Sitt Plans Hotel for Times Square Acquisition

NEW YORK CITY-Now that Sitt Asset Management has contracted to acquire 6 Times Square from SL Green Realty for $160 million, the family-owned firm is considering returning the site to its former glory. Earlier this century the landmark, which is also known as 1466 Broadway, was the Knickerbocker Hotel. Doug Harmon of Eastdil served as the exclusive broker for SL Green.

“It’s at the crossroads of the world,” says Eddie Sitt, who acquired the property with brothers Jack, David and Ralph. Wachovia is completing the financing of the sale of the approximately 315,000-sf site, which features the Gap as a retail tenant and office tenants including Quicksilver and Paris Blues. “We have plans to convert the upstairs to a hotel.”

Sitt is also speaking with a number of retailers interested in establishing a flagship store in the high-traffic area and a car dealership in regard to a vacant retail slot. The Sitt firm, started by Ralph Tawil, has been a longtime developer in the city as well as an active buyer here of late. In the past 18 months, Sitt has picked up 24 West 57th St., 1370 Broadway, 1369 Broadway in addition to 469 Seventh Ave.

Seller SL Green modified three separate corporate debt obligations, increasing capacity from $625 million to $750 million, while lowering the overall cost of borrowing under the facilities by 25 to 35 basis points. The company’s $200-million term loan with Wells Fargo Bank and various other lenders was increased to $325 million and the maturity date was extended to August 2009. Upon closing, SL Green drew down $100 million to partially pay down the company’s $300-million unsecured credit facility. In two other separate agreements, borrowing spreads on the $300-million unsecured credit facility and $125-million secured credit facility, both with Bank of America and various other lenders, were reduced to between 1.05% and 1.35% over Libor.