From left: Durst Fetner CEO Harold Fetner, Ian Schrager and 855 Sixth Avenue

Contrary to previous reports, Ian Schrager will not bring a Public Hotel to Durst Fetner Residential’s Herald Square development site, the New York Post reported. A Durst spokesperson said the partnership “couldn’t make the financials of the deal work” for 855 Sixth Avenue, at West 30th Street, and that the developer is in talks with other hotel brands instead. A design won’t be finalized until a hotel is on board. [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]