South Korean hotel company Lotte Hotels & Resorts has acquired the land beneath its Lotte New York Palace hotel for $490 million.
The seller of the land is the Archdiocese of New York, according to Yonhap News. The Korea Herald reports the land had been leased in a 25-year agreement but now has changed hands “following years of negotiations.” It added the “transaction is expected to improve cash flow over time, reduce lease-related liabilities and strengthen [Lotte Hotels’] balance sheet.”
Lotte was already the owner of the 909-room Lotte New York Palace, which it bought in 2015 for $805 million from New York City-based Northwood Investors. In total — without considering inflation — Lotte has spent $1.3 billion on both the leasehold and freehold of the property.
Northwood bought the hotel, parts of which were built in 1884, in 2015 from the Sultan of Brunei. The site was first developed as a hotel by Harry Helmsley and Leona Helmsley and called the Helmsley Palace Hotel.
In the past two years, Lotte Hotels sold two of its South Korea hotels to Lotte Holding’s real estate investment trust Lotte Trust Management, according to Seoul-based news site Top Daily. Both were sales-and-leaseback deals, and both properties are located in Seoul. The first was the L7 Gangnam by Lotte for 330 billion South Korean won ($223 million) in late 2024, and the second was the sale of the L7 Hongdae by Lotte for 265 billion South Korean won in November.