On Feb. 17, two days before news broke of an “agreement” for the US General Services Administration to team up with the Pakistani government to redevelop the Roosevelt Hotel, Pakistan’s Muhammad Ali, an advisor to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, had this to say on Pakistani news station AAJ:
The Roosevelt “will be privatized through a joint-venture or redevelopment model rather than a direct sale,” Ali said. He envisioned a “joint venture” where Pakistan would “contribute the land while a private partner would inject around $1 billion” into a skyscraper project to replace the empty, 100-year hotel that’s technically owned by Pakistan International Airlines.
But of course, the JV idea has only been kicking around for five years. And in any event, how can the GSA — a federal bureaucracy that owns and manages buildings for federal employees — possibly kick-start Pakistan’s confused campaign to cash in on the Roosevelt, which it urgently needs to help pay $7 billion it owes to the International Monetary Fund?
The questions about the Roosevelt, which commands one of Manhattan’s choicest development sites on Madison Avenue between East 44th and 44th streets, had real estate insiders scratching their heads.
The announcement Thursday seemed to catch Washington flat-footed. The White House referred questions to the GSA, which got back to The Post Friday morning with a statement that did zero to explain exactly what the agency could accomplish for the Pakistanis that a succession of brokerages, banks and advisors couldn’t.
“This agreement embodies the Trump Administration’s dedication to diplomacy and our nation’s economic prosperity,” said GSA Administrator Edward C. Forst. “GSA looks forward to working with the government of Pakistan on this project.”
Thanks for nothing, guys! A GSA source told us on background that the “memorandum of understanding” merely “establishes a structured, time-bound framework for joint evaluation of the technical, commercial, and economic parameters of cooperation, reflecting a shared commitment to transparent, disciplined, and mutually beneficial progress.”
And, given the Roosevelt’s prime location and “the complexity of New York zoning and municipal processes, institutional coordination aims to reduce execution risk, enhance regulatory clarity, and maximize transaction value.”
Got it?
In other words, the Roosevelt site’s future remains as murky as ever.
The Pakistani owners have led Roosevelt-watchers on a merry chase ever since the pandemic forced the closing of the Roosevelt in 2020.
In February 2024, we first reported that PIA had tapped prominent brokerage JLL to market the Roosevelt site to developers and investors.
In April 2025, when the 1,000 room hotel was still occupied by migrants, Bloomberg reported a company called Burkhan World Investments pitched the Pakistan government on a deal to partner in a joint venture to redevelop the property in a scheme where PIA would retain 50% ownership.
Two months later, Realty Check reported that the investment company never approached anyone at PIA about the idea, but submitted it only to a state privatization committee. Nothing more came of it.
Although Tishman Speyer, SL Green and Related Companies were said to have expressed interest, JLL and PIA went their separate ways last summer for reasons never made fully clear.
Meanwhile, Pakistani “sources” told journalists that the Roosevelt would be renovated and reopened as a hotel — an idea that drew hoots from insiders who said it would take at least a year to make the hotel habitable again.
Next, in November, Saudi Arabia-based daily Arab News reported that with JLL out of the picture, PIA was “weighing proposals from seven potential groups” to advise on the hotel and facilitate any deal. Realty Check next reported the likely choice of a consortium would be led by Morgan Stanley and include CBRE.
Nothing came of that, either.
Then came last week’s vague announcement of US-Pakistani cooperation. President Trump’s special envoy Steven Witkoff, a veteran of Big Apple real estate wars, brokered the deal.
Surely he knows something we don’t?
