Lightstone Group Nabs Financing For Moxy LES Hotel
NEW YORK, N.Y. – MSD Partners, L.P. and Lionheart Strategic Management LLC devoted approximately $130 million in financing to the Lightstone Group to capitalize the ground-up construction of Lightstone’s Moxy hotel located on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.
The project, which is a 16-story, 303-key hotel property totaling approximately 127,000 square feet, will include multiple food and beverage venues that will be managed by Tao Hospitality Group. Lightstone’s Moxy hotel on the Lower East Side will be the fourth Moxy project developed by Lightstone in New York City.
The financing is comprised of a $90 million senior loan provided by MSD Partners, L.P., and a $40 million mezzanine loan provided by Lionheart through its current credit vehicle, Lionheart Real Estate Credit Strategies LLC.
“This transaction exemplifies our commitment to the resiliency and recovery of New York City and our confidence in its tourism and hospitality industries,” said Winston Fisher, chairman of Lionheart. “With Lightstone’s strong track record of successful Moxy developments in New York and across the country, we believe this project will benefit from its prime location and is well positioned to capitalize on robust leisure tourist demand that we anticipate New York City will achieve as the market continues to recover from the effects of the COVID pandemic.”
“We are pleased to join Lionheart in providing financing to Lightstone in developing this new hotel property on the Lower East Side,” said Jason Kollander, the co-head of Real Estate Credit and a managing director of MSD Partners. “We believe the new Moxy development will be well positioned in this dynamic neighborhood, particularly as New York rebounds from the pandemic.”
Hospitality Rebound Continues With Cruise Activity
MIAMI – Celebrity Cruises’ latest ship, Celebrity Equinox, departed for the Caribbean from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in late July. The launch marks a two-month span that saw the new luxury brand put eight ships back in the water.
Celebrity Cruises bolstered the North American cruise industry this summer on June 5 with Celebrity Millennium sailing the Caribbean from St. Maarten, and quickly followed on June 26 with Celebrity Edge, the first ship to sail from a U.S. port in more than a year.
“With each new ship that goes in the water, I’m overwhelmed by the palpable sense of reconnection on board for both our guests and our crew – with each other, their families and the world,” said Celebrity Cruises president and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. “Being together, again, and absorbing the beauty around us is what we’ve all dreamt about for over a year, and now it’s really wonderful to be a part of our guests’ aspirations to travel again.”
Celebrity Equinox at sea
“Bringing a large cruise ship back into service isn’t as easy as turning the ignition key,” said Brian Abel, Celebrity’s senior vice president of Hotel Operations. “It’s a multi-dimensional process that involves moving and training crew, large-scale procurement, mechanical adjustments, destination outreach, port availability, sales and marketing and so much more. I couldn’t be more proud of the Celebrity team’s accomplishments. We were ready and we successfully executed this herculean effort with finesse to welcome our guests back onboard for the Celebrity experience they know and love.”
With July’s latest sailing, eight of the 14 ships within the Celebrity Cruises’ fleet have returned to sailing in 2021 taking guests to the Caribbean, Europe, Alaska, and the Galapagos.
- The Celebrity Millennium returned to service as the first ship to sail in the Caribbean on June 5 from St. Maarten. In early July, Celebrity Summit took over the service, allowing Celebrity Millennium to reposition for the Alaska season.
- Celebrity Apex, the newest addition to the Celebrity fleet, made her world debut in Athens on June 19, with seven-night sailings to the Greek Isles. The cruise marked a historic return to Greece for the company founded there 33 years ago.
- Apex’s sister ship, Celebrity Edge, made history as the first ship to sail from a U.S. port in over a year, restarting the U.S. cruising industry.
- On July 3, Celebrity Silhouette began taking guests from Southampton, UK around and along the British Isles and coastline.
- Celebrity Flora®, the luxurious, state-of-the-art mega-yacht, fulfilled guests’ bucket lists as it resumed sailing the magical Galapagos Islands on July 4. She was followed into the water by the award-winning Celebrity Xpedition® on July 24.
- And, on July 23, Celebrity’s return to Alaska began as Celebrity Millennium embarked on a journey to the Last Frontier.
Celebrity Equinox is part of a $500-million fleet-wide modernization program. Guests will enjoy elevated design concepts, including The Retreat®, a private resort-within-a-resort for suite guests that includes The Retreat® Sundeck and The Retreat® Lounge.
EU Challenges Google On Hotel and Flight Searches
BRUSSELS – According to a Reuters.com report, Google has two months to improve the way it presents internet search results for flights and hotels. The directive comes from European Commission and EU consumer authorities.
“The world’s most popular internet search engine has long faced scrutiny from antitrust enforcers and consumer groups around the world over its business practices, which in some cases have landed it with hefty fines,” writes reporter Foo Yun Chee. “The latest grievance centers on prices Google Flights and Google Hotels.”
EU consumer advocates maintain that the final prices for these “should include fees or taxes that can be calculated in advance” while reference prices used to calculate promoted discounts should be clearly identifiable. “EU consumers cannot be misled when using search engines to plan their holidays,” said Didier Reynders, EU Justice Commissioner in the article. “We need to empower consumers to make their choices based on transparent and unbiased information.”