Sovereign wealth fund to pay $623m for Manhattan hotel

The $450 billion Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a sovereign wealth fund, has purchased Manhattan’s Park Lane Hotel for an estimated price of $623 million.

The seller was Witkoff, which acquired the hotel in 2013 for $654 million. The Real Deal reported the seller and its partners had plans to convert the property into high-end condominiums, until one of its partners, Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman, was accused of stealing $4 billion from the Mubadala Investment Company, an Emirati sovereign wealth fund. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit looking to seize the hotel as part of its investigation.

The Park Lane Hotel, located at 36 Central Park South, was built in 1972. It has 47 stories with 610 rooms, spreading across 442,000 square feet.

QIA has always been a very active player in NYC market. In 2019 it acquired the St. Regis New York Hotel on East 55th Str