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Hotelier Ian Schrager is negotiating to buy the old Henry Hudson Hotel, just west of Columbus Circle, which he hopes to revive as a chic, new property that would capitalize on the neighborhood's redevelopment.
The move marks Mr. Schrager's first foray back into Manhattan since he developed the Royalton, the Morgans and the Paramount with his late partner, Steve Rubell, in the Eighties. Flush with cash and on an expansion kick, Ian Schrager Hotels has been looking for its next Manhattan hotel since early this year.
Snapping up properties
"This man looks at real estate like I look at Donna Karan stockings," laughed Mr. Schrager's publicist, though she declined to comment on the transaction itself.
Not too long ago, the area had been considered unattractive--too far to the west--but now it is just one of the places developers are targeting. With the Coliseum finally on its way to being sold and redeveloped, private builders and real estate investors are banking on a halo effect for the surrounding neighborhood.
Then, too, with hotel occupancies at record highs throughout the city, hoteliers and developers are looking to convert many less likely office buildings. And with Wall Street money flowing into real estate, a hotelier like Mr. Schrager is finding funds for such a project to be readily available.
"It's a good site for a hotel, especially with all the retail expanding on 57th Street and its proximity to Lincoln Center and...