Check out time at Luxury Migrant Shelter!

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced the impending closure of the Roosevelt Hotel, which has been utilized as a migrant shelter since May 2023.

The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City is currently owned by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the state-run airline of Pakistan. PIA has held full ownership of the hotel since 2000, after acquiring the remaining stake from Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who had been a co-owner following a joint purchase in the late 1990s.

The hotel, a historic landmark in Midtown Manhattan since it opened in 1924, was originally leased by PIA in 1979 before they bought it outright two decades later. Right now, it’s under a three-year lease to the New York City government, signed in 2023, to serve as a migrant intake center, but ownership remains with PIA. So, basically, the US was paying Pakistan to house illegal (and maybe some legal) immigrants.

Plans are afloat to potentially redevelop the site into a mixed-use mega-tower, with realtors JLL tapped as the agent in 2024, though no sale has happened yet. So, as of today, February 24, 2025, PIA still owns it.

The hotel processed over 173,000 migrants, but with a significant drop in weekly arrivals, plans are underway to transform the facility back to its original use. This decision aims to alleviate financial burdens on taxpayers while addressing the evolving needs of migrant intake in the city.

Betcha it doesn’t look like this anymore!