Andre Balazs and the Cooper Square Hotel

Hotelier Andre Balazs is planning to reconfigure the Cooper Square Hotel into a “cost-conscious… center of a community,” and not a nuisance for its neighbors, he told the Wall Street Journal, following “mistakes” made by the hotel’s previous owner.

“I know the guys who built [the Cooper Square Hotel] originally, and I thought they miscalculated a bunch of things,” said Balazs, who purchased the hotel at 25 Cooper square, in November 2011 from Westport Capital Partners and has made plans to turn the property into a more subdued version of his first Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District. [more]

With his deal to buy the Cooper Square Hotel set to close today, the New York Post reported that Andre Balazs will transform the hotel into the Standard East Village. Balazs will spruce up the 105 rooms, renovate the public space and redo the recently opened restaurant on the 21-story building’s ground floor, now called the Trilby.

Rumors of Balazs’ take over of the hotel first surfaced in August and were confirmed in September when he applied to renew the liquor license at the hotel. He took control of the hotel less than a year after Westport Capital Partners bought it for $70.9 million. [more]

Andre Balazs and the Cooper Square HotelHotelier Andre Balazs has officially taken over the Cooper Square Hotel, EV Grieve reported, citing community board documents that show the nightlife magnate is applying for a liquor license transfer.

Balazs, who owns the Standard hotel in the Meatpacking District, was rumored to be taking over the hotel last month — just eight months after it changed hands for $70.9 million. But buyers, Westport Capital Partners, put the 21-story East Village hotel, off of Cooper Square between East 5th and 6th streets, on the market with Eastdil Secured brokers Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies. [more]

New York City hotelier and residential developer Andre Balazs is reportedly adding another hotel to his ever-expanding portfolio in the form of the Cooper Square Hotel at 25 Cooper Square near Astor Place. According to Hotel Chatter, Balazs could take control of the property as early as Sept 1.

A representative for the hotel declined to comment on the prospective sale, but staffers are already aware of the takeover, according to a tipster.

Westport Capital Partners, the mezzanine lender that took over the hotel in a debt restructuring deal valued at $70.9 million late last year, tapped Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies of Eastdil Secured to market the 21-story hotel earlier this year. [more]

Anbau Enterprises paid $18.5 million for a parking lot in the Flatiron District, and plans to turn it into a glass condominium with a highly unique exterior that extends beyond the brick structures surrounding it, the Wall Street Journal reported. The land, at 39-41 West 23rd Street, was previously owned by Horizen Global, a small company with a pre-downturn plan to build a glass hotel by Cooper Square Hotel architect Carlos Zapata on the site. The design — which architecture scholar John Messengale compared to Gehry’s IAC building in Chelsea — prompted the local community board to request that City Planning not grant a permit for the building, which is located in the landmarked Ladies’ Mile Historic District. [more]

The mezzanine lender that took over the Cooper Square Hotel in a debt restructuring deal late last year is now ready to unload the property. According to the Post, Westport Capital Partners has tapped Douglas Harmon and Adam Spies of Eastdil Secured to market the 21-story East Village hotel, which was built around an old tenement building at 27 Cooper Square and debuted in late 2008 after years of delays. It ran into financial trouble soon after, and last year, as restructuring talks were ongoing, the owners of the Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand hotels had come close to purchasing the 145-room property but pulled out of the deal at the eleventh hour. Instead, Westport took control in a transaction valued at $70.9 million, The Real Deal reported at the time. [more]

The developers of the Cooper Square Hotel have handed the property over to mezzanine lender Westport Capital Partners as part of an “amicable” loan restructuring deal reached late last year, managing partner Klaus Ortlieb said.

The striking, 21-story East Village hotel, which was built around an old tenement building at 27 Cooper Square, debuted in late 2008 after years of delays. But it wasn’t long before the owners ran into financial trouble, and the following December, commercial lender WestLB filed to foreclose on $52 million in loans backed by the 145-room hotel. Restructuring talks had been ongoing since then.

Late last year, rumors had surfaced that the owners of the Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand hotels were “very close” to purchasing the Cooper Square Hotel outright, but were later squelched by Ortlieb and his team, who released a statement at the time asserting that the hotel would not be purchased by an outside party. [more]

[Updated 3:52 p.m.] The Cooper Square Hotel, which was rumored earlier this month to be “very close” to a sale to the owners of both the Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand, “will not be purchased by an outside party,” a representative for the hotel told The Real Deal in an e-mail this morning. “The hotel [at 25 Cooper Square and Bowery] will continue to operate under managing partner Klaus Ortlieb and his team,” the rep said, adding that a new restaurant is in the works, so stay tuned for an announcement after the New Year. A representative for the Grand hotels declined to comment. TRD

A rumor that the Cooper Square Hotel, at 25 Cooper Square and Bowery Street, was going to be sold to the same people who run the Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand was confirmed last night at Community Board 3’s State Liquor Authority committee meeting. The deal hasn’t been completed yet, so few details were available, according to Gothamist, though the application lists the Soho Grand as a related entity. The three men looking to take over the Cooper Square Hotel’s liquor licenses — which could happen in the next few days — were concerned about the transfer being smooth if it occurred over Christmas. One of the lawyers told Gothamist that the deal was “very close” to being completed. [Gothamist]

A German bank claims the developers of the year-old, sleek, 21-story Cooper Square Hotel in the East Village are in default on $52 million in loans, at the same time the building owes millions to contractors.

Not only is the project in financial distress, but developers and investors in the 145-room hotel at 25 Cooper Square at East 5th Street could owe as much as $6 million in personal guarantees, the recent lawsuit says.

Commercial lender WestLB filed to foreclose on $52 million in loans given to Cooper Square Hotel, Cooper Square Mezz Lender and seven individuals including the hotel’s co-developer Matthew Moss and real estate investor Kyle Ransford, a lawsuit filed Dec. 14 in New York State Supreme Court says.

In addition, at least 20 contractors have filed mechanic’s liens totaling $9.9 million on the project between June 2009 and Dec. 18, records from the New York County Clerk show. The largest single lien, for $5.8 million, was filed by contractor F.J. Sciame Construction on Aug. 21, the records show.

Moss, Ransford and investor Gregory Peck are in default on a completion guarantee, and collectively owe up to $6 million, in part because of the unpaid liens, the suit says. [more]