High-end hotelier Ed Scheetz has renamed his King & Grove chain after the Hotel Chelsea, rebranding his properties as Chelsea Hotels.
King and Grove Hotels chief executive Ed Scheetz said the boutique lodging company — following a highly publicized split with the Chetrit Group in 2013 — has officially rebranded under the Chelsea Hotels name.
The firm, which owns hotels in Manhattan, Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the East End of Long Island, borrowed the name from its most iconic and controversial property, the Hotel Chelsea, at 222 West 23rd Street. The hotel is a landmark residential property that was once the home of musicians, writers and artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Leonard Cohen.
“We wanted to find a brand and a name that we felt really spoke to what we’re trying to achieve for the company as a whole,” Scheetz told The Real Deal, in an exclusive interview.
Under the rebranding, the individual hotels will each get new names and major refurbishment – but the properties will keep their interior design and character.
The 64-room King and Grove Williamsburg will reopen on Memorial Day under the name McCarren Hotel and Pool. Fernando Santangelo is in charge of the hotel’s redesign.
King and Grove New York, at 29 East 29th Street, will reopen in August under the property’s original name, the Martha Washington. The Rennaissance Revival style property, originally designed by architect Robert Gibson, opened in 1903 as the city’s first hotel built exclusively for professional women. Architect Annabelle Selldorf is in charge of the property’s redesign, according to Scheetz.
Ruschmeyer’s in Montauk
The firm plans to open a new hotel in 2016 at 404 Lafayette Street, called the Astor Hotel. Ruschmeyer’s, the firm’s 19-room property in Montauk, remains open under its current name.
Scheetz founded King & Grove in 2011, a year after resigning as CEO from Morgans Hotel Group. He said there are no plans for immediate expansion, but he does plan to eventually open properties in new markets, starting with Miami, London and Los Angeles. King and Grove ceded their London and Miami properties, among others, to Chetrit after the split in 2013.
Meanwhile, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge on Tuesday granted architect Gene Kaufman an injunction in connection with a lawsuit he filed against King & Grove. He had alleged that Marvel Architects was still using designs for the planned conversion of the Hotel Chelsea after he was fired, as The Real Deal reported.
Additional reporting by Mark Maurer