NEW YORK CITY Ian Schrager considered buying the iconic Hotel Chelsea in New York City last month—even touring the 127-year-old property—but he ultimately decided against making a bid.
“It’s a sexy asset with an incredibly sexy history and we felt obliged to take a look at it,” Schrager told Bloomberg News. “We took a pass.”
The board of directors for the 225-key property put the hotel on the market in October, saying it hopes “a new owner would reenergize and revitalize the Chelsea.” The hotel, declared a city landmark in 1966, includes 100 long-term rental units, some of which are regulated by city price constraints. The asking price is reportedly about US$90 million.
Hotel Chelsea has been owned and operated for more than 65 years by the same controlling families. It has a longstanding tradition of offering discounted rates to struggling artists, playing host over the years to icons like Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan.
Schrager received “half a dozen” phone calls from investors seeking to partner with him to acquire the property. Schrager says he would have kept the hotel “basically the same” had he acquired it. “It would still feel very Bohemian,” he said. “If you put a shine on it, you would have ruined it.”
He did not go into detail about the reasons for declining to bid, except to say: “Maybe there are others who are seeing things we didn’t see.”