The Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group, LLC.

The Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group, LLC recently arranged an $80 million construction loan and a $30 million mezzanine construction loan for Ian Schrager Hotels LLC, an entity owned by NorthStar Capital Investment Corp. and Ian Shrager. Proceeds of the loan will be used to renovate the existing 26-story, 463,000 square-foot property to a hotel and to pay off a $26.5 million acquisition loan arranged by Ackman-Ziff earlier this year.

The Hemy Hudson Hotel will stand in the midst of New York's elite entertainment and shopping districts. The property is a through-block building with frontage on both West 57th and West 58th Street between 8th and 9th avenues on Manhattan's West Side, adjacent to Columbus Centre, a $1.3 billion, 2.5 million square-foot planned mixed-use redevelopment project.

Ackman-Ziff secured CORUS Bank, N.A. as the lead lender, and assisted in securing two of the four participants for the $80 million construction loan, as well as securing an institutional investor to provide the $30 million mezzanine loan.

The building was originally erected in 1929 as the American Woman's Association Clubhouse and in 1941 was converted into a hotel, later partially converted into television studios and headquarters offices for WNET Channel 13. The balance of the building functioned as a single room occupancy hotel with ground floor retail stores.

The renovation plan consists of 850 guest rooms, a conference and banquet facility, a business center and public areas, featuring several restaurants and lounges, an outdoor garden terrace and a 45,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art, 24-hour health club/spa. The general contractor is Lehrer McGovern Bovis and completion is slated for the Third Quarter of 2000.