Back in December 2010 a lawyer at a Community Board SLA meeting told us that the Cooper Square Hotel was "very close" to being bought by the same folk who run the SoHo and TriBeCa Grands. And while that deal fell through it has now emerged that the hotel actually did change hands that month. In fact, it was taken over by Westport Capital in an "amicable" loan restructuring the same day they announced the Grand deal was donzo.
The Real Deal reports that the hotel was transfered to Westport on December 27, 2010, in a deal worth $70.9 million dollars. The hotel had been in financial troubles for almost a year, when commercial lender WestLB filed to foreclose on $52 million in loans leaving Dubai-on-the-Bowery in restructuring negotiations ever since.
Besides losing Faustina and adding new restaurant Trilby, as far as we can tell not much has changed in the 145-room hotel under its new owners. According to the hotel, March room rates are "averaging around $300 per night with 85 percent occupancy, with rates expected to rise into the mid-$300 range over the summer and $400s in the fall."
But what we really want to know is if the underwear will be back up this spring.
