Balazs eyeing Hotel Chelsea purchase?

Andre Balazs and the Hotel Chelsea

Ian Schrager wasn’t interested in buying the legendary Hotel Chelsea, but Page Six suspects that hotelier Andre Balazs might be. The Standard Hotel mastermind was spotted lingering around the lobby at 222 West 23rd Street last week with its management “for hours,” the New York Post reported, sparking rumors that he is plotting a rehabilitation of the 127-year-old property akin to the one he staged at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, Calif. It wouldn’t be the first time Balazs had set his sights on the Chelsea, which hit the market in October and is said to be asking around $90 million. In 2007, when his former business associates were installed as managers of the hotel, he apparently made a failed attempt to acquire it. Still, a spokesperson for Balazs has dismissed the rumors of a second try as “pure speculation.” [Post]