The room is beautiful. The view, not so much.
The Brooklyn Paper got a first peek inside Brooklyn’s first boutique hotel — Hotel Le Bleu — and discovered a very modern, tasteful, 48-room, glass-and-steel complex.
But looking out the window onto Fourth Avenue certainly brings you back to the real world. Sandwiched between a taxi depot and a Staples office supply store, it’s not a stretch to wonder if this is really the stuff that four-star hotels are made of.
“We want to be ahead of the curve on everything that’s happening in Brooklyn — particularly [on Fourth Avenue],” General Manager Robert Gaeta said. “There are a lot of exciting things happening in this area. It’s reminiscent of DUMBO or Williamsburg.”
The hotel, which is at Fifth street, will open for business on Aug. 1, though its chic in-house restaurant and rooftop bar won’t be ready until later this year. At that point, Le Bleu — which is owned by Globiwest International, a California-based hotel chain — hopes to draw local traffic to the Gowanus Canal area.
“This could be Venice in the United States,” Gaeta said.
Financially, it already is: Le Bleu rooms will go for the Venice-like price of $300–$400 a night, but, Gaeta quickly pointed out, the tariff includes luxury amenities like concierge service, plasma-screen televisions and botanical bath products in the glass-walled showers.
“We’ll be getting guests who normally stay in Manhattan, but are looking for something different,” said Gaeta. “A lot of tourists have already seen [Manhattan] and want to experience what New Yorkers experience — sort of like the Left Bank in Paris. To get the real flavor of New York, people are looking to Brooklyn.”
Hotel Le Bleu (370 Fourth Ave., at Fifth Street in Park Slope) opens on Aug. 1. Call (718) 625-1500 or visit www.hotellebleu.com.
