A Morgan Stanley-backed group appears to have the inside track to become the new financial adviser to Pakistan International Airlines, or PIA, as it decides what to do with the precious Roosevelt Hotel site in Midtown East, sources told The Post on Monday.
The consortium would replace JLL, which checked out of the role last summer.
PIA, which answers to the Pakistani government, was recently reported by Saudi Arabia-based daily Arab News to be weighing proposals from seven potential groups to advise on the Roosevelt’s future and to facilitate any deal. The Morgan Stanley team would include CBRE, Manhattan’s most prolific commercial brokerage.
Nothing about PIA’s plans could immediately be confirmed.
One source cautioned, “The Roosevelt owners have played with one scenario after another for at least 10 years and never did anything.”
A JLL team headed by the firm’s regional CEO Peter Riguardi resigned from the account last summer. A Pakistani government agency attributed JLL’s move to its wish to avoid any “perceived or actual conflict of interest,” as the firm represents several clients said to be interested in the site.
Since then, PIA has not announced a new financial adviser, a role that would include essentially brokering an outright sale of the site or a partial sale with a development partner. Arab News claimed that PIA would “fast-track” choosing a new adviser this month.
But one skeptical, prominent Manhattan investment-sales dealmaker said, “Who knows? It’s been a colossal waste of time, mostly because the property is tied to the government of Pakistan and their military leaders which turn over pretty consistently.”
While JLL’s departure was attributed to potential for “conflict of interest,” it isn’t uncommon for major Manhattan brokerages to work both sides of a deal.
“It often helps to make a sale or a lease easier,” an insider said. “They put up a so-called ‘Chinese wall’ between the two negotiating teams and it generally holds up.”
Nor is it unheard of for brokers to rep developers hoping to build in the same areas. Moreover, JLL’s client list — which includes both leading developers and tenants — was no secret to either the brokerage or to PIA when the airline tapped JLL in February 2024.
Riguardi declined to comment. Emails to PIA seeking comment weren’t returned.
As previously reported in The Post, Pakistan’s government needs the dough from a Roosevelt sale to help support a $7 billion bailout arrangement with the International Monetary Fund.
The Roosevelt site between Madison and Vanderbilt avenues and between East 44th and East 45th streets is one of Manhattan’s most valuable pieces of land, situated in an East Midtown corridor where prestigious tenants have flocked to new office developments near Grand Central Terminal.
The shuttered hotel lies amidst the new JP Morgan Chase headquarters tower at 270 Park Ave., a future Boston Properties (BXP) tower at 343 Madison Ave., and an unspecified SL Green development site on the former Brooks Brothers store at 346 Madison.
A new office tower at the Roosevelt site could have as much as 1.8 million square feet under Midtown zoning that allows large-size bonuses in exchange for significant pedestrian and transit improvements.
The 1,000-room Roosevelt Hotel has been vacant since the city in June terminated a contract with PIA to use it as a migrant shelter.
PIA has repeatedly changed its mind about what to do with the property since it took control in 2000. It was reported at different times that the airline would pursue an outright sale or seek a majority or minority development partner.
In the latest twist, Pakistan privatization official Muhammad Ali told Arab News earlier this month the building might not be demolished anytime soon, but would reopen as a hotel.
That suggestion drew laughs from Manhattan hotel experts who said reopening it would take at least a year just to clean up the mess left behind by a year of migrant occupation.
“By that time, the markets for both offices and hotels might have changed,” one industry insider scoffed.
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