Marger is a trusted advisor guiding clients through the commercial real estate lifecycle. He focuses on sales, acquisitions and development, and his experience includes both single asset and portfolio transactions. He is based in Reed Smith’s New York City office and has been with the firm for 25 years. 

Based on a referral from Marcus & Millichap brokers, Marger represented the buyer on the $55.5 million acquisition of New York’s historic Martinique Hotel, by Oklahoma City-based developer, Burnett Equity. In addition to managing the purchase of this historic property, he assisted the Marcus & Millichap team in creatively overcoming numerous challenges: the property was unionized, it shared a ground lease with a nearly vacant retail area, and it had filed for bankruptcy in 2020 after COVID-19 shuttered its operations. The hotel required a costly façade restoration impacting its appraised value.

The sale was accomplished after new retail leases were obtained and the ground lease was restructured – steps also complicated by the pandemic. In spite of this unprecedented context, Marger consummated the deal in less than a year, allowing the boutique Greely Square property to reopen in early 2022 as a Curio Collection by Hilton property. The deal was hailed as “miraculous,” given that prior owner Herald Hotel owed up to $50 million when the property was foreclosed after the leaseholder died.

This is the second time Marger took the lead on a transaction recognized as a REBNY Most Ingenious Deal of the Year. In 2009, he led on a complex New York Times Building financing lease structuring for another client.