A building that Madonna helped buy for the Kabbalah Centre in 2004 has been sold to developer Carvi Properties, who plans to turn the building into a hotel. Carvi Properties, who was represented by Sotheby’s Realty, purchased the aluminum-sided building at 152 East 55th Street from the Research Centre of Kabbalah for $9.3 million. Madonna helped the Jewish mysticism nonprofit buy the property from the estate of Dr. Robert Atkins, architect of the Atkin’s diet, after he died in 2003. Dr. Atkin’s had used the building for his headquarters.
The hotel, expected to open in September 2008, will have 41 rooms. Most of the units will range from $250 to $300 per night, while four of them will cost $800 per night. TRD