Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach|"A New View At Chelsea Hotel"

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Category         :    Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

By                   :    Ed Scheetz

Posted By      :    Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard

Meeting & Events Hotels In Virginia Beach

Ed Scheetz has become the Chelsea Hotel's new sole owner after buying back five properties from Joseph Chetrit, his partner in King & Grove Hotels who earlier this year purchased the Sony building on Madison Avenue for $1.1 billion. Mr. Scheetz, the onetime CEO of Morgans Hotel Group, MHGC -0.73% will now retain Ruschmeyer's in Montauk and King & Grove in Williamsburg, but the crown jewel might be the fabled Chelsea, which is currently under renovation. Mr. Scheetz said he took over the hotel so he and Mr. Chetrit "could each pursue a focused and clear strategy" in their real-estate holdings. He described the renovation project as "challenging." "You're rebuilding it from the inside out," he said. When he now tells people he owns the hotel, "They say, 'Are you crazy?'" Mr. Scheetz said. "Because it's such a challenging project with a high profile. It's an iconic property, one of the most famous hotels in the city. It has one of those famous cultural histories, from Mark Twain to Sid Vicious. Every time I go by, tourists are taking pictures of themselves in front of the door. It's got that kind of pull."

A home for bohemian artists and writers, the Hotel Chelsea since it opened as a luxury co-op in 1884 has housed, among many others, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Andy Warhol, Tennessee Williams, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller and Allen Ginsberg. Mr. Scheetz said he is taking over the project mid-construction. "It certainly shows its age," he said. "When the building was acquired, it was in a pretty fat state of disrepair. Not in great shape. It's been a substantial project to renovate all the rooms and rebuild while people are living there." The hotel has around 170 rooms and 65 apartments, said Mr. Scheetz. On Tuesday afternoon, he planned to send a letter to the building's tenants association about the changeover and to describe "the significant enhancements to the way the property is managed and the manner in which the restoration is conducted," including lobby usage and removal of construction detritus. In an interview, he added that all of his area hotels have had residents. "It's extraordinarily common, and I've never had problems with the tenants," he explained. "We anticipate there will always be residents. The fact that people live there is part of the history. It's part of the fabric of the hotel."

Mr. Scheetz said it was too early to tell when the hotel would reopen for business, and he was waiting to announce any new food and beverage concepts. "The big-picture game plan is to restore the Chelsea to the point where it's respectful of its long and storied history, but able to move forward," he said. "I don't want it to be a museum, but a living, breathing fabric of the culture of the city." To that end, he hopes it eventually will be a place where locals can go for dinner, a book signing or an exhibition. "All of those kind of things can happen at the Chelsea," he said. "Part of what I think is important is the community." Mr. Scheetz said it's surprising that many hotel brands don't have emotional connections with consumers, even though hotels are places where you actually spend time and go to sleep. "You might see someone wearing a Four Seasons golf shirt, but you don't tend to see people wearing a T-shirt that says Marriott," he said.

Trying to create that emotional connection is important to him, he said. "People have seen everything," he said. "When I started working with Ian Schrager, what he did was novel, but that attracted everybody's attention worldwide. Subsequently, you had a lot of other players who hired fancy designers, fancy chefs and nightlife people, threw it in a box and said, 'This is a nice hotel.'" It's Mr. Scheetz's belief that the new customer is looking for a modern, fun experience, but also comfort and value "more so than being shocked by a new design." "We want to bring that sense of gathering and community back to a hotel space," he said. In particular, the Chelsea appeals to him as a fan of music and literature. But no one, he added, has an actual picture of the hotel at a specific point in time. "It's much more of a romanticized view," Mr. Scheetz said. "You're not restoring this property to 1972. You're restoring the romantic vision of the hotel of the last 100-plus years and making sure it lasts for another 100-plus years."

Source : online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323407104579039031666119834.html