Holiday Inn Club Buys Former Roger Smith Hotel Timeshares for $30.3M
By Abigail Nehring January 29, 2024 3:06 pm
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After remaining hidden for years behind scaffolding, the former Roger Smith Hotel at 501-507 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan appears to have emerged as a timeshare.
Holiday Inn Club, the Orlando-based timeshare company founded in 1982 by the late hotelier Kemmons Wilson, has bought nine commercial units and 21 vacation units in the 92,501-square-foot building for $30.3 million, according to city property records.
Timeshares Only, which is also based in Orlando, picked up the Lexington Avenue property in 2022 for $41.4 million.
The company planned to renovate the hotel over the following year and half, with the aim of offering 81 timeshare units, owner Bert Blicher told Crain’s New York at the time.
With the new deal, Blicher hands over 28.8 percent interest in the property, also known as 501 Lexington Avenue Resort, to 501 Lexington Development, a company associated with the Holiday Inn Club. Blicher and Holiday Inn Club Senior Vice President Michael Thompson signed the deed finalizing the deal Jan. 24, property records show.
In a separate agreement signed the same day, Blicher also transferred the development rights for all 81 vacation units and nine commercial units to the Holiday Inn Club.
Spokespeople for Blicher and Thompson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.
