NEW YORK -- The owners of the St. Moritz Hotel at 50 Central Park
South and 59th Street said they will close the 688-room landmark
hotel on April 20 and turn it into a luxury condominium complex.
The owner, FAI Insurances Ltd., based in Sydney, Australia, said
it formed a 50/50 joint venture with Bankers Trust New York Corp.
to buy and redevelop the hotel at a cost of $180 million. FAI said
financier Donald Trump's Trump Organization will manage the
redevelopment project, which is slated to start in June and last up
to two years.
FAI said the price of a penthouse condominium would run as high
as $12 million. FAI acquired the St Moritz by default in 1989 on a
failed loan to Australian entrepreneur Alan Bond. Bond had used
money loaned by FAI to buy the hotel from Trump that same year for
$180 million.