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July 14, 2008

Inside the Nu Hotel

We checked out the Nu Hotel on Friday afternoon and, we gotta say, we were very positively surprised. Billed as Brooklyn's first boutique hotel, the Nu had its soft opening a week ago and we saw one (screamingly unhip) tourist couple checking in during our visit. Decide for yourself from the photos, but in our opinion they went about this the right way. They didn't try to get too cute with the design, keeping it light and modern, made the room sizes decent (helped by the fact that the building was originally designed as a condo) and priced it right; it's also in the best location of any hotel in the borough that we can think of, with Smith Street at its doorstep. For now, the introductory rates are also pretty compelling—$199 on weeknights and $149 on weekends—though that's bound to creep up as occupancy rises.




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:30 AM | Comments (16)
Categories: Boerum Hill, Hotels

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Comments

Nice! At these rates, I may have to take the wifey over there for a weekend special.

Posted by: guestula at July 14, 2008 10:41 AM

Mr. B, I think you're mistaken about the hotel portion of this building being originally conceived as condos. To the best of my memory this part of the development was always planned as being a hotel.

Posted by: johnife at July 14, 2008 10:41 AM

That is good news, very much needed in neighborhood and great location as stated.

Posted by: chrishavens at July 14, 2008 10:42 AM

The decor is a little sparse for my taste but I love white hotel rooms. It keeps the hygiene standard really high and thats a lot more important than a cozy look to me. I wish more hotels could handle all white linens.

Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at July 14, 2008 10:42 AM

johnife, that's what the hotel manager told us on our tour but no idea beyond that

Posted by: brownstoner at July 14, 2008 10:43 AM

Mr. B is right as I recall, originally all of building to be condos, change to part hotel one of reasons darn thing took so long.

Posted by: chrishavens at July 14, 2008 10:45 AM

I agree with johnife - I believe the first five floors were originally designed to be a hotel.

Posted by: lambretta76 at July 14, 2008 10:45 AM

it's also possible that the truth is somewhere in the middle. the current hotel extends, on the first 5 floors, around to the atlantic side of the building where the condos are. so maybe the smith street side was originally intended as hotel and then they expanded to the atlantic side? just a guess...

Posted by: brownstoner at July 14, 2008 10:51 AM

how much per hour?

Posted by: z at July 14, 2008 10:51 AM

Nice that there will be a hotel with decent rates (for now). Excellent location as well. I happen to like Mid Century Modern furniture but I have to say that is some cheap stuff they are working with. It would be great if they can maintain a clean look with all that white, but I suspect it will end up looking beat-up and dingy in no time at all.

Posted by: Carol Gardens at July 14, 2008 11:00 AM

From The Real Deal of Feb 2006(http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/hotel-rates-of-return-eclipsing-condos)

"A hotel grows in Brooklyn, too

Another mixed-use condominium, the Smith, off booming State Street in Boerum Hill in Brooklyn, was all set to build office space on its first four floors, when, according to Leviev Boymelgreen project manager Brad Robertson, "we started getting calls from different hotel operators - not only nationwide chains wanting to expand into New York City, but people in Manhattan who want to move to Brooklyn. We started thinking the highest and best use for this area is a hotel."........

The change in plans, recalls Robertson, "wreaked havoc on the design. There were detail changes with the mechanical, electrical and plumbing. With an office space we would have had to supply core bathrooms and a standard office envelope with open floor plans." The new design fills the space with rooms with bathrooms, but the interior design concept is yet to be determined. Boymelgreen has only just hired hotel broker CB Richard Ellis to find an operator........

The Smith has one line of one-bedroom apartments, starting at $550,000, and one line of three-bedroom units. The rest are two-bedrooms. The developer is holding onto the 10,000 square feet of retail space at ground level until a hotel operator is secured, in hopes of placing a high-end food service facility in the spot.

Construction of the building has just begun and occupancy is expected in January 2007."

So, the design changes to incorporate a hotel were made while they were still mired in the foundation work, prior to the commencement of superstructure work.

Posted by: johnife at July 14, 2008 11:01 AM

Thank you. Mr. Ife!

Posted by: brownstoner at July 14, 2008 11:05 AM

Wasn't hotel Le Blue, or whatever the name, on fourth Avenue, in the pepboys parking lot the first boutique hotel?

Posted by: funstraw at July 14, 2008 11:10 AM

That's across from the detention center. The copy is very funny and the neighborhood descriptions hilariously inaccurate.

Looks nice- especially for such fair coin.

Posted by: superstooper at July 14, 2008 11:10 AM

Yes welcome, to Brooklyn with 2 Boutique hotels. One across the street from a prison and the other in the oil stained parking lot of Pep Boys.

Posted by: funstraw at July 15, 2008 12:36 PM

I'm curious about a comment you made in your review of the Nu Hotel. You mentioned that the tourist couple you observed checking in was "screamingly unhip." Please elaborate--was it their appearance--their behavior--details please? Should we avoid the hotel because of them?

Thanks.

Posted by: lauraobrien at August 1, 2008 4:49 PM

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