The former Pirelli Tires headquarters in New Haven is being converted into a hotel. Photo courtesy of Google Maps.

After serving as nothing more than an architecturally significant billboard for the neighboring IKEA store, New Haven’s Pirelli Building has been sold to a developer who plans to renovate it into a boutique hotel.

The Brutalist building was designed by famed architect Marcel Breuer and built in 1970, but the concrete giant has sat empty for some years.

Developer Bruce Becker bought the building for $1.2 building, the New Haven Independent reported. IKEA, which bought the building in 2003 as part of the $19.75 million deal for its store site according to city records, secured permitting for a hotel on the site in 2018.

Becker reportedly plans to convert the building into a hotel. New Haven has seen a recent surge in hotel development and a private equity-backed real estate fund recently snapped up a downtown hotel. The city has also targeted the Long Wharf area as a site for long-term growth to serve the city’s growing tech economy.