Times Square’s Crowne Plaza Hotel Hits Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
By Andrew Coen December 30, 2022 2:50 pm
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It seems like a less-than-happy new year for Argent Ventures’ newly reopened Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square.
The owners of the financially strapped hotel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday amid mounting legal challenges, The Real Deal reported Thursday.
Argent reported $526 million in debt for the 795-room hotel at 1601 Broadway, which shuttered in March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened in the past month, according to TRD.
The bankruptcy came just eight months after SL Green (SLG) Realty Corp. was forced by a Manhattan Supreme Court justice to turn over the property to Andrew Penson’s Argent by acquiring mezzanine debt owed by previous owner Vornado Realty Trust (VNO) for “pennies on the dollar,” according to TK.
The bankruptcy filing described the legal battle with SL Green as “expensive, time consuming and made it difficult, if not impossible, to reopen the hotel,” per TRD.
Spokespeople for Argent Ventures and Vornado did not immediately return requests for comment. SL Green declined to comment.
Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com.
