It looks like Starwood Capital Group is looking to build one of their three hotel brands in Port Chester, NY – on the grounds of the former New York United Hospital Medical Center which has been closed since February 2005.

An article in Monday’s The Journal News states that Starwood Capital purchased the 14 acre property in January 2006, and has not done anything with it since then. After recently meeting with Port Chester officials, they announced how they are preparing to build a mixed-use development there, including a Commercial Office Space and a Hotel-Condo with Spa & Restaurant. They also mentioned how the hotel will have a spa, maid service, valet parking, etc.. In other words – it will be a high-end luxury hotel.

Aerial view of the New York United Hospital Medical Center property where Starwood Capital is preparing to build a Condo-Hotel development.

The location for this development is interesting, while it is not in a downtown area, is not near a major city (NYC is near – but not close enough), it is located near the very high trafficked  I-95 & 287 interchange between New York City & Boston, in addition it is a few minutes away from Amtrak’s Port Chester station which is located on the heavily traveled Northeast Corridor between Boston & Washington, DC. Besides the Ritz-Carlton, this area does not have a large number of full-service hotels, and the Ritz-Carlton is the first in the luxury segment to set up shop.

The area around White Plains, NY is headquarters to so many large firms – ITT, IBM, Starwood Hotels, Nine-West Shoes, ConEd, just to name a few – and the multibillion hedge funds located in Greenwich, CT are sure to provide a steady stream of customers for this hotel.

Starwood representatives did not seem decided on which hotel brand they would be bringing to the development, but said that full details including renderings, and a site plan would be forthcoming in the next two months.

Personally, I see either the Baccarat or 1 Hotel & Residences being built there – more likely the 1 Hotel & Residences brand due to it being more of an suburban/urban location – rather than a resort location that I think the Baccarat brand is being catered toward. I cannot see the Crillion brand being opened there because even though it is being built in a wealthy area (Port Chester is located equally between White Plains, NY & Greenwich, CT), I find it hard to believe that that area can sustain a brand as high end as Crillion – although, who would have predicted a Ritz Carlton being built in White Plains?

It’s so exciting to see Starwood Capital getting involved in development projects that are not located in major cities, and also including a multi-use component. A lot of people do not realize that Starwood Capital is one of the largest private real estate developers in the country, via joint ventures. In fact a number of years ago I had an experience with one of those joint ventures – Starwood-Heller which was a joint venture between Starwood Capital & Heller Development, had purchased and attempted the redevelopment of Seaview Square Mall located in Ocean Township, NJ. At the time, I was with a Commercial Real Estate firm in North Jersey and I had a client that was very interested in renting office space in one of the buildings on the property – after numerous (and I mean numerous) attempts to get information about the property they were advertising for lease – I gave up.. Only one of my phone calls was returned – and I was completely taken back by the arrogance and rudeness of the caller.. Not only that, but a good number of the stores & offices stayed vacant for a ridiculously long time, and one of the largest retail stores on the site – a Lowes Home Improvement Center – closed 9 months after opening due to it’s brand new building cracking. Its no wonder Starwood-Heller is no longer around.. I firmly believe the management of the Heller Organization irreparably harmed the Starwood-Heller partnership. It’s ashame that Starwood Capital’s good name was harmed.

In any case, soon after, the partnership sold the Seaview Square Mall property and the company literally disappeared. Starwood-Heller was also a joint partner along with the Applied Companies in the development of a hotel that was to be built on the waterfront in Hoboken, NJ  – that hotel is currently being built as we speak solely by the Applied Companies – its the W Hoboken Hotel & Residences.

What a small world.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

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