On Tuesday night, we checked out the Preview Party at the Beatrice Inn for The Chelsea Atlantic City which is still on schedule for a mid-July opening.
Our favorite Philadelphia Restaurateur (and soon to be Hotelier) Stephen Starr was there along with Curtis Bashaw and his sister Colleen Bashaw who designed the interior of the Chelsea, as well as a number of Curtis' other hotel projects in Cape May.
While we were a little disappointed that there were no pictures of the interior, or a presentation about the hotel, drinks were free, hors d'Oeuvres were excellent and the opportunity to actually get into the Beatrice Inn without having to pay off a bouncer made up for it.
And yes, we sat on the couch where Lindsey Lohan probably made out with 684,384 guys (in one night) last week and felt a little bit of the celeb vibe.
We opened our inbox Friday morning to a nice little surprise containing some great looking renderings (after the jump) of the The Chelsea, Atlantic City. After no major delays, no financing issues, and no crane collapses - The Chelsea, Atlantic City is officially scheduled to open mid-July 2008.
The Chelsea is the first non-gaming boutique hotel to open since the 1960's (read: First nice hotel without a casino) in the former Holiday Inn Atlantic City Boardwalk which closed down for this conversion last year.
After looking at these pictures, it looks like the Chelsea is going to be a destination onto itself - no casino action required here to keep guests mingling around all day long. With two Stephen Starr restaurants, named Chelsea Prime and Teplitsky's, a nightlife destination called "The 5th Floor" (located on...well...I think you can figure that out), a spa, a banquet facility catered by...(this is a hard one) Stephen Starr, and an indoor salt water pool as well as an outdoor, rooftop pool surrounded by a huge pool deck. Whew!
Of course, you can't forget the rooms - 331 rooms, divided into two classes "Chelsea Luxe" and "Chelsea Lite". All rooms do include flat screen LCD TVs, twice daily maid service and room service furnished by Stephen Starr.
Rates for this amenity galore hotel? $225-$450 during the high season, $95-$275 during the low season, so even though you can't get any comped rooms by dropping a grand on the casino downstairs, it's still surprisingly reasonable.
It's about time someone decided there is more to Atlantic City than gambling!
It's common knowledge that restaurateur Stephen Starr has been sniffing around Philadelphia for some big-time hospitality industry opportunities.
Whether it be opening his own boutique hotel or just getting in on some ground-floor restaurant at an already well-established hotel, Starr is looking to beef up his hotel presence in the City of Brotherly Love.
Already Starr has done a bang-up job of getting his restaurant company inserted into big hotels like W Philly and Ft. Lauderdale (and possibly South Beach).
More importantly he's signed a letter of intent to take over the Sofitel Philadelphia's restaurant, lobby bar and lounge.
Now Illadelph Blog has done some analysis of Stephen Starr's presence in the city and it's all good.
Looks like Philly may be getting more than just another Stephen Starr restaurant. True, a dining room is on the menu for the W Hotel Philadelphia, currently set to open in 2009. (That's part of Starr's bigger plan to integrate his dining operations with Starwood Hotels, including the W Fort Lauderdale and the W South Beach.)
And while that's exciting for scene-y restaurant fans, we're more interested in what could be Starr's break into the hotel biz: He's planning a four-suite hotel above a new restaurant in Philly. The dining space will be designed by Taavo Somer, who did New York's Freemans and Gemma. As for the hotel, it's still very much a work in progress, but Starr says it will be "small, warm and easy--very cozy".
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by explorer5
It's common knowledge that restaurateur 
