Aya Acquisitions Buys Midtown’s Cassa Hotel for $55M
By Isabelle Durso September 5, 2025 1:27 pm
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Aya Acquisitions, part of the co-living company Aya New York, has picked up a 166-key hotel in Midtown for $54.7 million, according to city records made public Thursday.
Aya, through the entity Highgate 2 Hotel, purchased three commercial condominium units — which include hotel and retail space — at the Cassa Hotel at 66-70 West 45th Street, records show. The former owner was Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.
Amir Shriki, founder of Aya, signed the deal for the buyer, while Jeffrey Miller from law firm Miller, Leiby & Associates signed the deal for the seller, according to records.
Ariel Property Advisors‘ Matthew Dzbanek and Matthew Swerdlow arranged a $45 million financing package for the acquisition and renovation of the hotel, Ariel said.
“This was a complex transaction involving the acquisition and renovation of a non-operational hotel,” Dzbanek said in a statement. “Our team was able to structure a creative financing solution with a private debt fund that recognized the immense potential of the asset and the strength of the sponsorship.”
It’s unclear who brokered the deal. A spokesperson for Aya did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while a spokesperson for HNA could not be reached for comment.
News of the deal comes after HNA lost the 48-story hotel near Bryant Park in a foreclosure auction, PincusCo reported. In 2021, two Chinese banks — Chang Hwa Commercial Bank and Hua Nan Commercial Bank — filed lawsuits over a 2016 loan made to HNA, and claimed that HNA owed $64 million in principal and interest secured by the Cassa Hotel, according to PincusCo.
HNA was then sold to new investors after an extensive debt and bankruptcy process in 2021, the New York Times reported at the time.
The Cassa Hotel, on 45th Street between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas, was developed in 2010 and also features a separate 57-unit residential tower, according to its website. Amenities of the hotel include a fitness center, storage space, wellness room and on-site restaurant Butter.
It’s unclear what Aya plans to do with its new Midtown hotel property, but Aya New York’s business model is to rent out fully furnished, individual rooms in apartments to tenants, according to its website.
The deal also comes after Aya bought a 25-unit Upper East Side multifamily building at 240 East 90th Street for $14.9 million in an all-cash deal in January 2022, as Commercial Observer previously reported.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
