By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Hotelier Andre Balazs may be angling to add the Hotel Chelsea to his downtown empire, according to a report in the New York Post.
Balazs held a long meeting with management of the West 23rd Street property last Wednesday after hanging around the hotel lobby, unnamed sources told the Post.
A spokesman for the Hotel Chelsea declined to confirm the meeting or comment on potential buyers. A spokeswoman for Balazs also declined to comment.
Balazs, who owns the Standard, Mercer and Sunset Beach hotels (as well as Los Angeles' Chateau Marmont) was previously connected to the Hotel Chelsea in 2007. At that time, two of his former associates took over duties at the hotel following longtime manager Stanley Bard's ousting, according to the Post.
Speculation over who will take over the nearly 130-year-old Chelsea landmark, whose former tenants include Arthur Miller, Bob Dylan, Sid Vicious and Ethan Hawke, has circulated since the hotel's controlling families announced plans to sell in October.
Last month, some hotel residents received letters from the landlord asking them to schedule an appointment to have the dimensions of their never-measured rooms taken.
