Starwood Sells Two New York Ws In Spring Cleaning

Starwood Hotels & Resorts this week sold two of its New York W properties, among the first in the brand's portfolio, to a United Kingdom hotel operator.

The $78 million deal turns over to London-based St. Giles Hotels the 198-room W New York - The Court and the 122-room W New York - The Tuscany, both located in the 39th St. and Lexington Ave. area. As part of the deal, Starwood is removing its W flag from both brands.

Mitchell Hochberg, principal of New York-based Madden Real Estate Ventures, said the deal was a logical move for Starwood, as the company is seeking to lighten its assets and the two hotels didn't fit the modern image of W. "These were older properties that had small rooms, very limited public space and really were not the prototype of today's W," Hochberg said. "Both properties were not really on brand for them."

Starwood also recently pulled its Sheraton flag from Midtown's Sheraton Manhattan as part of its cleanup of that brand. While Starwood said it would continue to explore property sales in the future, removing its flags would be the exception, not the rule, however.

"In the vast majority of cases, when we sell an asset, we will continue to manage the property on a long-term basis," Starwood president of global development Simon Turner said in a statement. "Given that we have a significant, high profile and growing footprint in New York City, combined with the evolution of the W brand, we made the decision to sell these legacy hotels without the W flag."

Hochberg said he expected to see similar moves in the future "done on a strategic basis, but not a landslide of them."

With the sale of those properties, Starwood still operates four hotels in the New York metropolitan area and plans to open a new downtown W this summer. The company hopes to have 50 W hotels open worldwide by the end of 2011.