Share this page on

WORDS BY BETHAN RYDER

BUSINESS IAN SCHRAGER

The impresario who created the club that defined the Bacchanalian ’70s disco era and shook up the hotel industry in the ’80s with his chain of “boutique” designer hotels is now applying his maverick business sense to the “art of living”—that’s real estate to you and me. Studio 54 creator and hotelier Ian Schrager has moved into developing luxury residences and, as you’d expect, it’s no ordinary real estate.

50 Gramercy Park North comprises 23 residences and forms part of a $165-million hotel and residential development. British minimalist architect John Pawson has designed all the apartments, and, even though they are still under construction, almost all have been sold. The development is set in Manhattan’s leafy and highly desirable Gramercy Park neighborhood that stretches from 20th Street to 24th Street, is bordered by the East River and Park Avenue to the west, and features a private park at its heart.

Schrager says of the project: “I wanted to give people an unprecedented level of luxury service, access and privileges simply not available any place else—a lifestyle most people only dream about, together with one-of-a-kind, show-stopping residences with great views, finishes, details and layouts. All of this in a centrally located, unique neighborhood, across from the only private park in New York City... that is my idea.”

The apartments occupy a new-build property slotted between the original 1924-built Gramercy Park Hotel and a more recent hotel annex. Schrager’s aim is to create an “effortless, hassle-free” form of urban living by blurring the distinctions between the hotel and apartment. Residents of 50 Gramercy Park North will have access to the five-star services and facilities of the hotel, which will operate as the residents’ “clubhouse.”

It is Schrager’s belief that the complexities of modern life demand this new haute-luxe level of service. “If you lived in a fancy home in the country, you would have an estate manager to deal with every single thing about that home, from spraying for mosquitoes to fixing plumbing and getting a permit for a fire on the beach. So it’s like having a city apartment manager. We’re giving someone the benefit of a fully staffed household with all the people working there, without any invasion of privacy or the worry of managing it. It’s more than five-star hotel service, it’s taking on the responsibilities that come with owning something.”

According to the stylish promotional brochure, residents will have at their fingertips a dizzying array of services, from standard things like housekeeping and laundry, through to babysitting and pet care, arranging for apartment renovations and party planning. It’s not yet clear how many of the services will incur extra charges or are included in the purchase price—which, since you’re asking, is between $5 million and $16 million. Presumably, if you’re wealthy enough to afford a multimillion-dollar apartment, then it’s more a matter of convenience and time saved, than money spent.

As for the bricks and mortar, Pawson’s done a fine job creating spacious sleek “canvases,” flooded with natural light, upon which owners are invited to do their own thing. All feature floor-to-ceiling windows, park views, custom-designed bathrooms (some with lavish oversized tubs) and kitchens finished in beautiful high-quality materials of white oak, cherry wood and travertine. Many have wood-burning fireplaces and lofty ceilings of over 12 foot, and some include outdoor space—a precious asset in Manhattan. Schrager says of Pawson’s design approach, “He’s about continuing the purity and refinement of what he does and getting more and more refined, and more and more pure, and reducing it and paring it down to its absolute essence.”

The “essence” of 50 Gramercy Park North has proved alluring to a number of millionaires so far. According to Schrager, every prospective purchaser immediately loved the entire product when they viewed the show apartment. “They said that usually they thought they’d want to change everything; but this was the first time they didn’t want to change anything. The whole idea is not only to give the space and layout, but to give the level of finishes so that you’re walking into something that is reflective of your lifestyle.”

So why make the move from the hotel industry to real estate? “What interests me more than anything is doing something that hasn’t been done before. That’s what really gets me up in the morning,” he says animatedly. “I like this idea of bringing that same sort of commitment into the way people live. Nightclubs, hotels and apartments work along the same continuum. I still have something to say with hotels; it’s just that I see the rest of the world after 15 to 20 years finally doing what we’ve been doing, and it’s great. However, I feel obliged if I’m going to continue doing that, to move on and do something else, like this fusion of residential with hotel. I’m not in this to be a business guy. I’m in this to express myself.”

The Gramercy Park Hotel constitutes the second phase of the development and will open in April 2006. Renovations include reducing the number of existing rooms from 500 to 181 expansive rooms, to be priced in excess of $300 per night. Schrager is creating the hotel with long-time partners Michael Overington and Anda Andrei. He hopes it will be his masterpiece, with furniture, fixtures and art collected from designers and artists (including Julian Schnabel) all over the world. “It will have a completely original, quirky look. I think people will be surprised,” he says. There will of course be a buzzing lobby, hot-to-trot bar and destination restaurant, which is to be a New York branch of London’s Michelin-starred Hakkasan, owned by restaurateur Alan Yau.

Meanwhile, Schrager is holding onto his other hotels—except for New York’s infamous Paramount, which was sold last year for $128.5 million to Hard Rock. Schrager and his American business partners opted to keep his two London properties, St. Martins Lane and The Sanderson, despite his European business partner Burford having wanted to sell. And The Clift, his boutique hotel in San Francisco, has recovered from its financial troubles and remained in the portfolio.

At the Shore Club in Miami’s South Beach, Schrager is developing another kind of accommodation fusion—a leaseback system that’s similar to the hotel-condominium model, but without the multiple ownership. Buyers can purchase a Shore Club suite (equipped with kitchen) as a holiday home, and any time the suite is unoccupied they can lease the apartment back to the hotel for rentals. The profits are then split between the hotel and the owners.

It’s a perfect financing tool for the hotelier, but Schrager says it also gives people the option of a beach home without the full costs. “It’s a new social phenomenon,” says Schrager, who believes it started when the affluent started buying shares in private planes. “Before, these shared ownership schemes weren’t available, but now together with planes, yachts, homes and private retreat clubs, it’s a growing trend.”

And there’s more on the Manhattan horizon. Just north of Little Italy, on Bond Street, another Schrager development is in gestation. Superstar Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron (the duo behind the Prada building in Toyko and London’s Tate Modern) are radically redesigning Manhattan’s traditional cast-iron building, with nothing visible but glass (handmade in Barcelona of course). “It’s a thrill for me, because it’s never been done before. We’re creating a three-room hotel and five townhouses—the first that have been built in Manhattan in 150 years with private backyards.”

You can bet that just like his nightclub and hotels, fans of Schrager’s “effortlessly chic” brand of affluent lifestyle will be clamoring to sample such typically über-exclusive offerings. So run, don’t walk—the townhouses have probably been sold already.

• Game Theory

  Business leaders look to video games as the future of management training.
  read more ›
  
  

• Odd Man In

  Once considered an eccentric outsider, Johnny Depp has managed to shoot to the top of Hollywood's A-list—on his own terms.
  read more ›
  
  

• What's in Storage

  Don't toss out old emails and files like yesterday's garbage. With easy-to-use archiving sysems, saving has never been simpler or more valuable for your business.
  read more ›
  
  

• Pack Frat

  Male college students are the secret to a junk hauling company's success.
  read more ›
  
  

• The List - Asheville

  
  read more ›