Exclusive: NoMad Hotel Project to Expand by More Than 100,000 SF
By Jotham Sederstrom November 22, 2011 8:30 am
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The developer Jon Lam is arranging a deal to significantly increase the size of a hotel project he is planning to build on Broadway between 29th and 30th streets.
Over the summer, Mr. Lam purchased two commercial buildings, 1205 and 1225 Broadway, for about $72 million with plans to raze the two structures and erect a roughly 250,000-square-foot hotel and retail building.
The current negotiations for the adjacent parcels, located at 846 Avenue of the Americas and 1227 Broadway, would allow Mr. Lam to increase the size of his project to about 360,000 square feet.
“We’re in talks to buy the buildings,” Mr. Lam confirmed in a conversation with The Commercial Observer on Friday afternoon.
Mr. Lam said he will build a 600-room hotel with “significant” retail space in the property’s base. He said that he has not yet decided which hotel brand to bring to the property but wanted an operator that would appeal to business travelers and tourists.
“I don’t want it to be too high end. I want it to be affordable and casual,” Mr. Lam said.
Mr. Lam said it would likely cost about $350 million to purchase the land and build the tower, which he said would rise between 30 and 40 stories tall.
Robert Knakal, chairman of the brokerage firm Massey Knakal Realty Services, sold Mr. Lam 1205 and 1225 Broadway and is negotiating the deal to trade the neighboring properties, Mr. Lam revealed. Mr. Knakal couldn’t be reached for comment.
According to a source familiar the deal, the cost of the two parcels will likely be in the neighborhood of what Mr. Lam spent to buy 1205 and 1225 Broadway, around $70 million.
Mr. Lam’s project is located in a neighborhood that has long been known for its collection of dingy shops and rough-and-tumble street sellers. But the neighborhood is changing and has attracted hotel development.
In 2009, the Ace Hotel, a chic boutique property that has become an active destination in the Manhattan nightlife scene, opened for business on the corner of 29th Street and Broadway. More recently, the Gansevoort Park Avenue opened on 29th Street and Park Avenue South.
