In the last few hours my email inbox has been bombarded with news that Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Capital has purchased 1414 Ave of the Americas in Manhattan for a conversion into a hotel.

This is pretty exciting news because its one of the first purchases that Starwood has made in years on a property to be converted or built from scratch in the lodging industry.

I'm not going to sit here and claim that hospitality development is finally on the upswing because of this purchase; but I will say that Starwood Capital would not have moved on this property if there was not the potential of a huge upside. Purchasing a 110,000 sqft 18 story, almost 100 year old building, one block from Central Park in mid-town Manhattan for $72 million is a pretty darn good deal.

1414 Ave of the Americas is a pretty low-key building, for years it was used as office space and ground floor retail, although in 2009 it made the news when Ian Schrager was looking at it for one of his hotels (prior to Edition). Unfortunately at the time the owner lost the property when the mortgage was sold and Schrager's project never got off the ground.

The building was even originally built as a hotel – and apparently KISS had outdoor concerts on the rooftop years ago, although I cant seem to find any information as to when the place was last a hotel – the earliest article I could find about the property was from 1992 when SL Green first purchased it and converted it from a "shoe building" (catered mainly to the footwear industry) into regular professional office space..

And professional office space its been since then, although now it is almost completely vacant – making it ready for an immediate renovation.

There already has been some speculation that Schrager may be involved with this new purchase – but I find that highly unlikely.. It would be a huge reversal for Sternlicht as his name will bring the same (and probably even more) cachet to any hotel project.. Barry may not have "invented" the boutique hotel industry – but he definitely did popularize it and make it mainstream.

So what could the future hold for 1414 Ave of the Americas? Its tough to say.. Will Starwood & Sternlicht team up with Hyatt or Starwood Hotels or even use his brands from Groupe Du Louvre (Golden Tulip) or perhaps some other large luxury hotel brand?

Or will this finally be the beginning of a long line of hotels from the SH Group which never really got off the ground after the economic shakedown of the past few years..

Ah – this news will have my heart pumping fast tonight!

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Andrew Calvo is a Commercial Real Estate Advisor in New Jersey. I live in Tinton Falls, NJ. This blog is about my passions - primarily hotels, commercial real estate, and development, etc.

Since I have been in High School I've had numerous jobs, but the field which has always interested me is Real Estate, Hotel Development and Construction. I consider myself a zealot in that area - I try to absorb as much as I possibly can, take the experiences that I learn, or read about and use them in my life. 

www.passionsofazealot.com