Ian Schrager

From the February issue: Ian Schrager is chairman and CEO of Ian Schrager Company, a hotel and real estate development firm established in 2005. Prior to establishing the company, Schrager was at Morgans Hotel Group, which he cofounded in 1984 with the late Steve Rubell, with whom he created the legendary nightclub, Studio 54, in 1977. Schrager’s more high-profile New York projects include the 2006 redesign of the Gramercy Park Hotel as well as residential properties such as 40 Bond and the Gramercy Park Hotel’s 50 Gramercy Park North condos. [more]

From left: Hotelier Ian Schrager, Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs of RFR Holding and the Gramercy Park Hotel

The bad blood simmering at the Gramercy Park Hotel is apparently heating up again, as Ian Schrager’s firm has filed a lawsuit against former investment partners Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs alleging they failed to pay him back on a relatively small $1.15 million loan.

The suit, filed in New York state Supreme Court, alleges that Rosen and Fuchs, who are partners in Manhattan-based RFR Realty and owned 50 percent of the hotel in a high-profile partnership with Schrager, borrowed the money in December 2010 and was not repaid by the due date of Dec. 20 of last year. [more]

From left: Ian Schrager, the lobby of his Public hotel in Chicago and 855 Sixth Avenue

Ian Schrager will bring his first Public Hotel to New York at a Herald Square site being developed by Durst Fetner Residential, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plan calls for a 250-room hotel on the 16 lower floors of a Cook + Fox Architects-designed 56-story residential building at 855 Sixth Avenue near 30th Street.

Schrager is famous for pioneering the boutique hotel concept, but with the Public line, one of which recently opened in Chicago, the hotelier plans to build more value-oriented hotels.

“The boutique [hotel market] is overcrowded now and very competitive,” Schrager said. “People are now just replicating someone else’s idea, only in a different color.” [more]

The lobby of the new Public Chicago hotelFrom the November issue: Hotelier Ian Schrager last month opened the new Public Chicago hotel at 1301 North State Parkway. The 285-room hotel, formerly home to the Ambassador East, is the first in Schrager’s new line of mid-range properties aimed at cost-conscious guests, Bloomberg News reported. Schrager bought the property, in the city’s Gold Coast section, for about $25 million and spent roughly the same amount to renovate the hotel and its famous restaurant, the Pump Room. “The building had great bones,” Schrager told Bloomberg. “It’s an iconic landmark. It might be Chicago’s Plaza Hotel.” Room rates start at $135 a night, and Schrager said he expects Public hotels to attract guests who would normally stay in a Courtyard by Marriott or Hilton Garden Inn. Last month, Schrager won a 76 million-pound ($119 million) bid for a Crowne Plaza hotel in London that likely will be the next Public location. Click here for more stories from around the nation. Compiled by Katherine Clarke [more]

Ian Schrager and the Clock Tower at 5 Madison AvenueHotelier Ian Schrager appears to be returning to the Clock Tower at 5 Madison Avenue.

According to Real Estate Weekly, Marriott International purchased the 220,000-square-foot office tower overlooking Madison Square Park from Africa Israel and plans to turn it into an Edition Hotel, the boutique hotel line it launched with Schrager. Africa Israel was previously reported to have sold the tower for $165 million, but the buyer was only identified as “a credit-worthy” one.

Though Marriott typically does not own its real estate, the hotel operator wants to buy property for its struggling Edition line, which it hopes will compete with Starwood’s W Hotel brand, to help get it off the ground [more]

Aby Rosen

From the July issue: Lately it seems developer Aby Rosen’s every business relationship is worthy of its own daytime soap opera. While Rosen and his company RFR Holding have been in the news a lot since the downturn hit because of struggles at 610 Lexington Avenue, which is on the brink of foreclosure, and because of a split with hotelier Ian Schrager, in the last few months the headlines have been even more fast, furious — and personal — than normal.

In May and June alone, multiple news outlets, including The Real Deal, have published accounts of Rosen’s business feuds. They include: turmoil with his long–time business partner and friend Michael Fuchs; a nasty lawsuit filed by investor Harry Lis involving the sale of one of their joint investments; and a salacious dispute Rosen had with billionaire partner Peter Brant, who is selling his stake in RFR’s Seagram’s Building. According to Crain’s, Brant is selling his stake partially because of “disparaging remarks” Rosen and Fuchs made about Brant’s wife, Stephanie Seymour, whom he’s divorcing.

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All but one of the seven units at luxury condominium 41 Bond Street have been purchased since sales launched June 9, and with boom-time prices, a sign that Bond Street, one of the hottest streets for new city condos pre-recession, is heating back up. “We’ve sold the majority of units in the building at pricing comparable to 40 Bond in ’08,” Joe McMillan, chief executive of DDG Partners, which is marketing the building, told the Wall Street Journal. “The only thing is that I wish I had more of them.”

In 2007 and early 2008, units at developer Ian Schrager’s 40 Bond sold for an average of $2,500 a square foot, according to data from Streeteasy.com. The only other building in downtown Manhattan competing on rent was 40 Mercer. Once the downturn hit however, sales were slow on the street. [more]

RFR co-founders Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs, billionaire Peter Brant, investor Harry Lis and hotelier Ian Schrager

A $700 million asking price may be the least of prospective buyers’ concerns as they contemplate the purchase of a 49 percent stake in the landmarked Seagram Building at 375 Park Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd streets, according to Crain’s. Another major problem may be the trail of failed partnerships left behind by majority owners Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs. Billionaire Peter Brant is selling his share of the property after his relationship with Rosen and Fuchs soured. At one point, the pair reportedly made somewhat disparaging remarks about Brant’s wife, former supermodel Stephanie Seymour. Brant and Seymour were reportedly going through an especially public divorce at the time of the remarks, with accusations of infidelity and drug use referenced in the media. Brant is expected to make between $100 million and $150 million from the sale, based on a valuation of about $1.1 billion for the building and its debt. [more]

After months of rumors, the buyer paying upwards of $80 million to take over the legendary Hotel Chelsea has been revealed as New York real estate developer Joseph Chetrit. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Chelsea’s longtime tenants will be happy to know that Chetrit is not planning a condominium conversion, as some had speculated that a new owner would. Instead, he’ll renovate and modernize the landmark 222 West 23rd Street building, known for housing artists like Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Jim Morrison over the course of its 127-year history. [more]

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]