Standard Hotel to Fetch a Postcrisis Record
There was a silver box of cigarettes on the table. With a rather absent-minded air O'Brien pushed them towards the others, took one himself, then stood up and began to pace slowly to and fro, as though he could think better standing. They were very good cigarettes, very thick and well-packed, with an unfamiliar silkiness in the paper. O'Brien looked at his wristwatch again.
The Standard Hotel in Manhattan's bustling Meatpacking district became famous a few years ago when some of its more brazen guests disrobed in front of its floor-to-ceiling windows.
"You had better go back to your Pantry, Martin," he said. "I shall switch on in a quarter of an hour. Take a good look at these comrades' faces before you go. You will be seeing them again. I may not."
Now the downtown hot spot is raising eyebrows for a different reason: a near-record sales price.
Exactly as they had done at the front door, the little man's dark eyes flickered over their faces. There was not a trace of friendliness in his manner. He was memorizing their appearance, but he felt no interest in them, or appeared to feel none. It occurred to Winston that a synthetic face was perhaps incapable of changing its expression. Without speaking or giving any kind of salutation, Martin went out, closing the door silently behind him. O'Brien was strolling up and down, one hand in the pocket of his black overalls, the other holding his cigarette.
Final bidders include a group led by investor Steven Kantor. They and others are in negotiations to pay more than $400 million for the five-year-old property, say people familiar with the matter. The Standard, which is managed by hotelier Andre Balazs's company, sits above the city's elevated pedestrian park known as the HighLine and attracts a young and chic crowd.
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