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The Real Deal
Garment
District hotel sells for $99.5M - March
2009
By: Adam Pincus
Hotel developer the
Lam Group sold a limited-service, 33-story Garment District hotel
located at 330 West 40th Street to a California buyer for $99.5 million.
The purchaser of the Fairfield Inn New York Manhattan/Times Square
South was Los Angeles-based Gehr Development, a division of Gehr
Enterprises, a diversified business that includes manufacturing,
distribution and commercial real estate. It was the firm's first
purchase in New York City, said David Lifschitz, CFO and an executive
vice president at Gehr.
The Gene Kaufman-designed hotel is the first Fairfield Inn in
Manhattan. The sale went into contract July 2007 and the deed was
transferred on February 12, city records published today show.
The 244-room, newly-constructed building on the block between Eighth
and Ninth avenues, opened less than two weeks ago, Lifschitz said.
Five hotels recently opened
or are under construction on 39th and 40th streets between Eighth
and Ninth avenues.
Gehr Development hopes to make more acquisitions in New York City,
Lifschitz said.
Hotel Online
The Lam Group, Lam Generation Sign Marshall Management to Facilitate
Accelerated Development in New York City - August
2007
The Lam Group, a leading hotel and real estate
development firm owned by John Lam; Lam Generation, a recently formed
hotel development and ownership company operated by Jeffrey Lam; and
Marshall Management, a leading, mid-sized hotel management company,
today announced that they have signed agreements designed to help the
two development companies accelerate their planned development in New
York City.
Under terms of the agreement Marshall Management
will provide strategic and operating consulting services for
“back of the house” operations, including accounting,
property-level strategic marketing planning, analysis of operating
results and making periodic property visitation/reviews. Marshall
Management will also provide consulting services for pre-opening
activities, including planning and marketing, as well as assist in
training and hiring. The company currently is underway in a
search to find the key property-level executives for three
hotels.
The agreement initially covers two hotels
currently under construction by The Lam Group:
- A mid-rise, 150-room Four Points by Sheraton in
Soho, which is expected to open in the 2007 fourth quarter.
- A mid-rise, 150-room Fairfield by Marriott in
Long Island City, which is expected to open by year-end 2007.
For Lam Generation, Marshall will operate a mid-rise, 160-room Hampton
Inn in Soho. The hotel is expected to open in October.
“We are accelerating our hotel development
in New York City,” said John Lam, chairman and chief executive
officer of The Lam Group. “As a result, we realized that we
needed additional hotel management expertise to back us up in the
administrative area. We reviewed a number of management companies
and chose Marshall Management because of their depth of experience in
mid-market hotels in urban markets, expertise in pre-opening support
and proprietary management systems. We will continue to manage
the ‘front-of-the-house’ activities, but believe we will
now be a much stronger operator with this additional support. We
look forward to the opportunity to expand our relationship with
Marshall Management as we move ahead on a number of projects.
Should we sell any of these hotels, it is our intent to continue to
operate them under long-term management agreements.”
“Our SoHo Hampton is a special property,
which led to Lam Generation being honored as the Hampton Developer of
the Year,” said Jeffrey Lam. “Marshall has
developed, constructed and operated a substantial number of Hamptons
and that expertise will help us achieve our goal of having our first
property one of the best in the Hampton system.”
“Both development companies have well
established reputations, having built approximately 20 hotels,
primarily in New York, in the past eight years,” said Mike
Marshall, president and CEO of Marshall Management. “Our
firm brings an experienced team and the infrastructure to comfortably
provide these specialized services, as well as take on other consulting
assignments for these two companies. Although we are a national,
mid-sized company, we have substantial experience with hotels on the
Eastern seaboard. We look forward to building a long-term
relationship.”
About The Lam Group
The Lam Group is a leading owner, developer and operator of branded
hotels, primarily in New York City. The company currently plans
to develop more than 2,000 hotel rooms over the next three years.
The company currently owns and operates three hotels. Additional
information about the company may be found at
www.lamgroupnyc.com.
About Lam Generation
Founded in 2006, Lam Generation is a second-generation hotel
development and ownership company based in New York. The company
recently was recognized as the Hampton Inn Developer of the Year, for
it’s under construction Hampton Inn Soho by Hilton Hotels
Corporation.
