FelCor Lodging Trust acquired the midtown-Manhattan building that once housed the Knickerbocker Hotel, and will redevelop it into the new Knickerbocker.
FelCor bought the property for $115 million and will spend another $115 million converting the building back into a luxury hotel.
Minority partner Highgate Holdings owns 5% of the property and will manage the hotel, which is due to open late next year.
The hotel will have 330 rooms as well restaurants and a rooftop bar that will overlook Times Square, FelCor said.
The Knickerbocker was opened in 1906 by billionaire John Astor IV, who died six years later aboard the Titanic. The building was later converted into an office building and once housed the headquarters for Newsweek magazine.
The acquisition is the latest example of FelCor’s efforts to make investments in large cities and divest properties in smaller markets. FelCor's holdings include the San Francisco Marriott Union Square and Boston’s Fairmont Copley Plaza.
FelCor said it will sell 16 hotels across North America (seven Embassy Suites hotels and three hotels each under the Holiday Inn, Sheraton and DoubleTree flags) for a total of approximately $350 million.
FelCor last year acquired two New York hotels — the Royalton and the Morgans —for $140 million.
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