By: Don Driggers
Howard Hughes may be dead since 1976, but the multi-billion-dollar business he left behind is still buying and investing all of the world.
The Howard Hughes Corp., which operates the Seaport complex on South Street, is putting its money – a whopping $55 million — where its mouth is. Hughes just bought a 25 percent stake in Jean-Georges Restaurants (JGR), the 40-eatery empire of the great New York chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. His local places include flagship Jean-Georges, Nougatine, The Fulton at the Seaport, ABC Kitchen, Jo-Jo and The Mark.
On top of $45 million Hughes is paying for the minority stake, it also ponied up $10 million more for an option to buy 20 percent more of Vongerichten’s company. The New York Post reports that it might be the largest stake owned by a single real estate company in a restaurant group.
The Tin Building is a three-level gourmet food hall and restaurant collection spread out over 53,000 square feet inside the historic landmark building, which Hughes paid a fortune to reconstruct 30 feet east of its original East River site, writes Steve Cuozzo.
The Tin Building at the Seaport, to partly open this month, is Vongerichten’s biggest venture to date. Its success is crucial to Hughes’ future fortunes at the Seaport, which — to some analysts’ surprise — it held onto when it sold off $2 billion of “non-core” assets two years ago.
The Hughes Corporation said, in a statement to The New York Post, that Vongerichten’s management team “will retain control of all day-to-day decision-making.”
But the companies are clearly partners in what’s hardly a passive investment. Hughes said it intends to fund growth capital for Vongerichten’s “expanding global empire.”
According to Wikipedia, The Howard Hughes Corporation is a real estate development and management company based in The Woodlands, Texas. It was formed in 2010 as a spin-off from General Growth Properties (GGP). Most of its holdings are focused on several master-planned communities. It takes its name from the original Howard Hughes Corporation, which had developed the planned community of Summerlin, Nevada, and later became a subsidiary of GGP.
Notes from the CEO David O’Reilly on Q2 2022 Results – Earnings Call Transcript:
“Looking at the results of our quarter, each of our operating segments performed incredibly well despite a challenging economic backdrop. MPC land sales revenue rose 46%, operating asset NOI increased 15% and revenues at the Seaport increased 166%, all compared to the second quarter of 2021. At Ward Village, condo sales remained strong with 20 units sold in the quarter, in addition to the incredibly robust presales activity with 681 units contracted during the period, largely driven by Ulana following the launch of its presales campaign in March.
Our strong results, both this quarter and year-to-date, demonstrate the resiliency of our business model and our unique portfolio of assets, which have proven their ability to withstand periods of economic volatility like we’re experiencing today. Our success would not be possible without the immense effort and work that has gone into growing and strengthening our assets over many years.