Now this is interesting, last week, everyone was reporting how Starwood Hotels would be building a hotel at the Donnell Library in New York City in conjunction with Tribeca Associates, as long as Orient-Express would give up their development rights to the property.

Today, according to a press release from Orient-Express, it isn't Starwood Hotels – but Starwood Capital which is taking over development of the project into a "World-Class Hotel". So it is still possible it may be a Starwood Hotels branded hotel, I'm crossing my fingers it may be something from Starwood Capital's hotel portfolio instead.

The press release states that Starwood Capital & Tribeca Associates

..will assume all the terms and obligations of the original contract made between Orient-Express Hotels and the New York Public Library, including the reimbursement of all previous payments made by Orient-Express Hotels and the assumption of all future payments.

After some research into the original announcement and development proposal by Orient-Express back in 2007, the project was described as this:

The five-story building on West 53rd Street will be razed to make way for an 11-story hotel, but the library will own and occupy space on the first floor and underground under the terms of the deal, the two sides said. Five floors of the hotel will connect to the "21" Club on 52nd Street, also owned by Orient-Express.

With:

150 rooms costing $750 to $2,000 per night and a restaurant on the top floor.

The hotel was originally going to be called "21″ based on Orient-Express's "21 Club" but with the new ownership group, its doubtful it will be a 21, although there still is a chance it may connect to the 21 Club.

I'm eager to see what Starwood Capital chooses to brand this site, as well as a their other recent purchase of 1414 Ave of the Americas only 5 blocks North.

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