Hilton Hotel in Time Square to close permanently
Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferre joins The First Trade with Brian Sozzi to discuss the permanent closing of the iconic Hilton Times Square.
Video Transcript
BRIAN SOZZI: Hilton looks to be closing up shop in the once crowded Times Square. Ines Ferre has those details. Ines, Times Square is a ghost town. Not surprised to hear this.
INES FERRE: It is emptying out, it seems. The Hilton hotel on West 42nd Street, it's owned by Sunstone Hotel Investors, gave notice to the State of New York explaining that it will be shutting down because of unforeseeable business circumstances prompted by COVID-19. The closure will impact some 200 employees who had been furloughed. And this was the big fear, that those furloughs would become permanent job losses, and that is what will happen to these jobs, these 200 jobs, which will become permanent job losses starting on October 1.
Now, Sunstone had reportedly not made payments on the mortgage since April or rent on the ground lease since March. New York City, of course, like many other cities, but especially New York City has been hit hard because of the pandemic. The hotel business is a slow one to recover. The city depends on travelers, on tourists, business travelers, and we all know that we're not sure exactly when business travel will come back the way it had before the pandemic. So certainly an iconic hotel in the heart of Times Square, which will be closing. Brian.
