Boutique hotel planned for Culture Club space

A joint venture comprised of Wingate and a New York-based investor closed yesterday on the purchase of 179 Varick Street in Soho, the current home of the Culture Club. The partnership paid $14.2 million for the property, a “tear down” that can accommodate 45,000 buildable square feet, according to Greg Roberts, the president of Citysites Commercial Group, which represented both the buyer and the seller in the transaction. The buyers intend to build a hotel with around 80 rooms that’s about 16 stories high, according to Roberts. Wingate owns the Wingate Inn at 235 West 35th Street. The boutique hotel will rise a couple blocks north of another notable new project, the Trump Soho Hotel Condominium New York. TRD