A $232 million loan backed by the Westin New York at Times Square, an 863-room hotel in Midtown Manhattan, was sent to a special servicer yesterday, according to Fitch Ratings.

Special servicers often perform workouts for loans that have become troubled after being sold as commercial mortgage-backed securities. The Westin loan has a final maturity date of March 11, 2012, after the hotel’s owner, Tishman Hotel & Realty, exercised three one-year extension options, Fitch said in a September report.

“We’ve voluntarily opted to have the Westin New York’s loan transferred into special servicing in order to allow us to have discussions with the lender about possible refinancing options,” John Gallagher, a Tishman spokesman, said in an e-mail.

The master servicer is Bank of America and the special servicer is CWCapital Asset Management, according to Fitch.