Can Ian Buy a W?

Yesterday, a little story made the rounds that Ian Schrager had purchased a building on Canal Street with plans to construct a W Hotel. Now, that's just umpossible, with the reason being Schrager has recently entered into a very long term deal with Marriott to jointly develop properties. Guess who owns W? Not Marriott! Scratch that idea. However, we do believe that this hotel could be a Schrager and Co. target. Why? Well, his old partner Morgans Hotel Group is bringing Ian's baby the Mondrian just to the West. Wouldn't it make Ian happy to grab a slice of the Chinatown pie and stick it to his old foes? DBTH says yes. But Morgan's definitely wins the locational battle, unless Ian's potential customers book rooms based on a need to catch the Chinatown bus. We're sticking with this one.