Well, this is kind of ridiculous. Hotelier Ed Scheetz of the King & Grove chain wants to make sure everyone knows that he is now the sole proprietor of West 23rd Street's Hotel Chelsea. Scheetz has announced that he will be rebranding the trendy King & Grove chain as Chelsea Hotels in a move that NYDN describes as an attempt to "bring some of the iconic inn's global cachet to his other properties," which include five hip New York and Hamptons destinations. Rumor has it that the rebranding stems from Scheetz's head-butting and subsequent split with former partner, developer Joseph Chetrit, who is accused of just about every landlord transgression in the book. Whether the switch-up will see the evolution of the gloriously seedy former artists haven and den of iniquity into the $200-plus-a-night, swanky hotel it's striving to be, or if the King & Grove hotels will be weighed down by the Chelsea's unshakable history has yet to be seen, of course.
Under the rebranding, Williamsburg's King & Grove will become known unimaginatively as the McCarren Hotel & Pool. Similarly, Chelsea's King & Grove will mysteriously melt back to the building's original name, the Martha Washington. The brand is also planning the Hotel Astor, formerly to be King & Grove Lafayette, on Broadway between East Fourth Street and Washington Place.
· Owner of Hotel Chelsea will rebrand his other inns to capitalize on a world-renowned name [NYDN]
· Meanwhile, at the ... / Chelsea Hotel coverage [Curbed]