In a short article in today's edition of The New York Post, Braden Keil writes that "Billionaire Leonard Blavatnik, who signed a letter of intent to buy five co-op apartments at The Mark hotel adding up to $150 million, has offered just $125 million, an inside source said yesterday."

"'The $150 million number is what the developers want,' said the source. Blavatnik's broker, Kathy Sloane, would not comment, but others said both parties are posturing and 'holding firm' to their prices," the article continued.

On Thursday, The New York Post ran a front-page article by Mr. Keil that stated that Mr. Blavatnik had signed a letter of intent to acquire the top three floors of the 16-story Mark Hotel at 25 East 77th Street as a condominium apartment for $150 million.

The space for sale, totaling nearly 30,000 square feet, is a combination of five planned units on the top three floors of the building. The living room has a 26-foot-high ceiling.

If sold separately, the apartments would comprise a total of 23 bedrooms, 25 bathrooms and five powder rooms.

Also featured is 3,900 square feet of outdoor space - including a huge rooftop terrace with a pavilion and fireplace - a ceiling from 10 feet to 26 feet, a gym and all hotel amenities such as twice-daily maid service, fresh linens and room service.

The upper stories of the building are being converted to residential condominiums by the Alexico Group of which Izak Senhabar and Simon Elias are principals.

The lower floors will remain as a hotel and the building will be known as The Mark.

Mr. Keil's article noted that prices of the units at the Mark have not yet been approved by the state Attorney General's Office, but quoted a source as stated that Mr. Blavatnik's wife "already met with Jacques Grange, the designer of the hotel's residences," adding that "he's already put in an offer."

Mr. Blavatnik, according to Mr. Keil, is the founder and chairman of Access Industries, a privately-held U.S. industrial group with global interests in natural resources and chemicals, media and telecommunications.

An article by Max Abelson appeared later Thursday in the on-line edition of The New York Observer casting some doubt on Mr. Keil's report. "'Len was approached,' a source with knowledge of the deal (or non-deal) told The Observer this afternoon, 'but declined the opportunity,'" according to Mr. Abelson's article, which added "it's hard to fathom how Mr. Blavatnik, who closed just last month on a $50 million townhouse, and who in the past two years has bought a $27.5 million co-op at chic 998 Fifth Avenue, plus a $31.25 million mansion, could need more space in New York.

The beige-brick Mark, which was erected in 1927 and designed by Schwartz & Gross, has one of the city's most distinctive roofs, a copper-clad sloped pyramid cut off at the tope. The building is directly north of the Carlyle Galleries Building at 980 Madison Avenue where Aby Rosen, the owner of the Seagram Building and Lever House, was unable to get a certificate of appropriateness from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for a design he commissioned from Sir Norman Foster for a silvery glass cylindrical tower roof addition placed at the northern end of the building right across from the entrance to The Mark.

Most of the apartments and the building will have a 24-hour concierge and doorman, a fitness center, a business center, multilingual secretarial support, valet parking, limousine service.

The project is expected to be completed next summer.

Alexico acquired the leasehold interest in the building for about $150 million from Mandarin Oriental Management. The hotel, which then had 119 rooms and 57 suites, is cattycorner to the Carlyle Hotel and until recently Issey Miyake occupied its Madison Avenue corner store at 77th Street.