Cube Capital’s Investment Keeps Hotel Plans for 11 East 31st St. Alive
By Daniel Edward Rosen June 21, 2012 11:00 am
reprintsLondon-based hedge fund Cube Capital is keeping plans to build a new 260-key hotel on 11 East 31st Street alive after it purchased the 2,156-square-foot site for $13.5 million earlier this month, according to The Real Deal.
The firm, along with Simon Development Group, bought the site from Geolo Capital, and will have Commune, a joint partnership between Thompson Hotels and Joie De Vivre Hotels, manage the hotel.
Construction on the 33-story hotel, which will include a rooftop bar and a 125-seat restaurant, is set to begin in 2013 for a planned 2014 opening.
The site, which is comprised of five separate lots, was first purchased by Simon Development Group and Area Partners in 2007. Area would late be bought out, and plans for the hotel were delayed due to lack of construction financing. Geolo Capital, an investor in the project, took control of 11 East 31st Street in 2011.
Geolo then arranged a deal with Cube Capital, which teamed up with InSite Group to purchase the Royal Plaza Hotel, located near the Downtown Disney area of the Walt Disney World Resort.
Minority investors in the 11 East 31st deal include Eagle Point Hotel Partners and KSNY.
drosen@observer.com
