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New Chelsea Hotel Management Company Averts Public Relations Disaster

The recent move by the Board of Directors, led by Marlene Krauss, to replace Stanley Bard with Ira Drucker Associates, has proved none too popular in these parts. Due to overwhelming tenant support and media interest, Stanley has been allowed to stay on at the hotel, albeit in a reduce role of "Consultant’ or "goodwill ambassador."  While this is not ideal, it’s good to know we’ll still have him here to look after our interests. 
     Sadly, Stanley’s son, David, has apparently been told there is no place for him in the new order (at least at this time.)  It’s a shame he never got the chance to run the place himself.  He’s still young, however, so perhaps in a few years he’ll be back, as we hear that control of the hotel will eventually revert back to the Bard family.  They are, after all, still the majority shareholders.
     We need to remain vigilant, and keep up the pressure so that Stanley will continue to have a say in the running of the hotel, rather than being gradually forced out, and so that there’ll still be something left of the place for David to come back to.

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Rubenstein’s Corporate Press Release

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12 responses to “New Chelsea Hotel Management Company Averts Public Relations Disaster”

  1. Former Resident Avatar
    Former Resident

    That press release is a load of slimy, slippery bullshit, a way to appease concerned citizens and residents and buy some time to change the hotel irrevocably. Without Stanley and/or David behind that desk and with those faux-artistic real estate mucks there, it’s not the Chelsea.

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  2. 421to323 Avatar
    421to323

    I don’t understand, if Stanley and David and the lovely Michelle are the majority shareholders, how can the board do this?
    We have to convince the new management company to leave and the board to let Stanley and his kids run it again, the way it used to be run. Should everfyone who bstayed there, lived there, loved it raise money to save it as someone suggested. Sounds good. Shall we bombard the new management company and the directors we now know about (google Marlene Krauss) and flood them with art about the Chelsea, sent by post or hand-delivered? A creative, nonviolent priotest that doesn’t end until Stanley is back seems in order. Someone has to stand up for Art and noncomformity and love and freedom in this increasingy greedy world. There is no better place to make that stand than at the Hotel Chelsea.

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  3. Cowboy Avatar
    Cowboy

    Calm down, calm down… This all sucks for the Bards but right now it ONLY sucks for the Bards. All this speculation about the motives, and future actions by the new management are just that – speculation.
    It’s nice to know that people care about what goes on here, but let’s keep perspective: The Bards will gain control again. Only about half (and I’m being generous) of the tenants are artists, so the “poor artists” thing is a bit ridiculous. And again, nobody really knows anything.

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  4. 421to323 Avatar
    421to323

    It’s not speculation, Cowboy. We’ve seen what those investors have already done to the place in the last decade, how they’ve put the squeeze on Stanley and the residents. We’ve seen what crap that management company has created elsewhere. They were chosen for a reason.
    The poor artists thing is hardly ridiculous when you look at all the artists who have lived here and live here now. You’re right that all residents are not artists, but they are still part of the contributing community.
    Let them get away with this and they will change the place irrevocably. And even if all they were going to do was get Stanley and his kids out, that alone would be worth fighting for. But it is much bigger than that. What will be left when the Bards regain control? What will be lost in the interim?

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  5. Carrie Bedsore /Cherry Ramone / Rob from Aus Avatar
    Carrie Bedsore /Cherry Ramone / Rob from Aus

    A small victorty in a big war. Welcome back Stanley!

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  6. Chelsea Avatar
    Chelsea

    “Residents are scared they are going to be booted, especially since a lot of tenants still aren’t paying the rent. The management company will start charging for rooms. The old system was just handshake – it was done differently, then.” NY POst linked above
    Well, the Ny Post gets it wrong again. What sort of “Chelsea insider” thinks people aren’t charged for their rooms? Is anyone getting free rent I don’t know about? I know people who left owing rent too, but they’ve all paid it back. It’s made to sound like Stanley was giving away rooms. You know, it isn’t pleasant owing Stanley money. Who else knows the secret route to 22nd street, to avoid passing the desk when Stanley s there and one is in arrears?

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  7. Cowboy Avatar
    Cowboy

    Yes, it is speculation. Until you KNOW, it is the very definition of speculation.
    And I’m not against artists, I just think this is a tenant issue – not an “artists” issue. I find the whole “protect the artist” thing kind of elitist (like they deserve more because they are creative – give me a break!)
    We can’t fight for the Bards as much as we might like. So let’s play it cool for a while and don’t overreact is all I’m saying.

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  8. Former Resident Avatar
    Former Resident

    Cowboy, let’s look at what we do know. We know the crap these people have created before. We know these investors have done nothing for the hotel in the past. We know they conspired and engineered this coup behind Stanley’s back.
    We know they have forced Stanley to stop taking long-term residents for some time.
    We are right to be suspicious and disdainful. We are right to ask questions. Why you aren’t asking the same questions has me wondering…

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  9. Former Resident Avatar
    Former Resident

    “(like they deserve more because they are creative – give me a break!_”
    Ah, another whiff of what someone called “creepy schadenfreude” in another thread. It’s not about “more” Cowboy. It’s about “different.” Artists do different work, they get paid differently, they have different (and the same) needs. With an attitude like yours, how the hell did you end up in the Chelsea Hotel? No wonder you’re defending the heirs and the developers.

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  10. Cowboy Avatar
    Cowboy

    I’m not defending them. What they did and how they did it was terrible. I’m just saying don’t over react. Nothing except the Bard’s ousting has occurred. That they have agreed to let Stanley stay on in some capacity should be seen, at least as marginally, as a token of good will.
    I don’t know what the new management team has done before (feel free to comment toward that end) but I know they were paid to do it. They certainly aren’t doing anything malicious so what’s the point in demonizing them?

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  11. Former Resident Avatar
    Former Resident

    Cowboy, the managers/hoteliers did the Maritime Hotel, the Mercer, the Chateau Marmont among others. They are involved in those ugly glass towers. This has been posted in several places on the blog. Those places feel pretty elitist. They bring their own trendoid aethetic into it, and then the place becomes too expensive for anyone who isn’t rich, on an expense account, or maybe splurging for a honeymoon. They’re about boutique theme hotels and fakery, and not authenticity. That they desire to redo the hotel tells me that while they’re not malicious, but they don’t get genuine beauty.
    OTOH, I do think the investors are being malicious, the way they threw Stanley out of his job.

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  12. Former Resident Avatar
    Former Resident

    <>
    Or it could be seen as a ploy to assuage the critics who, rightfully, hazve pointed out that they are capitalizing on something they did not create, and had thrown out the guy largely responsible for creating it. They backtracked after they got a few calls from reporters — good. That’s not goodwill, it’s pr. Looking back at what they’ve done for the hotel in the past (nothing), and what they’ve done to it since they started pressuring Stanley and closing the door to new tenants, it might be time for them to show some real goodwill.

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