Andre Balazs Abandons the Raleigh
Big news out of Miami. Andre Balazs has decided to sell his interest in the Raleigh Hotel, sending an email to friends and collegues to break the news, saying, "After seven years of fun and sun, we have decided to sell The Raleigh and focus our efforts on The Standard Spa, located on Belle Isle just blocks away." Que Triste. According to our Little Birdy, the GHM team that also runs the Setai are poised to take over. Good call. Perhaps Andre really does want to focus on his Standard Properties, or perhaps, as the rumors have it, he is in a serious cash crunch. Either way, the Raleigh will remain all systems go during the sale.
Full email after the jump!
After seven years of fun and sun, we have decided to sell The Raleigh and focus our efforts on The Standard Spa, located on Belle Isle just blocks away, and on other exciting new locations in the US and abroad. We greatly appreciate your friendship and loyalty over these years as we restored The Raleigh. Of course, any existing agreement you may have at The Raleigh remains intact while the sale becomes effective as of September 29th.
We look forward to welcoming you to The Standard, or any of our other properties, in the future.
As always, warmest regards
André Balazs
DBTH
Reader Comments (6)
andre is in a bad spot. chateau in la is up for sale. standard grill is doing great but not covering the debt service, the hotel is always empty.
he only owns 5 percent though, not much to loose. colony capital looking at taking a stake in all the operations
He already sold the Standard Miami last year. He still is the managing partner but with NO equity. and standard NY investors want their MONEY ASAP!!!
Room Rates up and revenues are down.
He better start licking daphne guiness' asshole harder and trying to star-fuck some other retard celebrity if he wants to stay in the game! He is pretty good at that so he should probably do the right thing.
Those Boom Boom drinks really must stay at 22 bucks a pop to pay that rent!!!
THE FAKE WILL BREAK
I posted this in the comments a few weeks back. Andre is in serious financial troubles-- it's more serious than anyone is daring to let on. And the news I hear is that he'll only be name on the Standards soon enough... the company that bought him out wants him out NOW, but the Standard NYC/Boom Boom buzz still needs a bit more nurturing, so they'll keep his name on the shutters for a year or so longer.
gloom + doom for hip hotels these days
RE: peyotegems
you were right on before, colony is definitely looking and so are a couple of distressed investors. any more details? i'm hearing that the debt is more long term and what is coming due is being renegotiated, but andre isn't being forced out