Statler to Zeckendorf

William Zeckendorf, whose deals have probably made him the No. 1 U.S. realtor, last week clinched his biggest deal yet. In Manhattan, President Arthur F. Douglas of the Statler Hotels announced that the board of directors had accepted an $80 million offer to sell out to Zeck-endorf's Webb & Knapp.

The deal would give Webb & Knapp, which already controls $250 million in property (including Manhattan's Chrysler Building), and has operated in 30 states, one of the choice hotel systems in the world. Founded by the late E. M. Statler in Buffalo in 1908, the chain is now the third biggest (after Hilton, Sheraton) in the U.S., with eight hotels and two office buildings, in Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Washington, New York and Los Angeles, worth $67 million. Having already built four of the seven major U.S. hotels put up in the last 25 years, the chain is working on two more: a 455-room, $7,000,000 Statler tailored to fit medium-size Hartford, Conn.; a 1,000-room, $15 million Statler for booming Dallas.

Zeckendorf has offered Statler's 2,700 stockholders two ways to hand over control. They can either sell him their stock at $50 a share (v. over-the-counter value of $43.50), or sell him all Statler assets for $80 million, enough to pay them $50 a share.

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