LE BLEU HOTEL REVIEW
WORDS BY ANTHEA GERRIE
LE BLEU
BROOKLYN
SSOCIÉS
ANDRES ESCOBAR & A
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF
Andres Escobar Associates have
ven before Brangelina, Liv Tyler and Maggie by the hotel; Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue is the Westway
designed a new boutique hotel for
E
Gyllenhaal moved into the ‘hood, the of New York’s Portobello – in other words, the
Globiwest in the up-and-coming Park
newly-cool New York City borough of industrial, almost desolate fringe of an otherwise
Slope district of Brooklyn.
Booklyn was crying out for a boutique hotel. Now, it gentrified and happening area.
has one in Le Bleu, a 48-room newbuild in the up- However, with planners keeping any kind of hotel out
and-coming Park Slope district. of the most obvious location for a boutique hostelry
It is stylish, more affordable than chic Manhattan - ritzy, brownstone-lined Brooklyn Heights - and
counterparts, and enjoys distant views of the Statue Dumbo, the uber-trendy area beneath the Brooklyn
of Liberty and New York skyline. But although this Bridge already catered for with a Marriott, Park Slope,
kind of lodging in a neighbourhood with a similar vibe established as a dining destination thanks to its Fifth
and demographic to London’s Portobello Road seems Avenue restaurant row, was the next best choice.
a no-brainer, it nearly didn’t happen. “The owners took a chance - but they are in the right
“The owners were originally looking to create a place in advance of everyone else, with Park Slope
Holiday Inn Express,” explains Le Bleu’s architect, coming up so fast,” adds the Montreal-based Escobar,
Andres Escobar. “It was only when I told them I who with a spa resort just outside Delhi catering to
didn’t do that kind of work but had a more radical India’s growing middle class also under his belt, has a
proposition that the idea of a boutique hotel in history of building in the right place at the right time.
Brooklyn was born.” “And even though the owners cut back on extras like
Radical is certainly the word given the site occupied the exterior cladding I would have opted for, they
VISIT WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM FOR MORE HOTEL REVIEWS HOTEL REVIEW MARCH / APRIL 2009 085
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