Hotel Bossert Conversion to Ritz-Carlton Residences, Brooklyn Heights

The Hotel Bossert conversion will turn one of Brooklyn Heights’ best-known and longest-empty buildings into 62 condominiums branded as The Ritz-Carlton Residences. SomeraRoad and Marriott International unveiled the plan in mid-September, after the Landmarks Preservation Commission signed off on a scaled-back rooftop. Construction is supposed to start before the end of 2026, with completion in 2029.

It’s the Ritz-Carlton brand’s first project in Brooklyn. It’s also the second plan since 2012 to put this building back to work.

Project Scope

Helmle & Huberty designed the Italian Renaissance Revival hotel at 98 Montague St. It opened in 1909, grew to 375 rooms in 1912 and hosted the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 1955 World Series celebration. The Watchtower Society bought it in 1988 and reconfigured it into 224 apartments. SLCE Architects is designing the conversion.

The plan keeps the shell and restores the brick facade, terra-cotta trim and lion’s-head keystones. A new 15th floor goes on top, which LPC approved once the developers cut back the rooftop additions and mechanical equipment. Inside, an offering plan filed with the state attorney general on July 30 lists 62 condos and 23 storage units. Union Square Hospitality Group, Danny Meyer’s company, will run a ground-floor restaurant, its first full-service place in Brooklyn. SERHANT is handling sales.

No construction budget or general contractor has been announced.

Why It Matters

The Bossert’s recent history is a cautionary tale about hotel plans in landmark districts. The Chetrit Group and Clipper Equity paid $81 million in 2012 to reopen it as a Kimpton. That never happened. Chetrit bought out its partner in 2019 and took a $112 million loan from Cantor Commercial Real Estate Lending. Wells Fargo moved to foreclose in 2022, claiming more than $126 million was owed. Beach Point Capital won the foreclosure auction in February 2025 and sold to SomeraRoad that May for $100 million.

So the new owner came in below the debt that sank the last one. That matters, because a gut renovation of a 1909 masonry building in New York’s first historic district won’t be cheap, and every dollar of basis saved is room in the condo pricing.

The condo exit also asks less of the market than a hotel did. The Kimpton plan needed a brand, a lender and an opening date to line up at once. A branded condo needs buyers, and a Ritz-Carlton name on Montague Street is built to find them.

The risk now is schedule. Every past timeline for the Bossert has slipped. Sixty-two buyers will want this one to hold.

Project Team & Details