Joie de Vivre pulls off hotel-to-condo conversion

by J.K. Dineen and Ryan Tate

Chip Conley is going condo on Nob Hill.

The Joie de Vivre Hospitality honcho is converting the Nob Hill Lambourne — a boutique hotel at 725 Pine St. — into pied-à-terre condos. The 14 rooms and six suites are being converted into 22 units above a small grocery store, according to land use attorney Brett Gladstone, who represented Conley in the entitlement process. The Planning Commission approved the conversion earlier this month.

While the Board of Supervisors has put a moratorium on converting hotels to condominiums, (a measure enacted as an attempt to protect hotel workers), hotels with fewer than 100 rooms are exempt. The studios and one bedrooms will range from $359,000 to $579,000 and will be available this summer. Vanguard Properties is marketing the small pads, which are being pitched as “an inventive vision of a modern European-style building for a new generation of sophisticated residents and global travelers alike.”

Gladstone said the conversion may be part of a trend and he has been approached by other hotel owners interested in conversions.

“Some of the smaller boutique hotels are ripe for conversions,” he said.

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