Unique construction plan of 1964 building created hardship. BSA approved the plan by Hampshire Hotels and Resorts to convert the 162,123-square-foot former National Maritime Union building, located along West 17th and West 16th Streets near Ninth Avenue in Chelsea, into a 316-room hotel. The existing building, built under a 1964 variance approval, most recently housed a transitional youth shelter run by the Covenant House.

Located on an odd-shaped, 11- sided lot, the existing building contains two separate wings: an 11- story wing along West 17th Street with a sloped facade, small circular windows and floor plates that narrow at each successive level, and a West 16th Street wing with five windowless floors that the union used for auditorium space. An additional complication is that the lot has two frontages along West 16th Street. Another property separates the lot’s five-story wing from its 25-foot wide, one-story garage. (read more…)