The Liberty Inn, an Iconic Hourly Hotel in New York, Is Up For Sale

The Liberty Inn, which advertises itself as having the “sexiest” rooms in New York City, is for sale, The New York Times reported.

The unique building has been around for almost 50 years and features rooms with lip-shaped headboards, fancy sex chairs, and rates for two and six-hour stays ($95 and $155).

You can also stay overnight for $200-$250, depending on the room. “You won’t find any resemblance here to the traditional image of by-the-hour hotels,” the hotel’s website says. “You’ll find modern, lively, colorful rooms filled with lots of features that are tailor-made for romance.”

But now, the hotel is for sale and looking to get more than $20 million, reportedly. The owner told the NYT it was harder to keep a place like an hourly hotel in a neighborhood that has become more and more expensive. The meatpacking district, like other formerly industrial urban neighborhoods, has seen housing prices increase dramatically.

In particular, average rent in Manhattan reached a record high of $5,113, according to Curbed.

“So much has changed since the 1970s, back when I called this area the ‘Wild West Side,'” Edward Raboy, owner of the inn — who sometimes went by the cover name Robert Boyd—told the NYT.

“It’s now turned into an almost sedate kind of place. What was then appropriate for a hotel like this doesn’t make sense quite the same way anymore. Above all, the building is now more valuable to other people financially, because it’s so unique,” he added to the outlet.

Raboy told the NYT his father had owned the hotel before him. Even though it was fun running the hotel, he added, “Hourly hotels are like that Rodney Dangerfield quote, ‘You don’t get no respect,'” he told the outlet. “But it’s been a fabulous run.”

Entrepreneur wasn’t immediately able to reach Raboy for additional comment.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/433349