NEW YORK CITY-The buyer of the Hotel Chelsea, for a time a guarded secret, was disclosed in May to be New York real estate investor Joseph Chetrit and developer Clipper Equities. Now, GlobeSt.com has learned the source of their financing for that purchase.

Meridian Capital Group has arranged $85 million in acquisition and renovation financing for the partnership, which plans a series of extensive renovations to position the hotel in the city’s much-loved boutique hotel space.

“There haven’t been significant dollars invested in this asset in quite some time and I think it’s their plan to really reposition it and bring it to its highest and best use and put capital to work in this asset to bring it up to the comp set of some of the better boutique hotels that are on the market,” Meridian Capital Group managing director Ronnie Levine tells GlobeSt.com. Levine worked with Aaron Birnbaum, a partner and EVP at the firm, on the deal.

Financing for the building--a landmark--consists of a 36-month balance sheet loan provided by Natixis, a French investment bank. The loan’s rate is LIBOR-based and includes a 12-month extension option.

A spokesman for MCG says that the firm “is working on a significant number of other hotel financings in New York and elsewhere.”

Levine declined to say what, exactly, the hotel’s renovations would entail, saying only that “it will be a significant upgrade to the existing conditions.” However, a New York Times article cites the architect hired for the renovations as saying that the building’s charm, and art, would be preserved and that the rehab would focus on systems such as electric and ventilation.