About Marshall Management
Salisbury, Md.-based Marshall Management, founded in 1980, has special
expertise in operating three- and four-star branded hotels and resorts,
averaging 100 to 400 rooms, in urban and central business districts,
suburban/drive-to and resort locations. In addition, the company
has a proven track record managing independent resort and unique urban
properties. The company has managed a wide array of leading hotel
brands, including Hilton, Starwood, InterContinental Hotel Group,
Hyatt, Choice and Wyndham. Additional information about Marshall
Management may be found at the company’s Web site:
www.marshallhotels.com.
The Real Deal
Developers cut from the same
cloth
Why so many garmentos head to real estate - March 2007
By: Adam Piore
Joseph Moinian made a name for himself with audacious real estate deals
-- like the building on John Street that he bought at $12 a square foot
and rented out for $58 a square foot. Or his purchase of Chicago's
Sears Tower, which he bought in 2004 with Joseph Chetrit and a number
of other investors, paying $840 million.
Chetrit's most recent acquisitions include 620 Sixth Avenue, which
houses Bed Bath & Beyond, Filene's and TJ Maxx. Yair Levy and
Charles Dayan were his partners on that $300 million purchase last year.
But ask Moinian, Chetrit, Levy or Dayan about their very first deals,
and you're liable to get stories about an altogether different kind of
transaction. They'll probably tell you about selling pants, shirts and
undergarments to the very same kind of business owners to whom they now
rent space.
Moinian, Levy, Dayan and Chetrit all got their starts in the garment
industry. It's a path that might seem improbable at first, but it's one
that's increasingly well-trodden by some of the biggest players in New
York real estate.
"I could give you 1,500 names," says Levy. "Many of us know each other
from the garment center and we have done business together for 30
years."
In some ways the transition is only natural. Many garment manufacturers
end up buying their warehouses, or the stores in which they sell their
wares. But there's a less obvious connection at work: Both the garment
trade and real estate are tailor-made for that perennially replenishing
pool of entrepreneurial grit -- the immigrant New Yorker.
In the garment industry, "there are relatively low barriers to entry,"
says Sarah Crean, executive director of the Garment Industry
Development Corp. "You don't need a huge amount of capital to rent a
factory and get it equipped. Thousands and thousands of Americans have
gotten their start that way."
Real estate, says Mitchell Moss, a professor of urban politics and
planning at NYU, has been a very "porous industry," and a long line of
immigrants have found fortune in it.
"Real estate in New York has been a very important industry for people
with entrepreneurial know-how," he says.
Adds Wellington Chen, director of the Chinatown Partnership, a local
development corporation: "When you accumulate wealth, the natural
investment is real estate."
It is even more natural for those in the garment trade, who find their
experience prepares them with many of the skills they need to negotiate.
"People learn wheeling and dealing," Levy says. "When you are a
wholesaler, you have good years and bad years. It's not stable. It's a
tough business. You develop very strong experience, you learn to be a
survivor, and when you come into real estate it's an easier business
because it's more stable."
David Adelipour, a developer who recently opened the Hotel Mela in
Midtown, arrived from Iran in 1968. He got his start in the garment
industry selling junior wear before making the transition.
"People in real estate are risk takers," he says. "That relates to the
garment industry. You have to take a lot of risks. You're doing
fashion, and you have to commit to investing in your styles and
products before you sell them."
Since both the garment trade and the real estate industry require an
entrepreneurial spirit, it's not surprising that immigrant groups with
the strongest tendency toward risk-taking are drawn to those fields.
In New York City, almost 28 percent of Syrian immigrants and 24 percent
of Iranian immigrants are self-employed, more than all other immigrant
groups, according to "A World of Opportunity," a recent report put out
by the Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit think tank. About 18
percent of Israelis, the fifth-highest group, are self-employed.
Charles Dayan is a Syrian immigrant. Moinian and Adelipour are Iranian.
Levy is Israeli, as is Joe Nakash, a successful developer and a founder
of Jordache.
Says Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future, "A
lot of people went from the factory floor to contracting, so it has
produced some of our best entrepreneurs. Then, once they get enough
savings, they get into more lucrative areas."
