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<\/p>\nOpportunistic investor Isaac Hera has netted a huge construction loan from Barings to convert a Hell\u2019s Kitchen hotel into apartments.<\/p>\n
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\n Opportunistic investor Yellowstone plans to turn the 600-key Watson Hotel at 440 W. 57th St. into 312 apartments.\n <\/p>\n
Barings<\/a>\u00a0provided\u00a0a $326M\u00a0mortgage to Yellowstone Real Estate Investments, Hera’s private equity firm, to turn 440 W. 57th St. into 312 apartments, PincusCo reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yellowstone acquired the roughly 600-room\u00a0property, formerly known as the Watson Hotel, in 2021<\/a> from its former lender for around $175M \u2014 at the time the highest pandemic-era price paid for any Manhattan hotel, Bloomberg previously reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yellowstone didn\u2019t disclose its\u00a0vision\u00a0for the Watson at the time of purchase but submitted plans in 2023 for a residential conversion, which\u00a0were approved last month.<\/p>\n As it was waiting for approval and financing,\u00a0Yellowstone offered\u00a0the Watson\u00a0as a shelter\u00a0during the city\u2019s migrant crisis\u00a0under a contract that\u00a0ran until June<\/a>\u00a0before it was nixed by then-Mayor Eric Adams. It provided some of the 16,000 hotel rooms estimated to have been used to house migrants who crossed the southern U.S. border and\u00a0were bused to the city<\/a> from states like Texas.<\/p>\n Yellowstone didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. Barings declined to comment.<\/p>\n The Watson Hotel acquisition wasn\u2019t Yellowstone\u2019s only headline-making acquisition during what turned out to be the market’s bottom. Hera\u00a0scooped up a note<\/a> valued at $106M on the New Yorker hotel<\/a>, famous for its iconic signage, in 2023.<\/p>\n The following year,\u00a0it paid less than $200M<\/a> to acquire the CMBS loan for 1740 Broadway<\/a>. Blackstone acquired the 621K SF, 26-story Midtown office tower for $605M in 2014 but handed the keys over to Hera after the\u00a0building’s loan was placed with a special servicer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n