New York's famed Hit Factory to be sold as condos

Tue Aug 8, 5:42 PM ET

New York's Hit Factory studio, which closed in early 2005 after being home to recording sessions by John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Madonna and U2, is being converted into condominiums worth more than $1 million.

Stribling Marketing Associates said the building in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood will be converted into 27 units, from one-bedroom apartments to penthouse duplexes with private terraces. Prices will range from about $1.1 million to more than $4 million, the company said, adding that the seven-story condominium is expected to open in early 2007.

The Hit Factory sign has remained over the door and the lobby of the converted building will be decorated with gold and platinum records recorded at the famed studio by such artists as Paul Simon, Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen.

Before it closed in 2005, the 100,000-sq-foot (9,290-sq-metre) building on West 54th Street between Ninth and 10th Avenues had seven recording studios and five mastering suites.

The owners of the studio never said why it closed. But property values in the once grungy Hell's Kitchen have soared in recent years as the neighborhood gentrified and albums are increasingly being recorded using cheaper digital technology.

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