Hotel Bossert To Become Dorm Bossert

By on September 9, 2008 6:24 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, News, Real Estate, Watchtower

A tipster alerted us to this news item on The Real Deal blog about the imminent sale of Hotel Bossert:

R.A.L. Companies & Affiliates is expected to buy the former Hotel Bossert at 98 Montague Street for $92 million and turn it into student housing, according to Robert Levine, president and CEO of R.A.L. Companies & Affiliates.
“It’s pretty much a done deal,” he said, adding that he expects to close on the sale by the end of the month.

The hotel, once known as the Waldorf-Astoria of Brooklyn, will now suffer the same fate as its cousin, the St. George.

Robert Levine made this amusing statement about the deal:

“It is truly a beautiful landmark building,” Levine said. He said his company intends to renovate the interior of the 140,000-square-foot building and turn it into student housing. R.A.L. would then sell or lease the building to a university.

I’m trying to picture the Waldorf-Astoria draped in purple and white. Seriously, can you see this lobby as a dorm hall?

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  • Cranberry Beret

    Soulman wrote: “Person after person show a lack of tolerance and a surplus of negative, spiteful and just plain dumb attitudes.”

    If it makes you feel any better, this is not a Brooklyn Heights phenomenon but describes just about all blogs.

  • AliG

    Keep on truckin, Soulman. Glad you’re still living an active lifestyle.

  • AEB

    Soulman, the issue isn’t that student’s shouldn’t be housed in the Heights; rather, it concerns the conversion of the Bossert, a glorious architectural emblem, into a dorm.

    The building should, in my opinion, house non-transients who will make an investment in its space, in living there–something students aren’t likely to do.

    I don’t dish students–I was one myself. However, I see housing them in the Bossert as unfair to it–as a form of disregard, even disrespect, for its role in the community.

  • AEB

    (Should be, in my post above: “…the issue isn’t that students….”)

  • hickster

    soulman, i think the converse is also true. if anyone says anything that is not considered the PC liberal crap to say it is branded as spiteful and negative. opinions are like assholes…everyone has one. we all have a different vision of how we’d like our neighborhood to look and feel and a bunch of kids puking and throwing cigarette butts all over is not my preferred vision.

    NIMBY is real people especially in high rent hoods. That premium is supposed to be protection against certain conditions. this is the foundation of the real estate market.

    what i love and pay for in brooklyn heights is relative quiet, safety, cleanliness, community commuting convenience and a casual atmosphere where people act like adults (for the most part) are comfortable in their own skin and dont feel the need to be uber hip at all times. i will oppose any change that impinges on what i view as the character of the neighborhood.

    not all change is good. only change for the better.

  • esplanader

    2cents: you want diversity and of all the neighborhoods in Brooklyn you chose Brooklyn Heights? Hello?

  • T.K. Small

    As a kid in the 70s, I remember how seedy the St. George & Bossert hotels had become. Essentially they were RSO residences with all of the usual problems associated therewith. College kids can never be as bad as what it had devolved into.

    However, either pro or con, folks should raise their concerns at the Community Board 2 meeting this evening at six o’clock. The meeting will be held at 138 S. Oxford St, which is near the Williamsburg Savings Bank building.

    This is a perfect example of why the Community Board community board needs a functional website.

  • Homer Fink

    TK I hope you come back with a full report!

  • my2cents

    Diversity, esplanader, is obviously not a primary criterion for choosing this neighborhood, as it is obviously not diverse. There are more exotic breeds of dogs here than of people. However, I am not opposed to it becoming more diverse, especially when what we are talking about here is more age diversity. But I guess this upsets people.

  • hickster

    diversity for diversity’s sake is not a good thing. to make it meaningful, the contribution has to be positive. i am not sure what these college students are conttributing to this particular neighborhood other than the fact that they happen to be younger than most of us. how does that enhance my living experience on a daily basis? answer – it doesn’t.

    BK heights is quiet, boring, mainstream and family-oriented. it is not hipster or destination nabe (other than promenade). love it or leave it alone.

