Huge changes are brewing on the northeast corner of Seventh Avenue and West fifty fifth Street. Gary Barnett’s Extell is paying $94.4 million to buy the lease on the former Wellington Hotel from Richard Born’s BD Hotels, in response to town’s Department of Finance.
The developer’s ambitious plans for a historic estate one block south of Carnegie Hall were unknown. Barnett couldn’t be contacted immediately.
But sources say Extella’s move, when accomplished, will probably be just one among a complicated deal with “many moving parts” that might include air rights to a much larger constructing than the 27-story Wellington, which is just 207,000 square feet on a corner lot with an area of 22 thousand.
It was understood that the brand new hotel would likely be a part of any recent tower, with Born remaining a partner within the project.
We first reported that the 1902 Wellington was closing in December 2021 when a demolition clause forced Molyvos and Park Cafe restaurants to shut. The hotel has gone dark, but no plans have yet been submitted to the Department of Buildings.
Extell’s accomplished projects in Manhattan include One Manhattan Square on the Lower East Side, the International Gem Tower on West forty seventh Street, and the Central Park Tower on West 57th Street.
![Gary Barnett](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/gary-barnett-221226-76.jpg?w=1024)
BD Hotels owns 24 inns in Manhattan, and recently restored and reopened the long-closed landmark Chelsea Hotel.