The Carlton Group's Michaels arranges $815 million refinance on Edition Hotel in Times Square

The Carlton Group's chairman Howard Michaels arranged the closing of an $815 million construction and mezzanine refinancing agreement for the development of Marriott International Inc.'s new Edition brand hotel to be built at 701 Seventh Ave. The $815 million refinancing agreement arranged by Carlton on the Times Square site includes a new $237.5 million mortgage and $315 million mezzanine loan. Initially, Carlton arranged $600 million of debt and equity and facilitated the sale of a controlling interest and partnership recapitalization on 701 Seventh Ave. for the then contract vendee who continues to have a significant ownership interest. This transaction, from a year ago, was arranged and closed in 30 days. Following the initial closing Carlton then played an integral role in the $815 million refinancing and also bringing the partners associated with the new hotel brand together. . Marriott will operate the 452-room boutique hotel - owned by a partnership that also agreed to refinance the debt on the project - according to a statement by a Boston-based real estate investment company that's part of the ownership group. It will be the company's second luxury Edition brand hotel in Manhattan. In August the company said it planned to sell its first Manhattan Edition, under development at the Clock Tower building near Madison Square Park that is expected to open in 2015. In case of a loan default, Marriott agreed to purchase the hotel portion of the property for $314.6 million during the first two years after opening. The new Edition hotel will have 30,000 square feet (2,800 square meters) of food, beverage and entertainment space and construction is expected to be completed in 2017.