But entrepreneurship is just one of the skills the garment trades hone.
Levy says his experience opening stores and traveling the nation
looking for outlets also taught him to have a good eye for a deal.
He got his start in the garment industry at the age of 15 in Israel,
selling clothes door- to-door in Tel Aviv. At 18, he bought his first
store. He was marketing his own line of men's sweaters by 20. And at
the age of 22, he came to New York to join a brother. Together they
opened a wholesale line of ladies' wear.
"As a wholesaler you sell to many retailers," says Levy. "I also owned
many stores to sell my own products. You are always looking for good
retail locations, so that gave me a sense of what's going on in the
real estate industry."
His small-business background often gave him an advantage when
evaluating distressed properties.
"Sometimes when tenants aren't paying rent, other investors are scared
away," he says. "But I can sense when the tenants are simply trying to
take advantage of an owner's bankruptcy, and when their businesses are
not good. So that has never turned me off."
Lately the garment industry in New York City has been in decline. That
has only accelerated the transition to real estate for some.
John Lam, a prominent garment manufacturer in Chinatown, is a major
hotel developer in the city. He is also building 50,000 square feet of
shopping space under the Manhattan Bridge and developing condos in
Soho, Tribeca and Woodhaven.
"The garment industry is sinking," he says. "We've got to find
something else. I've being doing real estate part time for 20 to 25
years already. I don't want to travel to Asia. So I have to find some
other vocation."
Adelipour says he left the garment industry for similar reasons. "The
garment industry has started to fade," he says. "Real estate is more
stable."
Bowles, whose study looked at a number of other cities, says New York
City is not alone in this transition.
"In Los Angeles, we found similar things with people in the garment
industry," he says. "Iranians and Armenians are prolific in the garment
trades there, and some of them have turned to real estate. The garment
trades have produced a lot of entrepreneurs in this country."
Even so, Bowles says, the number of new immigrants looking to buy a
piece of the American dream is unlikely to drop. Many new immigrants
are turning to other low-capital industries to get their first starts
as the garment industry fades -- such as cutting hair and opening
restaurants -- and in the years ahead they are likely to continue to
pour their saving into real estate, Bowles says.
"Immigrant entrepreneurs are key parts of the economic growth of cities
like New York and Los Angeles," he says. "They have been, and will
continue to be, entrepreneurial sparkplugs."
The New York Observer
Get Your Bids In!
Developers Crave Subsidies for Javits Hotel - January 8, 2007
By: Matthew Schuerman
Some of the biggest real-estate names, locally and nationally, are
drawing up plans for a 70-story hotel across the street from the Javits
Center in the West Side’s emerging Hudson Yards district,
contemplating such revenue enhancers as luxury condos and retail
boutiques to make the building work for them.
John Lam, who is one of some eight
developers who have expressed interest in bidding on the hotel
contract, nevertheless called the location “perfect”
because of its future potential. He plans to propose building 1,500
hotel rooms, about 50,000 square feet of office space, and several
floors of “hotel-condos” for owners to live in or rent out.
The hotel would consist of four different towers, arranged to avoid
putting weight on the Amtrak line, and would reach 66 stories high. Mr.
Lam wouldn’t specify what sort of subsidies he is seeking,
however, saying that he is still working on his financial plan.
“That area doesn’t have any
five-star hotels, and I see the opportunity is increasing,” said
Mr. Lam, who is the owner and founder of the Lam’s Group, which
built a Best Western just a block away from Javits and is completing
another 3,000 rooms around the city in the next three years.
“Right now, people who go to the Javits Center have to travel
quite a bit, because there are no hotels around there.”
His plan, drawn up by architect Gene
Kaufman, contrasts with a schematic design that the Javits expansion
architects drew up for illustrative purposes. That design shows just
one tower, set back from 11th Avenue, on top of a seven-story pedestal
that includes two ballrooms, an underground connection to the Javits
Center and shops.
The hotel has been touted as a crucial
adjunct to the 520,000-square-foot Javits expansion that will help
restore New York to the top tier of convention destinations, and yet
its finances have always been a bit of a mystery. The hotel is
typically described in press releases as “largely privately
financed,” but the public contribution, or benefit, is never
detailed.
