Pakistan rents out Roosvelt Hotel to NY for $220 million – Times of India
Pakistan has rented out its iconic Roosevelt Hotel to the New York city government for three years, helping the cash-strapped country earn $220 million from the deal. The New York administration will pay a rent of as much as $210 for each of the 1,025 rooms of the century-old hotel owned by state-run Pakistan International Airlines Corp, aviation minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Sunday.
The hotel had to be shut due to financial losses after the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The New York city government will now use it for “immigrant housing business,” Pakistan’s finance ministry said in a statement last month. The development comes when PM Shehbaz Sharif is trying for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund to avoid a default amid the nation’s depleting foreign exchange reserves.
Pakistan was spending $25 million a year in taxes and salaries even after the hotel was shut. The nation expects the deal will help it clear all its liabilities, including reconciliation of $66 million demanded by the hotel’s union. Earlier, Deloitte had recommended the best use of the property would be to redevelop the site into a mixed use through a joint venture.
The hotel had to be shut due to financial losses after the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The New York city government will now use it for “immigrant housing business,” Pakistan’s finance ministry said in a statement last month. The development comes when PM Shehbaz Sharif is trying for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund to avoid a default amid the nation’s depleting foreign exchange reserves.
Pakistan was spending $25 million a year in taxes and salaries even after the hotel was shut. The nation expects the deal will help it clear all its liabilities, including reconciliation of $66 million demanded by the hotel’s union. Earlier, Deloitte had recommended the best use of the property would be to redevelop the site into a mixed use through a joint venture.
