Reichmanns Sell Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria for US$130m
Date: December 2017
Location: Corner of Agron and David Hamelech Streets near the Malmilla project, Jerusalem, Israel
Name: Waldorf Astoria – Five star
photo: Eyal Yitzhar
No. of Keys: 227 and a residential wing with 30 luxury apartments.
Seller: The Reichmann Canadian Jewish family. The five brothers that built, lost and regained London’s Canary Wharf.
They opened the hotel in 2014. 27 of the apartments have been sold. In 2014, Russian oligarch Leonid Nevzlin bought a 500-square meter apartment there for NIS (Israeli New Shekel about 3.5 NIS to the US$) 40 million.
The building used to house the Arab-owned luxury Palace Hotel in the 1920s. This hotel was closed down in 1935, and the building was then used for government ministries. The Reichmann family bought the building in 2006 for NIS 20 million, and built the Waldorf Astoria project on the site.
Buyer: French-Jewish businessperson Michel Ohayon, owner of the Versailles Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Price: US$130m
Price per Key: US$572,687 to include the three insold apartments
THPT Comment: Rumour has it that the Pritzker family (owners of Hyatt) originally were to going to build a hotel on the site, before Reichmann got in there.
First Seen: Globes Israel