The hotel has been touted as a crucial
adjunct to the 520,000-square-foot Javits expansion that will help
restore New York to the top tier of convention destinations, and yet
its finances have always been a bit of a mystery. The hotel is
typically described in press releases as “largely privately
financed,” but the public contribution, or benefit, is never
detailed.
Originally, the state was going to purchase
a vacant site at 42nd Street and 11th Avenue, a little to the north of
Javits, and lease it to a private developer. The developer would then
likely team up with a hotel chain to operate the facility.
NewYorkBusiness.com
Real estate entrepreneur
building an empire - November 2, 2006 - 6:59 am
By: Lisa Fickenscher
John Lam is one of the city's most
aggressive real estate developers, with 10 office, residential and
hotel projects in the pipeline.
John Lam came to New York City in 1969 as a Chinese immigrant, finding
work as a wage-laborer in the garment industry. Today, he is one of the
city's most aggressive real estate developers, with 10 office,
residential and hotel projects in the pipeline.
His company, The Lam's Group, is developing 3,000 new hotel rooms over
the next three years, accounting for about 20% of the new hotel
development underway in New York City. In fact, a 50-story hotel he's
building downtown at Gold and Pearl streets will become the second
tallest hotel in the Big Apple after the 52-story Four Seasons Hotel
New York.
The Lam's Group and another Chinese developer, Sam Chang are the most
active groups doing smaller hotels development in the city in terms of
the number of deals, says Thomas McConnell, senior managing director of
Cushman & Wakefield's hotel group.
"They have become one of the first calls of anything that seems
adequate for hotel development," says Mr. McConnell.
He also says there is very little downside to their aggressiveness
because the city is underserved in terms of affordable hotels, which is
their niche.
From garment worker to banker to hotelier, Mr. Lam says he has always
been an entrepreneur.
"At 14, I started sewing change purses in Hong Kong and had two people
working for me," he said. And by age 19 he owned his first factory in
New York City's Chinatown.
While running 17 factories, 14 of which were in the City, Mr. Lam
branched out into banking, after people in Chinatown kept coming to him
for money. He decided it was time to formalize the process and in 1983,
he founded East Bank and set up two branches in Chinatown.
Although his factories were generating $100 million in revenues, in
1990, Mr. Lam decided making clothes in New York was a dying industry
and the factories had become more valuable as real estate properties
than businesses.
So he seized yet another opportunity. In the mid-1990s he sold about
300,000 square feet to build condos, hotels and office buildings.
Today, he owns three hotels in the city, including the Four Point
Sheraton's in Chelsea and eight others in the works. He also owns four
apartment and office buildings here and is building two more.
The oldest of Mr. Lam's four children, Jeffrey, 24, is following in his
father's footsteps developing his own hotels-with his own investors.
The younger Mr. Lam has also recruited his three siblings to join his
company, Lam Generation.
"Maybe in the future my son, Jeff, will be my biggest competitor," Mr.
Lam says with a smile.
27-Story
Sheraton Hotel Coming to Downtown Brooklyn
First New Commercial Building to Go Up Since Rezoning Plan Adopted in
2004
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Construction fences are up and work has begun
at the site of two new upscale and "hip" hotels in Downtown Brooklyn.A
Sheraton and another, as-yet-unidentified "but hip" hotel are planned
for the site , according to the developer, John Lam of The
Lam Group, a Manhattan-based builder of hotels in the city.
This is the latest in significant development news for Downtown
Brooklyn and the first new commercial building to begin construction
since the Downtown Brooklyn Rezoning Plan — designed to create
such construction — was approved.
There has been talk of a 600-foot-tall commercial tower to be built by
Thor Equities at 120 Willoughby St., between Duffield and Gold Streets
at Flatbush Avenue Extension; and a rumor of another one at the
opposite end of the Downtown Shopping District, at Boerum Place and
Fulton Mall. But no activity has been announced on either front, and
Joseph Sitt of Thor has since put his property and the adjacent
renovated Gallery at Fulton Street, formerly the Albee Square Mall, on
the market.
