Built in 1925 and known for most of its life as the BerkeleyCarteret Hotel, the property was acquired in February by the NewYork City-based Chetrit Group for $16 million. Theseller, Daniel Ahn, a Queens, NY-based entrepreneur, had acquiredit in 1998 for $5.1 million and listed it a year ago with an askingprice of $12 million. It was subsequently bid up to the final saleprice of $16 million, and Chetrit quickly shuttered the propertyand launched a major renovation.

To date, that renovation has entailed all 250 of the hotel'sguest rooms, according to the spokesman, as well as most of thehotel's common areas. The hotel's restaurant "will re-open soon,"says the spokesman, noting that 1401 Ocean Restaurant LLC, anaffiliate of the Chetrit Group, has applied for a liquorlicense.

And as part of the evolution of the property, Chetrit has hiredthe New York City-based Amsterdam Hospitality Group, which operatesseveral properties in New York, to manage the Berkeley Hotel.