Former Hotel Chelsea manager buys on Fifth Avenue

Former owner/manager of the Hotel Chelsea, Stanley Bard, must’ve gotten more than art from developer Joseph Chetrit for the iconic lodge. Bard and his wife, Phyllis, closed on an Upper East Side apartment for $4.7 million yesterday, the New York Observer reported. The apartment is at 1001 Fifth Avenue, at 82nd Street.

Bard was the hotel’s noted manager during the 1970s, when he frequently accepted art for rent and welcomed figures such as Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Charles Bukowski and Bob Dylan into the building.

A partnership between Bard and two others owned the hotel, at 23rd Street, until 2011, when Chetrit bought it for $80 million. Since the sale the residents have scuffled with non-union construction crews performing renovations in the building and pursued legal action against the new owner. Most recently, Chetrit moved to evict 10 tenants he claims are not protected by rent-stabilization, as well as those withholding rent due to what they claim are the hazardous conditions in the building created by the ongoing construction. [NYO]