A development venture headed by Izak Senbahar and Simon Elias has entered into a contract with Mandarin Oriental Management to buy the 100 percent leasehold interest in The Mark Hotel at 25 East 77th Street for $150 million and is reported to be planning to convert it to cooperative apartments.
The hotel, which is on the northwest corner at Madison Avenue, has 119 rooms and 57 suites and was designed by Schwartz & Gross.
In their excellent book, "New York 1930, Architecture and Urbanism Between The Two World Wars" (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.,1987), Robert A. M. Stern, Gregory Gilmartin and Thomas Mellins observed that "Schwartz & Gross, the most prolific apartment house and apartment hotel architects of the 1920,s with the possible exception of Emery Roth, were slow to adopt the trend toward the Georgian style. Their Volney Hotel of 1924-25 at 23 East Seventy-Sixth Street, and Surrey Hotel of 1925-26 at 22 East Seventy-Sixth Street, were heavily detailed Italian Renaissance piles as was their apartment house at 30 East Seventy-Sixth Street."
It is cattycorner to the Carlyle Hotel and its retail space includes an Issey Miyake store. The building is one of the major landmarks of Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side because of its unusually shaped, sloping, cut-off, pyramid green roof.
The hotel is just to the south of Sant Ambroeus, a very nice restaurant with superb cappuccino. It is across the sidestreet from the low-rise Carlyle Galleries building that used to house the Parke-Bernet auction house before it was acquired by Sotheby's and relocated to York Avenue and 72nd Street.
Mr. Senbahar and Mr. Elias are principals of Alexico and their other major projects in Manhattan have included 165 Charles Street, which fronts on West Street and was designed by Richard Meier, and the Grand Beekman apartment building on First Avenue at 50th Street.
The property was acquired by Mandarin Oriental Management, which operates the lavish Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the Time-Warner Center on Columbus Circle, in 200 as part of a $142.5 million acquisition of The Rafael Group. In its December 30 announcement of the impending sale, it said that "its wholly owned entity, Madison Avenue Hotel Partners Limited Partnership, had entered into an agreement to sell its 100 % leasehold interest in The Mark."
An article in today's New York Post by Brandon Keil indicated that the new owners intend to convert the property to cooperative apartments.
Danielle DeVoe, director of communications for Mandarin Oriental Management, told CityRealty.com today that the sales contract is expected to be completed by the end of this month, adding that "after transaction costs and tax, the post-tax gain arising on the disposal will be approximately US $35 million." "The proceeds received will be applied towards the Group's general corporate purposes, including pursuing its development strategy," she continued, adding that "It is expected that Mandarin Oriental will continue to manage the property after the sale, however the Group is in discussions with the new owner regarding management terms and conditions which have yet to be confirmed.
The Mark has a very handsome lobby decorated with several superb paintings by William Holbrook Beard (1824-1900), an American painter well known for his anthropomorphic and satiric works.
The building has a three-story rusticated limestone base at its Madison Avenue corner, a large brass marquee on the side-street, unified retail design, and discrete air-conditioners. The 16-story, light-brown brick building has limestone balconies on the 14th floor at the corner and arched windows on the 15th floor and dormer windows on the 16th floor as well as arched pediments over windows on the 12th and 14th floors.
A call from CityRealty.com to Mr. Senbahar was not returned.
The hotel, which is on the northwest corner at Madison Avenue, has 119 rooms and 57 suites and was designed by Schwartz & Gross.
In their excellent book, "New York 1930, Architecture and Urbanism Between The Two World Wars" (Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.,1987), Robert A. M. Stern, Gregory Gilmartin and Thomas Mellins observed that "Schwartz & Gross, the most prolific apartment house and apartment hotel architects of the 1920,s with the possible exception of Emery Roth, were slow to adopt the trend toward the Georgian style. Their Volney Hotel of 1924-25 at 23 East Seventy-Sixth Street, and Surrey Hotel of 1925-26 at 22 East Seventy-Sixth Street, were heavily detailed Italian Renaissance piles as was their apartment house at 30 East Seventy-Sixth Street."
It is cattycorner to the Carlyle Hotel and its retail space includes an Issey Miyake store. The building is one of the major landmarks of Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side because of its unusually shaped, sloping, cut-off, pyramid green roof.
The hotel is just to the south of Sant Ambroeus, a very nice restaurant with superb cappuccino. It is across the sidestreet from the low-rise Carlyle Galleries building that used to house the Parke-Bernet auction house before it was acquired by Sotheby's and relocated to York Avenue and 72nd Street.
Mr. Senbahar and Mr. Elias are principals of Alexico and their other major projects in Manhattan have included 165 Charles Street, which fronts on West Street and was designed by Richard Meier, and the Grand Beekman apartment building on First Avenue at 50th Street.
The property was acquired by Mandarin Oriental Management, which operates the lavish Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the Time-Warner Center on Columbus Circle, in 200 as part of a $142.5 million acquisition of The Rafael Group. In its December 30 announcement of the impending sale, it said that "its wholly owned entity, Madison Avenue Hotel Partners Limited Partnership, had entered into an agreement to sell its 100 % leasehold interest in The Mark."
An article in today's New York Post by Brandon Keil indicated that the new owners intend to convert the property to cooperative apartments.
Danielle DeVoe, director of communications for Mandarin Oriental Management, told CityRealty.com today that the sales contract is expected to be completed by the end of this month, adding that "after transaction costs and tax, the post-tax gain arising on the disposal will be approximately US $35 million." "The proceeds received will be applied towards the Group's general corporate purposes, including pursuing its development strategy," she continued, adding that "It is expected that Mandarin Oriental will continue to manage the property after the sale, however the Group is in discussions with the new owner regarding management terms and conditions which have yet to be confirmed.
The Mark has a very handsome lobby decorated with several superb paintings by William Holbrook Beard (1824-1900), an American painter well known for his anthropomorphic and satiric works.
The building has a three-story rusticated limestone base at its Madison Avenue corner, a large brass marquee on the side-street, unified retail design, and discrete air-conditioners. The 16-story, light-brown brick building has limestone balconies on the 14th floor at the corner and arched windows on the 15th floor and dormer windows on the 16th floor as well as arched pediments over windows on the 12th and 14th floors.
A call from CityRealty.com to Mr. Senbahar was not returned.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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