Gary Barnett’s Extell to Buy Leasehold on NYC’s Historic Wellington Hotel with Plans to Build Up

Edited by: TJVNews.com

The world of New York City real estate is always filled with surprises. It has recently been reported by the New York Post that Gary Barnett, the founder and president of the New York City based Extell Development Company, is plunking down $94.4 million to purchase the leasehold of the former Wellington Hotel from Richard Born’s BD Hotels, according to city Finance Department records.

Extell is a real estate development firm involved in residential, commercial and hospitality properties, including several high-profile buildings in Manhattan.

The Post reported that BD Hotels owns 24 Manhattan inns and recently restored and reopened the long-closed, landmark Chelsea Hotel.

As to what precisely are Barnett’s plans for the property that is located one block south of historic Carnegie Hall were not announced publicly, according to the Post report and he could not be reached by the paper.

Sources told the Post that when Extell completes this move, it will be just one of a complicated set of transactions with “many moving parts” that might include air rights for a much larger building than the historic 27-story Wellington, which has a mere 207,000 square feet on a 22,000 square-foot corner lot.

Based on the information provided by sources, it appears that a part of any newly constructed rower will also include a new hotel, according to the Post report. Richard Born of BN Hotels will remain involved in partnership role in the project, the report indicated.

The Post had previously reported that the Wellington Hotel which was built in 1902 would be shuttering its doors in December 2021 as a result of a demolition clause which compelled the Park Café and the Molyvos restaurants to close. The Post also reported that no plans as to the hotel’s future have been filed yet with the Department of Buildings.

Among Extell’s completed Manhattan projects are the International Gem Tower, the Central Park Tower which is the world’s tallest residential building with almost $4 billion in condo sales, and One57,  a 75-story (marketed at 90), 1,005 foot high residential building which is New York’s tallest residential buildings as well as one of the top ten tallest buildings of New York City.

Extell was also involved in The Carlton House, which was formerly known as the Helmsley Carlton House hotel. Located at 21 East 61st Street, the building was converted to 68 cooperative residences in 2013 by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP, with interiors by Katherine Newman Design, according to a Wikipedia report.

The man behind Extell has quite an interesting background.  Born in 1956 on the lower east side of Manhattan, Gary Barnett’s name at birth was Gershon Swiatycki, the son of Orthodox Jewish parents.  According to a Wikipedia report, Barnett’s father, Chaim Swiatycki, was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar. He later moved to Monsey, New York which is known as an enclave for a large segment of the Orthodox Jewish population. Barnett received his Bachelor of Arts degree in math from Queens College and received a Master of Economics degree from Hunter College, as was reported by Wikipedia.

Having Barnett began his career as a diamond trader in Antwerp, Belgium, during the 1980s Barnett then returned to the United States in the 1990s to diversify into real estate, according to the Wikipedia report. He purchased shopping malls and office buildings in the Midwest.