The storied Algonquin Hotel may be getting new owners — again.
HEI Hotels & Resorts is in talks to sell the landmarked 174-room Midtown hotel to Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, an investment group wholly-owned by MassMutual, according to a report.
Cornerstone already manages a portfolio of 37 hotels and a debt portfolio of 34 loans on 45 hotel properties and a fund is now seeking full-service and boutique hotels.
HEI, a Norwalk, Conn., hotel investment firm founded by brothers Gary and Steve Mendell, bought the hotel at 59 W. 44th St. in 2005 for $74 million — or about $425,000 per room. It is now operated as a Marriott as part of its Autograph collection. Room rates for this weekend ranged from $229 to $359 per night.
Hotels in the city have been rebounding after suffering through a tough 2008 and 2009. The Algonquin — which has changed hands at least four times in the last 15 years — had been operating at a deficit, and its $35 million mortgage was on a watch list last year, according to Real Estate Alert. City hotel occupancy and tourism have since bounced back and it is likely that the 1902 hotel will sell for an amount just over the original investment.
The hotel was famed for its daily Round Table writers’ meeting that was started by Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and Robert E. Sherwood along with hospitality toward visiting actors including Douglas Fairbanks and Helen Hayes. A cat has almost always roamed the hotel and its current resident, Matilda, has her own e-mail address.
Reps for HEI and Cornerstone declined to comment.