The Sheraton Hotel site is on the west side of Duffield Street just
feet from the gritty Willoughby Street, but also just feet from the
glossy MetroTech campus, where the landmarked Verizon building at 101
Willoughby (7 MetroTech) is undergoing a conversion to luxury
condominiums.
The site includes two properties
— one a three-story building, the other a parking lot, with
addresses of 216-228 Duffield St.
A search of the Department of Buildings website revealed that permits
have been issued for the demolition of an existing three-story
building, which contains one retail space and two apartments (all
empty), and for the installation of the sidewalk shed and fencing. But
permits have not been approved yet for construction of the proposed
side-by-side hotels.
According to Lam, the side-by-side
hotels will be 27 stories tall, will contain a total of 500 rooms and
will share an indoor/outdoor rooftop bar which will command wide-angle
views. Community space, a restaurant and a spa and pool are also
planned.
"It will change the whole neighborhood," said an enthusiastic Lam, when
reached by phone yesterday. Lam also said that he anticipates about
1,000 business travelers a day.
"The Sheraton will be more of a formal business traveler hotel; the
other will appeal more to the hip, young population who need a place of
their own," he said, adding that Brooklyn is definitely attracting this
population now.
Describing the design by architect Gene Kaufman as "sleek," he added,
"It will have a very exciting look."
Construction is expected to begin
within one month on the first stage, the Sheraton with 320 rooms; and
within six months on the 180-room adjacent hotel, for which he does not
have a firm commitment yet. The hotels should be completed in two
years, in fall 2008.
Denying that he is a visionary in selecting this particular site, Lam
said Downtown Brooklyn definitely needed more hotel rooms, it was very
difficult to find a site and was pleased to find this one. The site is
adjacent to an 800-car underground parking development planned by the
city and also included in the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning.
As reported last year in the Brooklyn Eagle, The Lam Group purchased
the 15,000-square-foot site for $9 million. Brian Leary, a partner with
Massey Knakal Realty Services in Brooklyn, was the broker. At that
time, Leary said the rezoning would allow approximately 180,000
buildable square feet on the site. According to a DOB permit
application, Lam plans a development of about 160,000 square feet.
Leary also said last year that in a 30-day period he received multiple
offers and the sellers were pleased with "Lam's $9 million
non-contingent full price offer."
The Lam group is a very reputable hotel developer and operator in the
New York City market, Leary added.
"This is great for the downtown office district and its surrounding
communities. It will provide the borough with additional needed hotel
rooms and opportunities for more local employment." Mack Tham, the
former director of Real Estate and Development for the Brooklyn Chamber
of Commerce, who reported he has had several conversations with the
"shy and reticent" hotel developer, who is originally from Hong Kong,
is aware of at least seven major hotels Lam has built in the Greater
New York City area. These include the Holiday Inn in Chinatown, the
Clarion SoHo, the Four Points Hilton at 160 W. 25th St., the Best
Western Convention Center at 522 W. 38th St., and Lam's Convention
Center Hotel at 449 W. 36th St. — all in Manhattan; and in
Queens, the Sheraton at JFK and the Super 8 in Jamaica.
The New York Sun
Hospitality's Outlook
Couldn't Be Rosier- August 31, 2006
Over the next year and a half, thousands of
individuals will be visiting New York and trying to find a hotel room.
They're in for some good news: During that time we can expect close to
5,000 new rooms in New York City — about 4,000 of those will come
on line in Manhattan.
Financiers are just as optimistic. "The ever increasing demand for
hotel room availability is still not offset by any of the new supply
discussed," the international head of hospitality lending and senior
vice president, HSH Nordbank, Frank Anderson, said. "The lack of a
convention center hotel solution is still troublesome. The key remains
if any prolonged cooling of the residential condo market takes root to
slow down hotel to residential conversions."
One of the most aggressive developers, John Lam of the Lam Group, plans
to put as many as 1,200 hotel rooms into inventory over the next
several years. Mr. Lam, who is also a garment industry executive,
already owns and operates three hotels in the city, including the
18-month-old Four Points Sheraton in Chelsea at 158 West 25th St.
Another five are in the works, including a 500-room Sheraton in Times
Square located at 326 West 40th St.
