Hell’s Kitchen hot for hotels?

The Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group, a San Francisco-based boutique hotel operator, will open a boutique hotel in Hell’s Kitchen next year on 11th Avenue between 47th and 48th streets. The $125 million hotel, which will be called the Vu, may pave the way for other new hotels on the far West Side of Midtown. Rockrose Development, for example, which owns a property on 12th avenue and 47th Street, has been talking to hotel developers about leasing air rights above its building for the creation of a hotel. more [NYT]