Taconic Capital Nabs Long Island City Hotel Site for $38.4M
By Andrew Coen May 28, 2021 11:27 am
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Taconic Capital Advisors has acquired a former Long Island City, Queens, hotel building for $38.4 million, just three years after Merchants Hospitality purchased the asset with plans to reposition it into a mixed-use development, according to property records.
The Manhattan-based real estate investment firm nabbed the Queens property at 11-01 43rd Avenue from Merchants, which bought the former Z NYC Hotel site for $32.3 million in 2018, Crain’s New York Business first reported. Taconic had provided Merchants with a $38 million recapitalization in late 2019.
Officials for Taconic and Merchants did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the transaction.
The 100-room Z NYC was first developed in 2011 by the estate of taxi magnate Henry Zilberman, who died in 2014. Merchants undertook a $2.5 million repositioning of the property with plans to develop retail, a coworking space and art galleries in it. The hotel was closed last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Merchants leased the building to short-term rental startup Sonder in January 2020. Sonder terminated its seven-year lease agreement last summer, prompting Merchants to file a $2.5 million lawsuit that is currently pending in Manhattan Supreme Court.
