The old Covenant House homeless shelter at 346 West 17th Street is the building right next to the Maritime Hotel that looks like the Maritime Hotel but is not actually part of the Maritime Hotel. The similarity stems from the architect, Albert Ledner, who also designed the nautical-themed O'Toole Building a few blocks away that's now in jeopardy. Today, Lois Weiss reports that the Covenant House was sold to Hampshire Hotels for $70 million, and the 11-story building will be converted to a hotel. She doesn't connect the dots, however, so here you go: Hampshire was founded by the father of hip hotelier Vikram Chatwal. Vikram Chatwal is opening an outpost of his trippy Dream Hotel in the MePa in 2008. The Covenant House will be the Dream Downtown. Maritime, you have been put on notice.
· Between the Bricks [Lois Weiss]
· 2008 Will Be the Return of Vikram Chatwal [HotelChatter]
[Photo via PropertyShark]