Crain's New York Business
New accommodations;
Developer plans two
brand-name, midpriced hotels near Times Square- October 31, 2005
The developer of a key site near the Port
Authority Bus Terminal plans to split his property in two and bring a
new, affordable hotel brand to the city.
The Lam Group had originally planned to
build a 250-room Sheraton Four Points Hotel on the site at West 40th
Street and Eighth Avenue. Now it will also build a Marriott Fairfield
Inn adjacent to the Sheraton. The hotels will share a
rooftop restaurant and lounge. Construction is expected to begin before
the end of this year, and the hotels should open in 2007.
Hung Luk, executive director of hotel and
real estate holdings for The Lam Group, says Manhattan is underserved
by affordable franchise properties.
"We think there is a great opportunity in
New York for that segment,'' adds Liam Brown, senior vice president of
Marriott's Fairfield Inn hotels.
The Fairfield Inn will charge room rates of
between $180 and $220 and compete with Holiday Inn Express, Hilton
Garden Inn and others.
Room rates at the Sheraton Four Points in
Chelsea, also owned by The Lam Group, begin in the low $200s. The Lam
Group is building another Sheraton Four
Points in SoHo.
New York lags behind other cities in the
country in terms of development of affordable hotels. Outside of New
York, the majority of the hotel development has been focused on budget
properties.
"It's been the opposite experience in
Manhattan,'' says Thomas McConnell, senior managing director of the
hotel group at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. "Most of the hotels being
built here are four- and five-star properties.''
The affordable hotels in the city have been
independently owned, rather than owned by big brands such as Sheraton
and Marriott.
Crain's New York Business
Conversions spur new
hotels; But developers move outside Midtown corridor; a short-term dip
- July 25, 2005
"With the closure of so many rooms, the
buyers [of those hotels] concluded that it made sense to keep the
properties as hotels,'' says Mark Gordon. What is changing, however, is
the geography of where the new hotels are being planned and built. With
the traditional midtown area between Third and Sixth avenues overbuilt,
developers are moving to less developed areas such as the lower East
Side, Chinatown, Harlem and the far West Side.
One of the most aggressive developers, John
Lam of The Lam Group, plans to put as many as 1,200 hotel rooms into
inventory over the next several years. Mr. Lam, who is also a garment
industry executive, already owns and operates three hotels in the city,
including the 18-month-old Four Points Sheraton in Chelsea. Another
five are in the works, including a 500-room Sheraton in Times Square.
Crain's New York Business
Budget hotels home in on
West Side- July 11, 2005
The Lam Group is developing the 10-story
Howard Johnson as part of its strategy to build 1,200 hotel rooms in
New York City over the next two years. President John Lam says he will
begin construction in September on two
properties in downtown Brooklyn: a 300-room Sheraton and a 180-room
Hilton Garden. Mr. Lam bought the Hudson Yards property in 2003 for
$950,000, public records show.
Business Wire
Starwood's First
Mid-Priced Property in Manhattan Celebrates Opening- March 4,
2004
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide,
Inc. (NYSE: HOT), the largest hotel operator in Manhattan, has opened
its first mid-priced property in New York City- The Four Points by
Sheraton Manhattan Chelsea.
"Adding this Four Points by Sheraton
property confirms our commitment to meet the demand for quality
full-service hotels in the mid-priced market, a true distinction for
the brand," said Hoyt Harper, the brand's senior vice president.
"Bringing the Four Points by Sheraton brand to Manhattan adds great
value to Starwood's already strong presence in New York City.
The Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan
Chelsea is not only unique in its urban center location, but also in
its styling - representative of what one will come to expect from Four
Points by Sheraton as the brand continues to grow. In
addition to the sleek decor, all guest rooms are spacious and feature a
comfortable workspace and two telephones with dataport, free high-speed
Internet access (HSIA) and complimentary bottled water.
Hospitalitynet.org
-July 24, 2003
Located in Manhattan on 25th Street
between 6th and 7th Avenues, the full-service, 18-story Four Points by
Sheraton will feature 158 guest rooms, including two suites, and a wide
range of amenities and services at an affordable price, including an
on-site restaurant, business services center, fitness center, room
service and 400 square feet of meeting space.
