Brownstoner Reports: One BBP Developer Snags Bossert

By on May 5, 2008 1:39 pm in History, Landmark Preservation, News, Real Estate, Watchtower

Flickr photo by josh derr

Brownstoner is reporting that The Watchtower Group has agreed to sell the Bossert Hotel [98 Montague Street] to Robert A. Levine, the developer behind condos at One Brooklyn Bridge Park. A tipster tells the site that the selling price is “north of $100 million”. Representatives for the developer would not comment on the sale to Brownstoner.

Update: Brownstoner is reporting the sale price now as $90 million and that the Bossert may be used for student housing “at least” in the short term.

The lobby of the Bossert will be part of this Saturday’s Brooklyn Heights Association House Tour.

Flickr photo by Josh Derr

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  • nabeguy

    So I guess now we can blame Sects in The City for all the new development and leave Carrie alone!

  • ABC

    I saw this and thought, “good, anything but dorms” and now I see Brownstoner is saying it’s DORMS. Ugh.

  • ABC

    Dorms pay more than we think I’m afraid. They were about the turn that Clark St side of the St George into condos/hotel until Pratt waved a figure in front of them.

    And it’s already set up as dorms. I just can’t figure why NYU et al don’t buy it for themselves and cut out the middleman.

  • CJP

    Folks… think this through. If it is dorms, wouldn’t that be incredible for the vibrant, exciting, youthful Montague Street that so many on here have been hoping for?

    College kids in the neighborhod would be great! All of a sudden there’s incentive to open fun, rockin’ bars, lively restaurants and unusual shops in locations around the neighborhood that previously might not have supported the traffic.

    Personally I would have favored a Marriott, Hilton or W Hotel in that space. But a dorms is just fine with me.

    Welcome to the neighborhood! Just wished I’d been able to go to college a a place as exciting as New York City and as great to live in as Brooklyn Heights.

  • ABC

    We have college kids in the neighborhood already, and I haven’t found the Pratt or NYU kids all THAT to be honest..

    I see a lot of freshman in pajama pants and ts smoking on Henry St wondering where they’re supposed to go.

  • CJP

    Dang. First Ricky’s and its “back room.” Now puke-house beer-fests on Montague. Wait til the Spicey Pickle opens where Armando’s used to me. Maybe we’ll be hoping for the good old days of cellphone stores!

  • Kingsfield

    If they do it as law school or graduate school housing, it shouldn’t be half bad.

  • ABC

    If they did graduate or law, I agree.

    But I’m pretty sure the need is early undergrad. And unlike when I was 18, the vast majority of these kids really can’t drink at bars (enforcement so much stricter, etc) and nobody will open bars FOR this population since they’re all underage. So basically you have a few hundred kids who are not much older than the St Anns seniors sitting around on stoops. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  • nabeguy

    Dorms make perfect sense both historically and financially. The Bossert was, after all, designed as a hotel and refurbished by the JW’s as dorms. And knowing their meticulous nature, the place is probably in move-in condition and even includes a spacious dining hall/cafeteria in the basement. Sure, Levine may slap a coat of paint on the walls to give it that “newly renovated” smell, but he can basically sit back and start collecting rent from day one with a minimal investment on his part. The idea that this will somehow decline into a frat-house-cum-rathskeller seems a tad alarmist. Most 18 year-olds know not to crap where they eat and the ones who are dumb enough to do so end up dropping out of college, thus solving the problem.

  • Poulenc

    Let’s NOT have a Bossert dorm AND have some of the vibrant day and nightlife that might–but probably wouldn’t–come with a younger, presumably hipper crowd.

    BH is in desperate need of the cutting-edge. Restaurants opened by people who really care about food. Clothing shops with “high-end” stuff. A specialty bookstore–or two. A terrific seafood shop. A great cheese place. Quirky shops that reflect the passions of their proprietors.

    Like that.

  • yo

    What about a high end bakery?

  • Poulenc

    Definitely, yo.

    And a real deli–why should we have to go to Manhattan to get a decent bagel? (Unless any of you know a BH spot where such can be found….)

  • CJP

    I’m not a bagel guy and maybe that’s your first point of attack but what’s wrong with the bagel place on Montague? I’ve always thought the bagels were delicious, especially when fresh out of the oven. My wife goes there pretty often. I avoid the place because of the lines.

    I once counted twelve people in there; all twelve were on line waiting to pay or waiting for orders.

    I often see Paul Giamatti in there.

  • Joe

    I hope to god it doesn’t become a dorm. Anyone else remember the brick throwing incident on Clarke and Henry.

    Montague bagel is fine but I do wish we had a proper bakery. L&H is getting worse and worse.