April 3- A branch of Istithmar, the overseas investment arm of Dubai World, has asked the courts to intervene after last week’s bankruptcy filing by the owners of the W Union Square Hotel. The unit, called Union Square Real Holding Corp, said that the bankrupt lender/hotel owner group threatened to file a voluntary bankruptcy petition for the W Hotel as well but do not have the authority to do so.
Hotels Union Square Mezz 1 filed for bankruptcy protection on March 23 in Wilmington, Delaware federal bankruptcy court. The company is an entity of LEM Mezzanine which is in turn a sister company to Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds. The move stopped a foreclosure auction for the W Hotel located in the Union Square area of Manhattan that had been scheduled.
Istithmar bought the hotel in 2006 for $285 million. It lost control of the hotel in a December foreclosure auction to Hotels Union Square Mezz 1.
