Cleary Gottlieb represented Istithmar PJSC in the acquisition by affiliates of Istithmar of the landmark Hotel Washington, in Washington, D.C., from Westbrook Partners, a Boston-based real estate investment firm. The purchase was financed with a mortgage and mezzanine debt package from UBS Real Estate Securities, Inc. which provides for future advances to be used for a renovation and reflagging of the hotel. The closing took place on October 10.
Istithmar is a major investment house based in Dubai focusing on private equity, real estate and other alternative investments. Istithmar’s purchase of the Hotel Washington marks its second U.S. hotel acquisition, following the purchase of the W Hotel Union Square earlier this month. Istithmar is also under contract for the purchase of the Knickerbocker Hotel, also in New York, with a closing set to occur in February of 2007. The Hotel Washington, the oldest continuously operating hotel in the District of Columbia, was built in 1888 as a retail store and apartment building and was redesigned and turned into a hotel in 1917 by the architects who designed the Senate and the House on Capitol Hill.