Hoteliers Ian Schrager and Ed Scheetz Land $121M Loan Toward West Hollywood Hotel
By Nick Trombola August 6, 2024 5:15 pm
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A pair of hotel moguls is charging full steam ahead on the redevelopment of the former Standard Hotel in West Hollywood, Calif.
Ed Scheetz and Ian Schrager have secured a three-year, $121 million construction loan from iBorrow to fund the project on Sunset Boulevard, according to The Real Deal, which first reported the news.
Former-operator Standard International closed the hotel in 2021 after former owner Rittersbacher Group and leaseholder Ferrado Group raised rent prices, per TRD.
Scheetz and Schrager spent $112.5 million to buy the 139-room hotel along Sunset Strip a few years later in early 2023, using an $86.7 million loan from a co-lending partnership between iBorrow and Reuben Brothers. The new $121 million loan refinances the original debt tied to the property, per TRD.
“We’ve observed that the hospitality sector has experienced increasing demand in gateway cities, including Los Angeles, and we are confident in the ability of this successful and experienced team of hotel operators to execute on their plan as West Hollywood continues to draw tourists,” Andy Peltz, co-executive chairman at iBorrow, said after his company provided the original loan.
Both Scheetz and Schrager have operated their own independent hotel brands; Scheetz is the former CEO of Chelsea Hotels, King & Grove Hotels and Morgans Hotel Group, while Schrager owns Edition and Public. The redeveloped hotel on the former Standard site will operate under the Public banner.
The pair already checked off one important step in their project plans last month as well: a conditional use permit to serve alcohol on its premises, per TRD, citing West Hollywood city planning documents.
Representatives for Schrager and iBorrow did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Scheetz could not immediately be reached.
The Standard Hotel redevelopment is not the only time Scheetz and Schrager have attempted to team to save a faltering hotel. The pair in early 2023 tried to partner with developer Chetrit Group to save its Bossert Hotel in New York City’s Brooklyn Heights neighborhood and also rebrand it under Schrager’s Public line.
But the effort to raise some $26 million in additional investment apparently fell through, with the building hitting foreclosure by January of this year and selling to an affiliate of Beach Point Capital Management in May.
Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.
