A dilapidated Chelsea building that was once home to a boutique hotel is gearing up for demolition, city records show.
The 5-story property at 131 W. 23rd St., formerly occupied by the Townhouse Inn of Chelsea until it shuttered during the pandemic, is seeking to be razed, according to permits filed with the Department of Buildings Thursday.
The owner of the circa-1925 building, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, is the real estate firm Actium Development, which is based in the same neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side. Records show Igor Krnajski, a principal at the company, submitted the demolition permits, which were rejected by the city’s Buildings Department because of missing documents — an administrative issue causing a small delay in the project timeline. The permits will ultimately likely be approved after the documents are resubmitted, according to information on the department’s website.
It’s unclear at this time what will replace the now-defunct 12-unit hotel building — hospitality developer Jeffrey Dagowitz, Actium’s founder, declined to comment on what his plans are for the site. It was rumored years ago, however, that he and former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann had flirted with the idea of building a co-living tower called WeLive on the block after Neumann took over the property’s $65 million mortgage, The Real Deal reported in 2017. Three years later, though, Neumann and Dagowitz landed a $75 million refinancing loan for the site, which included parcels at 123-131 W. 23rd St. and 116-120 W. 24th St., and it appeared their vision for a potential WeLive tower had soured, the outlet reported.
Dagowitz, who most recently took out a $69 million loan on the property from Long Island-based G4 Capital, city records show, also declined to comment on his involvement with Neumann when reached by Crain’s Thursday.
Actium’s portfolio includes spearheading a number of gut renovations to develop luxury hotels and residential buildings, including the Wall Street Hotel in Manhattan, the Seagull hotel in Miami and the WeWork/WeLive Crystal City in Washington, D.C., according to its website.
