SOHO— The large-and-in-charge James New York , the hotel rising on Grand Street on the former site of the Moondance Diner, will open this August, according to a press release. And whereas other neighborhood newcomers have been criticized for being a bit blah , the James gang is trying to pump some of that Soho artistry into the place. Some design details: “The hotel has chosen SoHo based ArtistsSpace (www.artistsspace.org), a non-profit artist collective to design each one of the guest floor corridors. They will use the walls, floors, ceilings and basic corridor spaces as a canvas. Even the smallest of details will be expertly designed- Artist John Paul Phillipe (www.j-pinc.com) will create unique room number art for each of the 114 guest rooms; Piet Boone will contribute to the design and architecture of the penthouse suites.” There’s even a furniture curator! Your move, Mondrian Soho. [CurbedWire Inbox] CHELSEA— Movie star Gerard Butler was recently spotted checking out a Noho penthouse , but he seems pretty happy in his newly renovated 3,300-square-foot Chelsea loft, which has 13-foot-tall mahogany doors, frescos everywhere, crystal chandeliers and columns topped with limestone lions. Seriously. We know this because he’s the cover subject of the May issue of Architectural Digest . (On newsstands April 6! Here’s an excerpt and picture .) This is how the rugged Scotsman describes his place: “I wanted something elegant and gorgeous and at the same time rather masculine and raw. I guess I would describe the apartment as bohemian old-world rustic chateau with a taste of baroque .” Yeesh, another one of those? [ Architectural Digest ]

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CurbedWire: Gerard Butler’s Very Masculine Chelsea Loft; Soho Hotel Gets Artsy