Magna sells 4 NYC hotels for nearly $500 million

NEW YORK CITY — Warwick, Rhode Island-based Magna Hospitality has sold four Hilton-branded New York City hotels for $489.8 million to undisclosed “large institutional owners”, according to multiple reports.

Magna Hotel Fund VI, a fund managed by Magna Hospitality, sold the 1,129-room portfolio which include the 196-key Hilton Garden Inn New York Times Square North (for $115.5 million), the 320-key DoubleTree by Hilton New York Times Square South (for $99.7 million), the 239-key Fairfield Inn & Suites New York Midtown Manhattan (for $52.2 million) and the 374-key Motto by Hilton New York City Chelsea (for $222.1 million). JLL brokered the deal.

The Magna Hotel Fund VI, which closed in 2018 with $250 million, sold the properties to the undisclosed owners as well as a separate Magna fund (the company will maintain an undisclosed percentage of partial ownership on the four properties, but according to Crain’s New York Business, Magna parted with over 90% of its equity). Four lenders were also involved in the sale, but their involvement was also not disclosed.

According to Bisnow, the portfolio sale is the largest in New York City since the city council passed the controversial Safe Hotels Act last year.

According to Crain’s, Magna still owns multiple hotels in New York City, including a Hilton near Times Square that it acquired from Sam Chang in 2023 for approximately $160 million, and an Embassy Suites on 37th Street, which it purchased in 2020 for around $115 million.

The Crain’s story also reported that the scale of the deal is a good sign for the city’s hotel industry, according to Vijay Dandapani, president and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City, who cautioned that deals in the city are still way below what they have been in the past.