  • here since 89

    2cents: People over forty are not allowed to move into DUMBO, or into parts of Williamsburg -it’s agaisnt the zoning ordinance or something.
    we older types have to live somewhere.
    In thirty years, all of DUMBO will be a retirement community.
    it’ll be quaint. The Heights will be part of Greenwood cemetery and there will be memorials to where people finally dropped dead, outside Teresa’s, waiting in line at Starbucks, etc.

  • Pierrepont

    Why don’t we do this the right way: Let’s pass the hat and outbid these jerks. Montague St deserves something better than a dorm. And the neighborhood needs several thousand more college kids like we need a dirty bomb!

    With the deep pockets in this Zip Code, whadaya say?

  • joe

    what a sad sad day. Having been a student in my past I don’t think I would want to be around my younger self at this stage in my life (mid to late 30s)

    I definitely like the idea of a boutique hotel with condo and a nice semi upscale hotel restaurant/bar/lounge.

  • T.K. Small

    I’m so glad everyone showed up at the Community Board meeting this evening to discuss your concerns regarding the Bossert being turned into a dormitory. It would have fit in nicely with the presentation that was delivered outlining the affiliation/merger of NYU and Brooklyn Polytechnical Institute. It was revealed that a number of the residential buildings of NYU in Manhattan are not available due to lease expirations. That building is going to be filled college kids quicker than you can say Brooklyn Heights!

  • Pilar

    Is this a fact….another DORM!!! I hate this idea; there I wrote it. I have been living here long enough to know why I like it here; peace and quiet of people who are old enough to know to be peaceful and quiet. If I wanted to live in a loud place where kids would be hangin’ around and bringing their friends from other places to hang out; well then I would live near NYU.
    Brooklyn Heights residents deserve more than this; and our community should demand more.

  • JGM

    I am pretty sure the college kids that get placed in the BH dorm are not going to be very happy either. I am sure they are expecting the fun and excitement of the city, yet will be stuck with a snooze fest community with no fun restaurants, bars, coffee shops or shopping. Unhappy students and unhappy residents.

  • PJL

    I live across the street and haven’t had a problem with the dorm/students. Hardly ever see them except at the beginning and end of the semester (though I do work long hours), except for a few smokers. Always thought they got bored almost immediately after move-in and do all of their partying in Manhattan…. I say any signs of life are welcome in BH (most young people can’t afford the neighborhood otherwise)….

  • Andrew Porter

    There’s a Brooklyn Law School dorm (formerly owned by the JWs) on Hicks between Pineapple and Orange, and you never hear of rowdy behavior there.

    I think the residents of the St. George should be policed better by the owners/management of the place. What happened to the standing rules about smoking, loud talking, disposal of cigarette butts, etc., that were put in place a while back? And, more to the point, has anyone actually complained about this behavior? (And not just here!)

  • nabeguy

    While my personal preference for the Bossert would be a luxury hotel if only for the financial impetus it might provide for Montague Streeet, I’m a bit surprised by how broad a brush people are using to smear the students currently at the St. George. Percentage-wise, the dozen or so kids that quietly hang out and smoke in front of the place are nothing compared to the total population. No doubt, they can sometimes be annoying when they throw around a football (or the occasional cinderblock off the roof). And, yes, the dorm management should do a better job of policing the area. Somehow, though, I don’t expect this to be a problem at the Bossert. It’s just way too close to the BHA offices for the kids to get away with anything. Stanton will be out there chasing them with a stick

  • Kim

    I do apologize to you all. I’ve lived in the St. George for the past 2 years (and still living here because I love the neighborhood and won’t be able to afford it after I start paying loans back). I too complain about the noise and I live here, but at least you don’t have it outside of your door. I do want to just make a note that not everyone who lives in the hotel is loud and obnoxious. The vomit, smoke, and noise bothers me just as much and the only policing I see is when there’s a squad car outside on Henry St.

    One MAJOR difference this year, is that it’s now freshman housing as well as upper class people. I’m a senior and I have to say that the atmosphere is pretty different now.

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