BD Hotels, partners sign $20M refi with Apple Bank for Blakely hotel in Midtown West

BD Hotels and partners Gerald Barad and Jay Domb through the entity BD Blakely LLC as borrower signed a refi loan with lender Apple Bank valued at $20 million for the Blakely Hotel building (H3) at 136 West 55th Street in Midtown West, Manhattan.
The deal closed on June 1, 2025 and was recorded on July 7, 2025. The prior lender was Apple Bank which held debt that had an original loan amount of $20 million. The property has 70,478 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The loan price per built square foot is $283 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The owner bought the property on November 18, 2003, for $14.6 million. The signatories for BD Hotels and partners were Richard Born , Ira Drukier , Gerald Barad , and Jay Domb . The signatory for Apple Bank was Cynthia Wang. Gerald Barad of Triumph Hotels and Jay Domb of Empire Hotel Group are co-owners.

Prior sales and revenue

The owners according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development includes Richard Born, head officer and Caroline Gleser, officer. The business entities are Luxurban Hotels Inc and Bd Blakely Llc. The 70,478-square-foot property generated revenue of $10.9 million or $155 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

The property

The hotel building in Midtown West has 70,478 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 50 feet and is 100 feet deep with a total lot size of 5,020 square feet. The zoning is C6-6.5 which allows for up to 12 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $23 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has received $2,450 in OATH penalties in the last year.

Development

There are no active new building construction projects or major alteration projects with initial costs more than $1 million on this tax lot.

The neighborhood

In Midtown West, The majority, or 75 percent of the 75.9 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 14 percent of the space. In sales, Midtown West has the 2nd highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2.9 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Midtown West is the most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 35.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 46 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There was one pre-foreclosure suit filed among other hotel buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of five of the six commercial properties representing 2,749,054 square feet of the 2,907,671 square feet. The largest owner is Blackstone Group, followed by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and then Bd Hotels.
There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.

The majority, or 66 percent of the 2.9 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 24 percent of the space.

The borrower

The PincusCo database currently indicates that Bd Hotels owned at least 15 commercial properties with 111 residential units in New York City with 1,059,991 square feet and a city-determined market value of $385.1 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 99 percent of the 1,059,991 square feet of built space are hotel properties, with walkup properties next occupying 1 percent of the space. They are all located in Manhattan.

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