Once nicknamed ‘America’s Favourite Playground’, Atlantic City is a gaming heaven to rival Las Vegas. It was also the inspiration for the board game Monopoly and everyone who has ever played it remembers that the deep blue properties were the most desirable. In the US version of the game one of these is the Boardwalk, so it’s fitting that this is now home to a new boutique hotel, the Chelsea.
There were previously two hotels on the site where the Chelsea now stands: the Howard Johnson Hotel had been there since the 1950s, while the adjacent Holiday Inn Atlantic City-Boardwalk was built in the 1980s. Cape Advisors, Inc and Normandy Real Estate Partners L.L.C joined forces to purchase the two buildings for a whopping $36 million, and converted it into what is billed as the first non-gaming hotel since the 1960s. Designed to snatch the ‘casual traveller’ away from the big casino-hotels, the Chelsea has a relatively modest 331 rooms and 12 suites over its 20 floors.
The rooms are a mixture of elegant Chelsea Luxe and the hip Chelsea Lite, the latter being the more playful of the two options. Conjuring up images of classic Hollywood glamour of the late 1930s and 1940s injected with modern opulence, the rooms have ocean views and feature a range of hi-tech gadgets and services. Colleen Bashaw Interior Design, selected a palette of warm, rich colours and fabrics and comfortable, plush furniture that reeks of refinement.
Paul Sevigny and Matt Abramcyk of Beatrice Inn worked with Cape Advisors Inc, the designers and developer Curtis Bashaw on the concepts for the 5th Floor, the Terrace, the Bar, the Game Room and the Living Room. All offer sophisticated locations for the non-gambling individual. The 15,000 sq ft rooftop swimming pool with private cabanas crowns the hotel, with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and the bay.
Philadelphia-based restaurateur Stephen Starr is responsible for the food and drink offer, with a mid-century-inspired diner, Teplitzky’s, and Chelsea Prime, a surprisingly sexy Steakhouse infused with more Hollywood-style décor reminiscent of Atlantic City nightclubs from the late 1930s and 1940s.
So now ‘America’s playground’ has a hotel for the serious non-player. Shame you can’t pay with Monopoly money.
This piece was first published in Issue 5 of X2 Global Hotel Design
