US: The 452-room hotel located in New York’s Times Square is to permanently close on 13 August 2020 due to financial issues caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Marriott International gave notice to the hotel’s owner, Maefield Development, in March as part of a foreclosure proceeding.
It is reported by Bloomberg that the pandemic resulted in a cash shortfall, putting the developer in default on its contract with Marriott.
Ian Schrager, the hotelier behind EDITION, said on Instagram: “It is very unfortunate that The Times Square EDITION got dragged into a dispute between the real estate owner and its financial institutions. The dispute has absolutely nothing to do with the hotel or its resounding success.”
The hotel was the latest outpost of the EDITION chain that Schrager launched with Marriott International, following other locations in London, Miami and Hawaii.
It is not the first New York property to run into financial difficulty during the pandemic. The owner of Hilton Times Square wrote down the value of the property to less than its $77 million montage. It may be handed over to lenders, reported Bloomberg.
According to the Wall Street Journal, as many as 25,000 rooms or 20 per cent of the city’s total might not reopen.
