Eloise never had it this good.
What is now a 14-room hotel in Soho — whose guest quarters wrap around a mosaic-tiled interior courtyard that feels more Paris than the Plaza — could be a single-family home for the right one-percenter with an extravagant vision and the stomach to deal with the Department of Buildings.
The four-star hotel at 431 Broome St., on the corner of Crosby with a baroque brick façade that dates back to the early 19th century, has hit the market at a cool $19.99 million.
The 7,500-square-foot property, with a 2,500-square-foot basement and 5,000 square feet of air rights, typically runs at 90% occupancy, earning the current owner a handsome sum.
But the secretive proprietors (who hide behind an LLC) are ready to decamp for other adventures, thus putting up for sale the hotel, which underwent a $6 million renovation from 2012 to 2014.
Architect Thomas Tsue kept the landmarked façade and constructed an adjoining building in the rear lot, creating a prized interior courtyard draped in shrubbery.
“When you enter the hotel, you have no idea what’s inside,” said Keller Williams listing broker Raphael Sitruk, who hails from France and says the hotel reminds him of the Parisian celebrity mainstay Café de Flore, on the Left Bank. “Then you’re like, ‘Wow, where are we? We can’t be in the city! It’s so quiet and gorgeous.’ It is a very French feeling.”
Sitruk added that the property could remain as a hotel, or even become the flagship office for a luxury brand.
But, “It is a trophy address, so I could also see someone with a vision turning it into a single-family home,” he said.
In fact, it started its life as a sumptuous spread in 1825, when it was the home of merchant George Dutch.
Architect Gregory Colston, who recently completed a gut-renovation for actress Robin Wright and actor Michael Kelly and has done several projects in Soho, agrees.
“The bones are there for conversion to an incredible single-family mansion,” Colston said.
He envisions the space as a modern take on the riad, those traditional Moroccan courtyard palaces, or the rare West Village townhouse lot with a converted carriage house that could be used for guests, children or staff.
The main house, set out front on Broome, would include a master suite with a roof terrace, grand living and entertaining spaces, more bedrooms, and, naturally, stairs descending to the subterranean swimming pool and basement spa and gym. (A pool has been carved out already.)
The converted carriage house would be situated at the rear of the property, separated from the main structure by a 30-foot-long courtyard open to the heavens. It could be accessed by crossing the Azulejo-tiled courtyard or via a glass-enclosed tunnel that stretches the length of the prized interior garden.
“Someone with a green thumb could maintain internal hanging gardens that bloom all year,” he said. “A pool and spa, 10 bedrooms, private exterior sanctuary, roof terrace and 8,000 square feet of living space in Soho? It could be worth considerably more than what it’s selling for or what it’s making as a hotel.”
Selling off the 5,000 square feet of air rights would raise some cash — and who needs 15,000 square feet of living space, anyway?
“There is nothing else on the market like this,” gushed Sitruk. “I’m not just selling a hotel or an interesting property. I’m selling a piece of history.”
https://nypost.com/2021/12/21/entire-soho-hotel-lists-as-20m-single-family-mansion/
