# Talk:569 Lexington Avenue

Since this is now a location of the company Found Study and not a DoubleTree, this page could use a rename, I suggest "569 Lexington Avenue" 174.251.64.29 (talk) 21:14, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

"Oxford Capital/Oxford Lodging" was not listed in this current wiki page for 569 Lexington, I've made some modest tweaks below in the section titled "DoubleTree Operation" (changes shown in bold) to include this fact.  Some references for this change can be found at below links:
https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4016550.html
https://www.travelweekly.com/Destinations2001-2007/Landmark-Metropolitan-Hotel-now-a-Doubletree
DoubleTree operation
A joint venture of Highgate Holdings, Oxford Capital/Oxford Lodging, (<---please add this text in bold letters) Whitehall Real Estate Funds (owned by Goldman Sachs), and Rockwood Capital LLC (<---- this bolded text should be deleted, they became partners in 2006 when property was recapitalized) bought the hotel in July 2003. The hotel cost $122 million in total, or $166,667 per room. The new owners initially intended to spend $22 million on renovations but ultimately spent $35 million. At the time, business travel was recovering from a downturn that followed the September 11 attacks. The joint venture did not intend to change the Metropolitan Hotel's facade, but they did renovate all the rooms, as well as the bar, restaurant, windows, and penthouse. The renovation took place in phases, with 500 rooms remaining in operation at any given time. The owners expanded the Metropolitan from 732 to 755 rooms by splitting some large suites.
The hotel reopened on January 26, 2005, as part of the DoubleTree hotel chain; it was renamed yet again to the DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel. At the time, the windows were still being replaced, and work on the lobby and penthouse was ongoing. Some preservationists expressed concern that Lapidus's 1960s design would be significantly altered. In response, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel as a landmark in 2005.  Subsequently in 2006 , the Highgate/Oxford/Whitehall venture recapitalized the project with Rockwood Capital Group at a materially higher valuation and eventually sold the property to RLJ Lodging Trust in 2011, paying $335 million ($135 million in cash and the assumption of an existing $200 million mortgage. ) Highgate Hotels continued to operate the hotel. RLJ spent another $25 million on renovating the hotel, redecorating all rooms with geometric motifs based on Lapidus's original design.
The DoubleTree Metropolitan closed permanently in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. In January 2022, Hawkins Way Capital bought the DoubleTree Metropolitan from RLJ Lodging Trust for $146 million, less than half what RLJ had paid for it. The sale price amounted to $221,000 a room. By then, tourism in New York City had suffered due to the pandemic. amid a citywide migrant housing crisis caused by an influx of asylum seekers in mid-2022, city officials considered converting the DoubleTree Metropolitan into temporary housing for asylum seekers.
Please let me know if the above changes can be made.  Thank you!
OCG OHR (talk) 18:14, 2 September 2025 (UTC)