Chetrit Group files demo plans at former hotel site in Midtown South

29 and 33 East 29th Street
29 and 33 East 29th Street

The Chetrit Group has filed plans to demolish a three-story building that the real estate developer purchased earlier this year as part of a three-building parcel including the adjacent hotel known as King & Grove New York.

Chetrit Group filed plans with the city’s Department of Buildings on Thursday to tear down the 20-foot wide townhouse at 33 East 29th Street, between Madison and Park avenues, but has not filed plans for a building to replace it.

The family-owned Chetrit Group, based in Midtown, bought the parcel along with the adjacent hotel at 29 East 29th Street (formerly known as the Hotel Lola), and another attached property at 32 East 30th Street from the Rockpoint Group on May 31 for $116 million, city property records show.

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It is unclear exactly how many square feet the building has available for development. The 12-story King & Grove hotel building, known early in the 20th century as the Martha Washington Hotel — it was the first New York hotel built to house professional women — was opened in 1903 and was landmarked in June.

In 2009, developer ESPAIS New York filed plans to build an 81,113 square-foot, hotel tower rising 30 or 32 floors over several low-rise townhouses, including 33 East 29th Street, but the company could not get the additional owners to sell, Andres Hogg, of ESPAIS said.

The Chetrit Group did not return a call seeking comment.