There is a new deal to develop a hotel on the site of Donnell Library on West 53rd Street, replacing a plan that disintegrated two years ago amid the financial crisis.

Tribeca Associates and Starwood Hotels have teamed up to purchase the contract to build a hotel on the site of the Donnell Library on West 53rd Street across from the Museum of Modern Art from Orient-Express Hotels Inc., which backed out of a deal to develop a property there in 2009, sources familiar with the transaction said, according to an article by Theresa Agovino yesterday at crainsnewyork.com.

Orient-Express agreed to buy the library site, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, in 2007 for $59 million. "The library's decision to sell off the site raised some hackles at the time, but the Donnell was in poor condition and the proceeds were going to be used to help fund the renovation of the main library on Fifth Avenue, published reports said, the article said.

The deal for Tribeca and Starwood is not complete and could still fall apart, sources said, the article continued, adding that "it does, however, have the library's blessing, which is a key element of the deal."

"Like Orient's deal," it said, "the new hotel would include space on the site...for a new Donnell Library. The Donnell branch, which was famous for housing the original Winnie-the-Pooh doll collection - including all the bear's friends - in the children's reading room, closed in 2008 to pave the way for the new hotel. Sources said Tribeca and Starwood's property would be about 260,000 square feet, cost $400 million and include condo units as well as hotel rooms."

Bill Brodsky, a partner at Tribeca, declined to comment on the deal but the article said that he confirmed that Mark Gordon, who was formerly head of Cushman & Wakefield Inc.'s hotel practice, has joined Tribeca as a partner.

Tribeca developed the Smyth Hotel, as well as Artisan Lofts, a condo project. Both are in TriBeCa. Starwood is a major hotel company whose brands include Sheraton, Westin and St. Regis.

According to an article by Kate Taylor yesterday at cityrooom.blogs.nytimes.com, "Orient-Express planned to build an 11-story hotel that would connect internally to another of its properties, the '21' Club on 52nd Street. As part of the arrangement, the library would get space for a branch on the ground floor and underground. The building was to be completed in early 2011," the article said.

When the recession hit, the artilcle continued, Orient-Express tried to back out of the deal, and, "after some negotiating, the company committed to pay the library the full purchase price, but over a longer period of time."

The article said that David G. Offensend, the New York Public Library's chief operating officer, said that Orient-Express needs the library's approval to transfer the deal and the library won't accept anything less than the full purchase price, the "same quality and size" of library space, and "the same time frame," which, under the revised terms, requires Orient-Express to deliver a space to the library by June 30, 2014.

"If we aren't guaranteed all of that" with a new developer, "they won't get our approval," Mr. Offensend said, the article said.