By Tai Saint Louis
Jay-Z’s plans to add the title of hotelier to his ever-expanding empire has been halted, the New York Times reports.
The rapper/mogul’s planned J Hotels, which was scheduled to break ground this year, has been postponed indefinitely, as New York’s real estate development market takes a heavy hit.
The luxury hotel was proposed as the first five-star property in Manhattan’s developing High Line neighborhood, on the city’s Westside.
After purchasing the location, a former Time Warner Cable warehouse, for nearly $66 million, longtime developer Charles Blaichman enlisted partners Jay-Z and Abram and Scott Shnay to create the new full service J Hotels brand.
Blaichman, who is responsible for SoHo House and Spice Market, two of the biggest draws in the Meat Packing district, was also planning two other properties in the High Line neighborhood.
However, the struggling economy can no longer support the $370 million in loans and investment he would have needed to undertake the endeavor.
Still, Blaichman remains optimistic that his plans have been delayed rather than cancelled.
“It’s one of the greatest stretches of undeveloped areas,” he told the Times. “I still think it’s going to take off.”
Still, with the growth rate of construction in New York City down to .08 percent from 11.3 percent last year, experts say it may be as much as two years before any new buildings appear on the city’s sky line.