The West 23rd Street hotel that inspired creative talent from Sir Arthur Clarke to Sid Vicious is up for sale.
The Chelsea Hotel, controlled primarily by three families that have owned it for 65 years, will remain a haven for struggling artists despite changing hands, a hotel spokesman said yesterday.
“The history itself makes the hotel what it is,” said the spokesman, Loren Riegelhaupt. “Anybody who’s going to be looking to buy the Chelsea knows that the Chelsea is the Chelsea, and there’s nothing you want to do to change what the Chelsea is.”
There is no asking price for the 12-floor hotel, which, built in 1883, has been a residence for numerous writers and artists and musicians. In 1978, Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols killed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen there in a drug-induced stupor. It is also where Bob Dylan, according to his own lyrics, wrote “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands.”
Upkeep of the old building required a $2 million to $3 million investment in recent years to renovate 25 rooms and the lobby, Riegelhaupt said. The property is split between transient hotel rooms and residential units.
