The owners of the 101-year-old Roosevelt Hotel, oft-referred to as New York City’s “New Ellis Island,” have a new redevelopment offer.
Shahal Khan’s Burkhan World Investments and its partners want to build a tower on the shuttered hotel’s roughly 42,000-square-foot parcel, Bloomberg reported. The offer would allow the current owner – the Pakistan government’s PIA Holding Co. (Pakistan International Airlines) – to keep a 50% stake in the joint venture.
A Burkhan representative cited by Bloomberg called the proposal the “best deal” for PIA, as it could hang onto its asset of several decades and reap new rewards.
The joint venture proposed by Khan and his partners would build a new tower up to 1.3 million square feet, partially through the acquisition of air rights, Bloomberg reported. That square footage would put the potential tower on the same level, space-wise, as 55 Hudson Yards or Central Park Tower. The venture would sign a 99-year ground lease and have the option to extend another 99 years.
The past several years have seen the 1,025-key Roosevelt Hotel evolve from a shuttered relic to a major intake center for arriving migrants. Developers began drooling over the site earlier this year when the city announced the end of its $220 million lease with the hotel.
The Roosevelt shut its doors in October 2020 amid the pandemic-induced tourism slump. The Midtown hotel reopened in May 2023, this time as a migrant shelter and intake center.
Mayor Eric Adams announced the shelter’s closure in February, citing a precipitous drop in the number of asylum seekers entering the city’s care. More than 173,000 individuals signs up for services at the Roosevelt between May 2023 and February of this year, according to the city.
Adams called the closure of the shelter a “milestone” for the city.
The joint venture offer has not received an official response yet, but Bloomberg reported that Pakistan’s Cabinet Committee on Privatisation is expected to consider the offer at its next meeting.
PIA’s advisor, JLL, was unable to be reached for comment.
How Burkhan might use the tower is yet unknown, but it would count the nearly finished JP Morgan Chase headquarters and SL Green’s One Vanderbilt as neighbors in the crowded office corridor.