"Business and leisure travelers alike will be drawn to this property,"
said Hung Luk, principal. "Business travelers recently named Four
Points the 'top mid-price with food and beverage' brand in Business
Travel News' annual Top U.S. Hotel Chain Survey. Leisure travelers will
love the neighborhood with its abundance of theaters, art galleries,
museums, excellent restaurants and outstanding shopping."
The Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan is located at 160 West 25th
Street, New York, N.Y., (212) 627-1888, and is expected to open in
October 2003. For reservations, call (888) 625-5144 or visit the
hotel's Web site: www.fourpoints.com.
Chelsea Grand, LLC is one of many hotel projects developed by the
investment group headed by John Lam and Hung Luk. The group, known as
the Majestic Group, is based out of New York City. In the past five
years, the group has developed more than 10 hotels, primarily in New
York. The Majestic Group has four additional sites ready for
development starting in the latter part of the year.
Crain's New York Business
Real Estate Watch:
Chelsea gains two new inn spots; Orient
Construction to simultaneously build 20-story hotels on parking lots-
February 26, 2001
Orient construction Group Inc. is building a
pair of budget hotels on the sites of two recently purchased Chelsea
parking lots.
The firm, which belongs to local hotel
developers John Lam and Hung Luk, plans to simultaneously construct
20-story hotels of about 100 rooms each at 108-110 W. 24th St. and
158-162 W. 25th St.
Orient expects to break ground this spring
and be ready for occupancy in the summer of 2002. The firm hasn't yet
chosen the hotel flags under which it will operate the properties.
Crain's NY Business Magazine
Developing a place for
3,000 city jobs- April 23, 1990
John Lam's story reads like a
movie script. A Hong Kong emigrant and high school dropout, he built
one of New York's largest garment manufacturing operations from
scratch.
"He's the best person we have to lead this major initiative," says
Colin Woodhouse, deputy commissioner of the Ports & Trade
Department. "He's got stature in New York and a global operation."
Unlike other city garment manufacturers, Mr. Lam also developed the
habit of treating employees fairly. His factory workers are members of
the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, and many of his
factory directors have been given part ownership of their operations.
He also has been instrumental in organizing a child-care center for
garment workers.
Crain's NY Business Magazine
How to succeed: four
textbook examples- April 23, 1990
Sometimes star quality means going against
the grain. That's what the fourth Crain's All-Star Team has done --
distinguished itself in an environment beset by a daunting array of
difficulties.
Two of them have scored notable successes in
sectors that many business people currently consider an uphill battle
-- real estate and garment manufacturing. Another has boosted a small
family business in one of New York's most difficult industries --
supermarkets. The other has defied a compelling trend toward mergers
and among major accounting firms.
While noteworthy for their business acumen
and accomplishments, these men are also addressing some of New York's
knottiest social problems by devoting their energies to education and
youth, the ill and the disadvantaged.
This year's honorees were selected from a
field of reader nominations by the editorial board of Crain's New York
usiness:
John Lam, president, John Lam Fashions Inc.
In a mere two decades, this Hong Kong native has distinguished himself
by building manufacturing and import operations valued at about $80
million. He is now developing a garment manufacturing center in Queens
that could employ 3,000 people.
Crain's NY Business Magazine
Crain's picks '89
business all-star team-March 26, 1990
On Wall Street, contrarians are those who
bet against the prevailing investment attitude. Among the Crain's New
York Business all-stars they are business executives whose
accomplishments, oftentimes against the odds and
usually the current wisdom, set them apart from their peers.
The 1989 Crain's All-Star Team is a diverse group of executives who
share in common one uncommon trait: They have been willing to do the
unexpected, even the controversial.
John Lam
John Lam knows what it means to rise up from inauspicious beginnings.
He immigrated here from Hong Kong 20 years ago. Although he never
finished high school, Mr. Lam has become the city's premier silk
importer and garment contractor.
At a time when the New York garment business is shrinking, Mr. Lam
seeks expansion. He's trying to spur development in College Point,
Queens, with two projects intended to attract garment contractors to
the borough. His plan is to build 50 factories, showrooms and a hotel.
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