Hotel Durant Purchased for Estimated $27.3 Million

The Hotel Durant, 2600 Durant Ave., Berkeley, has been purchased by Gemstone Hotels & Resorts LLC for an estimated $27.3 million, according to an article in the San Francisco Business Times.

The Royal Bank of Scotland took ownership of the hotel in 2011, after Joie De Vivre Hotels went into default, the Business Times article says.

Gemstone, a hotel and resort operator, has canceled Joe De Vivre's management contract, it says.

The 144-room hotel, located a block from the UC campus, was. built in 1928.

It is the site of Henry's restaurant (formerly Henry's Publick House), where 29-year-old Mehrdad Dashti shot seven people and took 38 more hostage on the evening of Sept. 26, 1990, an incident that ended with Dashti's death when police entered the pub after a night of unsuccessful negotiations.