{"id":540583,"date":"2025-08-18T17:10:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T21:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/?p=540583"},"modified":"2025-08-19T13:33:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T17:33:58","slug":"cuny-buys-dorms-hawkins-way-569-lexington-avenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/2025\/08\/cuny-buys-dorms-hawkins-way-569-lexington-avenue\/","title":{"rendered":"CUNY Buys More Student Housing at Former Midtown Hotel for $126M"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City University of New York <\/b>(CUNY) has picked up more student housing in Midtown East.<\/span><\/p>\n

CUNY has acquired six condominium units, or six floors, at the former DoubleTree by Hilton hotel at <\/span>569 Lexington Avenue<\/b> from <\/span>Hawkins Way Capital <\/b>for $125.6 million, according to <\/span>city records<\/span><\/a> made public Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The six floors have a total of 235 hotel rooms, which CUNY will use as dorm rooms. CUNY’s interest in the building is through a leasehold condominium, the school said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Facilities like 569 Lexington, which opened in 2022 and is operated by\u00a0Found Study<\/a>, provides students with a kitchen, laundry room, study spaces, 24-hour security and access to services that they may need,” a CUNY spokesperson said in a statement to Commercial Observer. “Under the deal, CUNY will add 578 beds.”<\/p>\n

Derek Davis<\/b>, general counsel and senior vice chancellor for legal affairs at CUNY, signed the deal for the buyer, while <\/span>Karan Suri <\/b>and <\/span>Ross Walker<\/b>, co-founders at Hawkins Way, signed for the seller, which used the entity <\/span>569 Lexington Leasehold<\/b>, records show.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear who brokered the deal. A spokesperson for Hawkins Way did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

CUNY bought four other floors of the Midtown East building from Hawkins Way in April for $85.7 million, <\/span>records show<\/span><\/a>. Following the new part of the purchase, CUNY now owns the first through eighth floors and the 16th and 17th floors of the building.<\/span><\/p>\n

569 Lexington was divided into three commercial condo units \u2014 hotel, garage and retail \u2014 in 2004 by then-owner <\/span>Highgate Hotels<\/b>, according to <\/span>PincusCo<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hawkins Way divided the hotel condo unit into 17 individual units in 2024 after acquiring the property from <\/span>RLJ Lodging Trust<\/b> in 2022 for $146 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

News of the recent sale also comes after Hawkins Way bought the former 492-room migrant shelter at <\/span>99 Washington Street <\/b>in the Financial District from <\/span>GF Hotels & Resorts<\/b> for $154.5 million in July, <\/span>as CO reported<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear what Hawkins Way\u2019s exact plans are for that property, but housing and hospitality provider <\/span>FCL Management <\/b>is set to operate the building once it is repositioned and create community dining areas, workspaces and a gym.<\/span><\/p>\n

Isabelle Durso can be reached at <\/span><\/i>idurso@commercialobserver.com<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The City University of New York (CUNY) has picked up more student housing in Midtown East. CUNY has acquired six condominium units, or six floors, at the former DoubleTree by Hilton hotel at 569 Lexington Avenue from Hawkins Way Capital for $125.6 million, according to city records made public Friday. The six floors have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177935361,"featured_media":540576,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-08-18T21:10:26Z","apple_news_api_id":"c8081003-b26b-4fcb-8320-6e4329b22370","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-08-19T17:34:01Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AyAgQA7JrT8uDIG5DKbIjcA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[231408,425196646],"tags":[598401006,598401007,598401008,598401009],"industry_type":[598394815,598394830],"company":[598399116,396582353,598393712,598401005,598401004],"market":[423636225,425197610,425197677],"sponsored":[],"coauthors":[598390363],"class_list":{"0":"post-540583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-channel","8":"category-sales","9":"tag-569-lexington-avenue","10":"tag-derek-davis","11":"tag-karan-suri","12":"tag-ross-walker","13":"industry_type-residential","14":"industry_type-student-housing","15":"observer_company-cuny","16":"observer_company-hawkins-way-capital","17":"observer_company-highgate-hotels","18":"observer_company-rlj-lodging-trust","19":"observer_company-the-city-university-of-new-york","20":"market-new-york-city","21":"market-manhattan","22":"market-midtown-east"},"acf":{"alternative_og_image":""},"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/2025\/08\/cuny-buys-dorms-hawkins-way-569-lexington-avenue\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"CUNY Buys More Student Housing at Former Midtown Hotel for $126M","url":"http:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/2025\/08\/cuny-buys-dorms-hawkins-way-569-lexington-avenue\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/2025\/08\/cuny-buys-dorms-hawkins-way-569-lexington-avenue\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/Felix-V.-Matos-Rodriguez-CUNY-credit-Getty-Images.jpg?quality=80&w=150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/commercialobserver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/08\/Felix-V.-Matos-Rodriguez-CUNY-credit-Getty-Images.jpg?quality=80"},"articleSection":"Investments & Sales","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Isabelle Durso"}],"creator":["Isabelle Durso"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Commercial Observer","logo":""},"keywords":["569 lexington avenue","derek davis","karan suri","ross walker","investments & sales","channel","residential","student housing","cuny","hawkins way capital","highgate hotels","rlj lodging trust","the city university of new york","idurso","lgetlen","new york city","manhattan","midtown east"],"dateCreated":"2025-08-18T21:10:22Z","datePublished":"2025-08-18T21:10:22Z","dateModified":"2025-08-19T17:33:58Z"},"rendered":"