New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Monday that the city will terminate its $220 million lease agreement with the Roosevelt Hotel, owned by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), following criticism over taxpayer funds being used to house asylum seekers.
The Roosevelt Hotel, which closed in 2020 due to financial losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, reopened in 2023 as a shelter for migrants sent to liberal states by Texas’ conservative governor. The facility served as a key processing center, handling 75% of migrants arriving in the city. At its peak, the hotel accommodated tens of thousands of asylum seekers across its 1,025 rooms at an estimated cost of $200 per night.
Adams, under pressure from both the federal government and right-wing critics, attributed the closure to successful emergency response efforts, stating that it would save millions in taxpayer dollars. The number of weekly migrant arrivals has sharply declined from 4,000 in 2023 to around 350.
The New York City administration signed a three-year lease for the hotel in June 2023. By February 2024, as Pakistan moved closer to privatizing the loss-making PIA, the caretaker government signed a joint venture agreement with a U.S. consortium for the hotel’s redevelopment. In August, the Privatisation Commission’s board recommended a joint venture as the most viable option.
The 19-story Roosevelt Hotel, named after former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, first opened in 1924 and was once a luxury destination for America’s elite. Today, its primary occupants are asylum seekers, mostly from Latin America.
PIA has held ownership of the hotel since 2000, after initially leasing it in 1979 and later acquiring full control from Saudi Prince Faisal bin Khalid.
