New York Hotel Sold to Beanie Babies Creator

Ty Warner, the creator of Beanie Babies, has sold enough of the faddish bean bag animals to buy New York’s Four Seasons Hotel--the 370-room landmark on East 57th Street where bathrooms are equipped with televisions and average room rates exceed $600 a night--for $275 million. The Four Seasons has been on the block for nearly a year by a group of investors, led by Lai Sun Group of Hong Kong, which is trying to pare its debts. The transaction links one of the world’s most famous hotels with one of the nation’s most reclusive businesspeople. Warner, chief executive and owner of Beanie Babies maker Ty Inc., doesn’t speak to the media. At $743,200 per room, the sale price exceeds the $652,000 per room that the Sultan of Brunei paid in 1995 for Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. The Four Seasons was appraised at $400 million last year.