Apartment-hotel to open NY's Sutton Place area.

The Sutton, an elegant boutique apartment hotel offering long-term leases with a 3o-day minimum occupancy to an international corporate and diplomatic audience in the elite Sutton Place area, is scheduled to open at 330 East 56th Street this fall, 1992.

Modeled after exclusive British residences called "service flats", The Sutton will feature apartments with traditional English-style furnishings, full kitchens with stove, dishwasher, full-size ice-maker refrigerator, glassware and flatware, built-under-counter coffee and team makers, state-of-the-art amenities, and personal service. Beamed ceilings and crown modlings will lend Old World-style charm to all apartments. The marble bathrooms will feature Victorian pedestal sinks, full tri-door medicine cabinets, and all-brass faucets, shower controls, and accessories.

Fifty-eight of the 84 apartments will be unusually spacious one-bedrooms -- averaging 810 square feet in size -- while two-bedrooms, some with private solariums, and studios will also be available. Several apartments will feature outdoor terraces.

A health club with a 55-foot swimming pool, exercise room, massage room and sauna; 24-hour concierge to arrange for food delivery, limousine rental, and personal shopping; daily maid service; 24-hour valet and dry cleaning; valet parking and a multi-lingual staff will be included among the amenities.

A multi-million-dollar renovation of a 1928 residential hotel which had been closed since 1982, The Sutton is being developed by Alan B. Friedberg. The owner is 330 East 56 Street, Inc., a subsidiary of The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Ltd., a Hong Kong-based developer and manager of prestigious hotels and residences in Asia and the U.S., who acquired the property in mid-1990. The Sutton will be operated by Sovereign Management Corp., a New York-based management firm.

According to Friedberg, "Long-term leases are often the stepchild of hotels in New York, which are not really set up for this type of living. We aim to cater to this niche for corporations, as well as individuals whose homes are undergoing renovation, area residents who have long-term guests, and relocating executives."

Introductory rates will start at $3,500 for studios, $4,000 for one-bedrooms, and $7,500 for two-bedrooms.

Commisssions will be paid to travel agents and real estate brokers.

The renovation features a new granite and limestone entrance, canopy of bronze, and an intimate cherrywood paneled lobby with a beige Spanish marble floor and English prints. The architect is Brennan Beer Gorman/Architects, who designed the St. Regis and Essex House renovations, and the interior designer is Brennan Beer Gorman Monk/Interiors.

Friedberg is a New York real estate developer whose projects include Grosvenor House, a 28-story English-style condominium on 15th Street just off Fifth Avenue, The Brevard on East 54th Street, Nevada Towers and Sherman Towers on 70th Street and Broadway, and 315 East 72nd Street, as well as the condominium conversions of 299 West 12th Street, 302 West 12th Street, 45 Christopher Street and 59 West 12th Street.