R.H. Martin, who co-founded the long-running Rogers Peet chain of upscale men’s clothing stores. While the 19-story property was originally planned as an apartment building, it opened as a hotel in the waning months of the 19th century. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the property in its early days housed retailers including a location of Rogers Peet — name-checked in the famous musical “Guys and Dolls” — which went out of business in the 1980s.
With tourists steadily returning, Anton said plans call for making the hotel, among New York City’s oldest hotels in continuous operation, part of a larger entertainment thoroughfare within walking distance of Broadway’s iconic theater district.
What they’re saying: “It was without a doubt the most difficult deal in my career of more than 25 years,” said Anton. “We didn’t have to deal with the bubonic plague, but we encountered just about everything else.”
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