Plaza Hotel bought by Qatar

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According to a CNBC report, the Gulf state of Qatar signed an agreement to purchase the Plaza Hotel in New York for about $600 million through the state-owned Katara Holding.

Katara will assume full control of the hotel while Sahara India Pariwar will retain a 75 percent interest.

The purchase was made just a few days after Sahara India Pariwar chairman Subrata Roy and Sahara’s U.S. division were sued by United Capital Real Estate Development, alleging they broke a contract by looking for other purchasers for the Plaza Hotel, according to Arabian Business.

In a case submitted on June 22 to a state court in New York, United also claimed that Roy and Sahara U.S. had deceitfully persuaded United to sign contracts, produce financial documentation, and put money in escrow. In addition to interest and legal fees, United is requesting $1 billion in damages for the claims.

Additionally, according to the group’s complaint, United consented to buy Sahara’s 85% ownership of the Dream Downtown hotel in New York. On behalf of his company, Roy signed two contracts for these sales on February 19 and February 27, 2018.

This lawsuit was filed in response to a May 2018 complaint filed by Ashkenazy Acquisition and Kingdom Holding, alleging that their agreement to match an offer had been broken. They accepted a bid of $600 million for a purchase deal that was supposed to close on June 25th, matching the offer made by a company led by Shahal Khan. The president of Sahara U.S., Sandeep Wadhwa, planned to respond in court, stating that he did not agree with Ashkenazy and Kingdom Holding’s assertions. The group hasn’t yet submitted that response, though.

The Plaza Hotel has had multiple owners in the past, including the president of the United States, Donald Trump. When he declared bankruptcy more than 20 years ago, Trump sold the hotel. During its tenure, the Plaza’s majority was turned into condominiums by the Israel-based Elad Group. The property is now managed by AccorHotels under the Fairmont Hotels & Resorts brand.

New York City Leads Nation in Construction of Apartments in 2023

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According to a report from Rent Cafe, New York City has retained its title as No. 1 in apartment construction thus far in 2023. The report estimates that at least 33,000 new rental units are set to be opened this year.

Of these units expected to be completed before the end of the year, most of them are either in Brooklyn, Manhattan or Queens. Brooklyn has the most at 9,825, followed by Queens (4,430) and Manhattan (3,770). The Bronx and Staten Island were not included in the metro data set for New York City.

Rent Cafe credits the large amount of construction in New York City being an effort to cut down on housing shortage concerns. As the only northeastern location in the top 20 metros for apartment construction in 2023, there is a high demand for housing in New York City.

From 2020-2022, 66,070 new apartments were opened in New York City, according to data collected by Rent Cafe. This large production was meant as a means to bring housing to more residents new and old. This also reflects high demand even during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. The only metro area to see more units built during that span was Dallas, TX, at 76,660.

RentCafe.com is a nationwide apartment search website that enables renters to easily find apartments and houses for rent across the country.

In order to compile this report, Rent Cafe’s research team analyzed new apartment construction data across 296 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas. The study is exclusively based on apartment data related to buildings containing at least 50 units. Metros with less than 300 units or less than two properties/buildings were excluded from the study.

Yardi Matrix, a business development and asset management tool for brokers, sponsors, banks and equity sources underwriting investments in the multifamily, office, industrial and self-storage sectors, provided apartment data for Rent Cafe. Apartment projections at the metro and city level for 2023 were calculated based on a Yardi Matrix proprietary algorithm, which includes confirmed and likely completions for 2023 based on the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. Once the certificate of occupancy is issued, the status of the property can be considered “completed”.

The U.S. Census Bureau provided data on estimated population by metro area.

Article available on Qns.com.