Downtown hotel, retail space goes for $5 million

The hotel and commercial space on the first four floors of Sky View at Carriage City Plaza sold for $5 million early this year.

The sale closed Jan. 20, according to property records and filings with the county clerk’s office, acquired by Watt Hotel, LLC c/o Bridgeton Holdings, a Manhattan-based investor, owner, developer and manager of commercial and residential real estate.

Corner E Milton Irving from across street.Aug2017The 100-room hotel includes 16,686 square feet of retail space in the first four floors of the 17-story complex, about 6,000 of which Bridgeton Holdings plans to reclaim for the lobby area, housing a casual drinks and dining option. The new owner plans to construct a new hotel lobby on the East Milton Avenue side of the building connecting it with the main elevator bank in the original lobby as well as with pedestrian access to the parking garage, in addition to turning the rooftop into a lounge and recreation space, according to an easement and restrictive covenant agreement.

In the 2017 State of the City address in March, Mayor Samson Steinman announced that the hotel and retail portion of the complex was acquired by Bridgeton Holdings and the entity planned to open Watt Hotel by September, with designs inspired by Nikola Tesla. No word on whether that timeline still holds. Bridgeton Holdings also manages Walker Hotel Tribeca, Wyndham Garden Chelsea, and 33 Peck Slip in South Street Seaport, among other properties.

Watt Hotel lobby
(Rendering via Bridgeton Holdings)

The hotel space has been vacant since September 2013 when Hotel Indigo, the original tenant, left after its contract expired. The commercial space occupies the first two floors of the building and the hotel occupies the third and fourth floors of the 17-story Carriage City Plaza. The building opened in summer 2008 just as the housing market began to collapse by late 2010, it was clear that it was heading toward foreclosure. The Redevelopment Agency was to have received $10,000 per unit sold at closing, or about $2.2 million, and other fees, but eventually settled for about $1.4 million.

SkyView sign at corner.Aug201780 E. Milton Ave., LLC acquired most of Carriage City Plaza in a sheriff’s sale, essentially all but about 60 of 222 individual condominiums that were sold before it went into a $58-million foreclosure in 2011, along with the commercial and hotel space. 80 E. Milton Ave., LLC, is a subsidiary of a pension fund (LongView ULTRA Construction Loan Investment Fund, LV Holdings), of which Amalgamated Bank, the original lender, is a trustee. The $5-million sale in January includes only the commercial and hotel space on the first four floors of the 17-story complex.

An Edward Jones investment office has been lone tenant in the commercial space for many years while much of the rest of it has been largely vacant, other than a short-lived tenure by a dry cleaner and a coffee shop in the early years.

The commercial/retail portion of the property (Block 316, Lot 3.02, C101) generated a 2017 property tax bill of $54,166 based on a tax assessment of $810,500. The hotel portion of the property, (Block 316, Lot 3.02, C102) generated a 2017 property tax bill of $129,996, based on an assessment of $1,506,500, down from $1,962,200 in 2016. Combined, that makes for a $2,317,000 assessment with property taxes of $184,162.

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5 thoughts on “Downtown hotel, retail space goes for $5 million”

  1. I will believe this story when I see the end result. The building has been a “white elephant” from the start!

    1. You don’t believe it was sold? Property transaction is filed with the county clerk so, yes, it happened.

      1. I see it was sold but what comes of it – we will see. Been waiting since the building went up for downtown improvement. I have seen nothing substantial

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