Chelsea Art Museum buildingThe Chelsea Art Museum is about to be replaced by Hewlett-Packard, which has special plans for the building. According to the New York Post, the tech firm signed a 10-year lease for the entire 34,500 feet inside the three-story museum building at 556 West 22nd Street near 11th Avenue. HP would not disclose the plans. The museum will remain in the building until Jan. 1.

CBRE brokers Pat Murphy and Jenny Ogden represented HP in the transaction, while a Murray Hill Properties team led by Jesse Rubens represented the owners. [more]

Clockwise from left: 3 West 8th Street (source: PropertyShark) and beat writers Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac

A New School Parson’s dormitory in Greenwich Village will become a posh hotel, the New York Post reported. Hoteliers Richard Born and Sean MacPherson signed a lease for the eight-story building at 3 West 8th Street that had served as a dorm for the New School for the last 25 years.

“It’s screaming for a hotel that will fit in with Greenwich Village and [New York University],” Born said. The pair intends to renovate the building in the spirit of their Jane and Bowery hotels, and plans to have a bar and restaurant on the ground floor.

The 43,600-square-foot building was originally erected in 1900 as the Marlton House, and, according to the Post, it later became a haven for struggling Beat Generation writers including Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady. [Post] [more]

145 East 39th Street, Christen Portelli and Robert Freedman

Hotel owners Richard Born and Ira Drukier, principals with BD Hotels,
led a partnership that yesterday bought a former women’s residence in
Murray Hill for $28 [more]