NEW YORK: Pakistan is considering options for the PIA-owned Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, including razing the iconic landmark and build a skyscraper in its place, as part of Islamabad’s efforts to meet its commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Bloomberg, the American financial news service.
The 1,025-room hotel in mid-town Manhattan was shut down in 2020 due to a severe loss of revenue resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Three years later, it briefly housed migrants, and has since been shuttered.
Muhammad Ali, adviser to the prime minister on privatization, who was speaking to Bloomberg in Islamabad, said the government is keen on a joint venture where Pakistan will contribute the land and the partner will bring in the equity.
JLL steps down as advisor for Roosevelt Hotel transaction citing conflict of interest
The other option is to retain the hotel if it makes economic sense, he said.
“We will have clarity on this in the next few months after finalization of the JV partner and market sounding,” Muhammad Ali was quoted as saying.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government is making its most ambitious effort in years to restructure or sell state-owned companies as committed to the IMF under the terms of a $7 billion loan agreement, Bloomberg said.
The first asset to be sold could be PIA, and the adviser is hopeful it would be done by November, according to Muhammad Ali.
He said the groups interested in buying PIA are among the largest business groups in the country and have the capacity to run it. Ali estimated that an investment of about half a billion dollars would be needed to turn the airline around.
Pakistan is in the process of appointing advisers for the hotel transaction, dubbed by some as “the new Ellis Island” for its historical role as a migrant intake point, Bloomberg said. “The government will finalize a new adviser later this month after bids from seven groups, including Citigroup Inc., CBRE Group Inc., and Savills PLC.”
The hotel, which opened in 1924, was named after President Theodore Roosevelt. It is located next to the Grand Central Terminal, the main train station.
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