By Billy Hathorn at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0,
The Mayor of New York City announced on Monday the termination of the city’s $220 million lease with the Roosevelt Hotel, which is owned by Pakistan International Airlines. This decision follows criticism regarding the use of American taxpayers’ funds to accommodate asylum seekers.
The hotel had been closed since 2020 due to ongoing financial difficulties stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic but reopened in 2023 to serve as a shelter for asylum seekers sent to liberal states by the conservative governor of Texas.
Mayor Eric Adams, under pressure from both the federal government and right-wing factions, declared the closure of the facility on Monday. He attributed this decision to the administration’s effective emergency response and policy choices, emphasizing that it would result in significant savings for taxpayers. The hotel had reportedly provided accommodation for tens of thousands of migrants in its 1,025 rooms, with an estimated nightly cost of $200.
The city has experienced a notable decrease in weekly migrant arrivals, falling from a peak of 4,000 during the crisis in 2023 to around 350 currently. The Roosevelt Hotel was a crucial processing center, managing approximately 75 percent of the migrants arriving in the city. In June 2023, the government initiated a three-year lease of the hotel to the New York City Administration for a total of $220 million.
In February 2024, the interim government entered into an agreement with a consortium from the United States to collaboratively develop the Roosevelt Hotel, coinciding with the nearing completion of the privatization process for the financially struggling Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Subsequently, in August of the same year, the board of the Privatisation Commission put forth a recommendation that a joint venture would be the most appropriate transaction structure for the hotel.
The 19-story establishment, which boasts 1,025 rooms and is named after former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, first welcomed guests in 1924, nearly a century ago. Currently, the majority of its occupants are undocumented refugees from neighboring Latin American countries, although there are also some from more distant areas.
In 1979, American real estate developer Paul Milstein leased the hotel to PIA. In 2000, PIA, in partnership with Saudi Prince Faisal bin Khalid, acquired the hotel, after which PIA took over Prince Faisal’s ownership interest.
