Renovations at the famed Hotel Chelsea have been dragging on and expenses have run wild. Now, the former home of Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller, Sid Vicious and Jack Kerouac is once again changing hands.
222 West 23rd Street in Chelsea
Boutique hotelier Richard Born could soon take over the project, as the majority owners have parted ways with partner Ed Scheetz, according to the New York Post.
The redevelopment, located on 222 West 23rd Street, is running more than a year behind schedule and over budget.
Investor Bill Ackman, Leucadia National Corp. chairman Joseph Steinberg and real estate investment firm Wheelock Street Capital have now parted ways with Scheetz over expenses and disagreements.
“The place is a mess. They’ve spent a lot of money, but they are still right in the middle of construction. It might still need another $150 million. Then there’s a complex situation with the tenants, who are very litigious. It has become a hornets’ nest. Ackman and Steinberg hired bankers to explore selling it, but it didn’t sell, so they have been talking to other hoteliers,” a source told the Post.
Other hoteliers include Ian Schrager, who did not bite. But BD Hotels’ Richard Born — who owns stakes in the Bowery Hotel, the Mercer and the Greenwich Hotel — is now in negotiations. He would take over the management and buy a stake in the hotel.
“We are talking with the owners, but it is premature to say there’s a deal,” Born told the Post. [NYP] –Christopher Cameron