INVESTMENT
The Long Game
GENCOM’ S KARIM ALIBHAI MAKES DEALS ON HIS OWN TERMS.
By DAVID EISEN
T
hree may be a crowd, but for Karim Alibhai, founder and principal of Miami-based hotel investment firm
Gencom, it’ s the perfect number. In New York, at least. There, he is banking on The City That Never Sleeps has travelers who will, in three hotels the company acquired all within the last two years.
In 2024, Gencom acquired the 587-room Thompson Central Park, the erstwhile Le Parker Méridien, for a reported $ 380 million or $ 647,000 per key. A year later, Gencom struck again, dealing for the 607- room, 34-story InterContinental New York Times Square, in a joint venture with Argent Ventures and Highgate, which operates the property.( Alibhai is a longtime friend with brothers Mahmood Khimji and Mehdi Khimji, who founded Highgate in 1988.) Its third, most recent deal was for the 253-room Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park.
Transacting three times in the span of 16 months is evidence of conviction in a market typified by deep demand combined with pricing power and high barriers of entry. Alibhai’ s mantra of“ attach and attack,” the idea of acquiring assets, pairing with a strong operator and focusing on improvement and
Gencom acquired the 607-room InterContinental New York Times Square in 2025 alongside Argent Ventures and Highgate.
cashflow typifies Gencom’ s strong swing into New York. It also never hurts that the city is New York.“ It never dies,” Alibhai said.
The supply and demand balance still favors property owners in New York, though CoStar expects 4,852 new room openings this year, the highest of any city in the U. S. Still, Alibhai said deals can be had at below replacement cost.
Beyond real estate fundamentals, Alibhai called attention to the lack of players chasing deals over the last few years, which allowed Gencom to deal-make on its own terms.“ None of the foreign capital was really coming in and private equity was noticeably absent, worried about the union contracts that were being renewed this year,” he said.( Hotel unions also played a large hand in effectively dismantling Airbnb’ s traditional business model in the city.)
Alibhai believes Gencom got into New York at the right time to ride what he
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