King of Marvin Gardens

A boutique hotel with—gasp!— no casino aims to reinvent Atlantic City.

Project: THE CHELSEA

Opening: Summer 2008

Director/Producer: Colleen Bashaw of Colleen Bashaw Interior Design, the woman behind four swanky hotels in Cape May, N.J. (including Congress Hall and The Sandpiper Beach Club).

Team: Shawn Hausman of Shawn Hausman Design, Los Angeles (and designer of A.C. hotspot Buddakan); Stokes Architecture firm of Philadelphia; Getty’s Group of Chicago; AC Beach Development Partners, LLC.

Location: 111 South Chelsea Avenue, Atlantic City, N.J. Situated just off the Boardwalk in the heart of Atlantic City, across from the Tropicana. Once upon a time you really could take a ride on the Reading Railroad to get there. Now, the Black Horse Pike will have to do.

Design: The Chelsea springs from humble origins; it owes its foundation to a 1980s-era Holiday Inn and the adjacent Howard Johnson. Rather than tear down the old hotels, the developers used them for building blocks. “We wanted the original architecture to inform the re-design,” Bashaw says. “The existing buildings had a lot of character that we wouldn’t have gotten if we built from scratch.” Inside, the reverence for all things retro continues: the hotel’s many social spots—the Terrace Lounge, the Bar, the Game Room, and the Living Room, all designed for parties and private events—share a polished, old Hollywood glamour, while sleek, Deco furnishings lend the 343 guest rooms and suites a playfully chic vibe. Bashaw can’t take all the credit, though. “Shawn Hausman is a genius!” she says.

Motive: The first non-gaming boutique hotel to open on the Boardwalk since the early 1960s, the Chelsea aims to usher in an era of refinement that’s been—how shall we put it— subdued since the Rat Pack put the seaside resort community on the map. The Chelsea team views its casino-less baby as a herald of Atlantic City’s ‘coming of age,’ setting the standard for new, non-gaming establishments.

The Crowd: Families and singles who don’t want to wade through day-tripping gamblers on their way to their rooms. “I think we’ll see a lot of families, but also people in their 20s and 30s who are just discovering Atlantic City,” says Bashaw. “In addition to the beach and the casinos, there are so many concerts and shows.”

The Perks: The 5th Floor (which houses all of the social rooms) will also feature steakhouse Chelsea Prime, a Stephen Starr restaurant and cocktail lounge with décor reminiscent of Atlantic City nightclubs from the late ’30s and ’40s (Teplitzky’s, a more casual diner, also by Starr, can be found on the ground floor). The in-house Sea Spa will offer a full service spa menu along with a Jacuzzi, steam room, and an outdoor saltwater swimming pool. There’s a state-of- the-art gym, and, if you prefer sun and sand to sauna and treadmill, there are private beach accomodations including food and drink service brought right to your complimentary towel.

Bottom Line: We can’t wait to take in ocean views (and, perhaps, a martini) far away from the deafening ding of slot machines.