Possible contenders Ian Schrager (top) and Andre Balazs with the Hotel ChelseaA mystery buyer has agreed to buy the Hotel Chelsea for more than $80 million, triumphing over a pool of luminaries that for months have fueled intense speculation about the future of the landmark West 23rd Street property, Eastdil Secured broker Douglas Harmon confirmed to the Wall Street Journal. But the speculation doesn’t end here. Previously reported front-runners for the takeover of the legendary hotel included hoteliers Ian Schrager and Andre Balazs, former manager Stanley Bard and Tristar Capital’s David Edelstein. (On Monday, a tenant-written blog reported that Edelstein had emerged the victor, which a hotel spokesperson quickly denied). Today, the rumor mill churned out a few fresh names, including Aby Rosen, pop singer Marc Anthony and Google. [more]

The Hotel Chelsea and David Edelstein

Is the Hotel Chelsea sale a done deal? The rumor mill has been churning out a slew of new reports today about the impending transfer of power at the legendary West 23rd Street landmark, and tenant-written blog Living With Legends has heard that Tristar Capital head David Edelstein has emerged the winner. The Post had reported last month that Edelstein, a former cab driver and the developer behind the W Hotels in South Beach and London, was the current front-runner for the 250-room hotel, and that he was likely convert the property to a condominium. [more]

The Hotel Chelsea and David Edelstein

The landmark Hotel Chelsea could go the condominium-hotel route under the ownership of a new front-runner in the closely watched bidding process for the 127-year-old property. According to the Post, David Edelstein, president of New York-based Tristar Capital and developer of the W Hotels in South Beach and London, is seen as a top contender for the 250-room hotel, which is said to be asking close to $100 million and has drawn interest from the likes of Andre Balazs and Ian Schrager. [more]

One Kenmare Square and Andre Balazs

The 11,400-square-foot duplex retail condominium at One Kenmare Square has hit the market for $17.25 million, according to the Observer. The ground and lower floors of the glassy Soho building, developed by Andre Balazs and Cape Advisors at 211 Lafayette Street, are currently home to furniture retailer Mitchell Gold, and will be through March 2017, when its lease expires. The developers have tapped the Eastern Consolidated team of Ronald Solarz, Eric Anton and Eric Weinberg to market the space, which contains 7,400 square feet on the ground floor and 4,000 in the basement, connected by a stairwell and elevator. [NYO] [more]

Andre Balazs isn’t the only big-name hotelier with his eye on the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey’s boutique hotel project at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The Wall Street Journal dropped a few more hints today as to who might soon be jockeying for the opportunity to build a 150-room hotel adjacent to Eero Saarinen’s Trans World Airlines Flight Center, among them: Donald Trump, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and pod hotel owner-operator Yotel. Comments

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Andre Balazs and the former Trans World Airlines Flight Center

Hotelier Andre Balazs is one of several developers scoping out Eero Saarinen’s vacant terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport after the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey offered up the opportunity to build a new boutique hotel there earlier this month. According to the Wall Street Journal, Balazs’ firm — as well as Hoboken W Hotel builder Ironstate Development and WQB Architecture, which was responsible for the Lambs Club building hotel conversion on West 44th Street — appeared on a list of attendees at a recent site visit. [more]

Stanley Bard and Hotel Chelsea

The one-time manager of the Hotel Chelsea is angling to buy out the property, as fears over tenant evictions mount, according to the New York Post. Residents at the 250-room landmark at 222 West 23rd Street have grown concerned about losing their homes, after developers recently began vying for the $100 million building near Eighth Avenue. Stanley Bard, who ran the hotel for 50 years, said that he isn’t “completely happy with what’s happened there,” and said that he would buy the remaining shares at the building for a reasonable price. [more]

One Kenmare Square and developer Andre Balazs

From the February issue: First it was the Bowery. Now it’s Kenmare Street. The strip of retail, restaurants and mixed-used apartment buildings — which stretches from the Bowery over a few blocks to Lafayette, terminating with the iconic One Kenmare Square, codeveloped by Andre Balazs — started gentrifying about five years ago. But recently the activity and turnover there has ramped up. Once a forgotten continuation of Delancey Street, Kenmare was home to parking garages, auto mechanics, run-down bodegas, and psychics. But new restaurants and retailers are now opening alongside the parking garages and closed storefronts. “There is a huge, dramatic change going on there on Kenmare Street,” said James Famularo, managing director of retail at New York Commercial Realty Services. [more]

Ian Schrager (top), Andre Balazs and Hotel ChelseaAs hoteliers bid on the $100 million Chelsea Hotel property, residents are hoping for a merciful landlord, since half of the rooms there are rented to tenants who fear eviction by the next owner. “Everyone is very uneasy,” a resident told the Post. “We don’t know what our fate is.” Rival hoteliers Andre Balazs and Ian Schrager
have been spotted checking out the 250-room landmark at 222 West 23rd Street.
Several bids are reportedly in, but no deal has been made. “Management has already been whittling down the tenants,” according to one source. [more]

Ian Schrager and the Hotel ChelseaIs hotelier Ian Schrager having second thoughts about passing up the chance to own the storied Hotel Chelsea? He told Bloomberg News last month that he didn’t see enough potential in the site, even though “it’s a sexy asset with an incredibly sexy history and we felt obliged to take a look at it.” But Page Six now reports that Schrager was spotted touring the 250-room landmark just yesterday, and that he has even put in a bid. The Standard hotel owner Andre Balazs was also reportedly seen touring the property, at 222 West 23rd Street, last week. Sources said that there have so far been at least five or six bids on the Chelsea, which is said to be asking close to $100 million. [Post]
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