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Schrager secures New York and London locations for Public brand

Chiel — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 14:29:49 +0000

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Ian Schrager’s plan to further develop his Public brand is taking on a more definitive shape with deals in New York and London.

Schrager has reportedly agreed to buy a development site in New York City and is close to completing a second Manhattan deal. He did not offer details about the deals.

Last week, the Ian Schrager Co. won a US$119 (€ 87.5) million bid for the Crowne Plaza London Shoreditch (pictured) that likely will be the next Public location.

The first, Public Chicago had its official opening on Tuesday as part of Schrager’s overarching plan to develop 10 to 15 locations in the next five years.

Schrager has also hinted that he is getting close to naming a sizeable equity partner in his new venture.

Schrager launches “Public” brand, to debut at Chicago’s Ambassador East Hotel.

Chiel — Wed, 25 May 2011 16:03:36 +0000

Ian Schrager has finally gone Public with his plans for revitalizing Chicago’s iconic Ambassador East Hotel.

Schrager intends to make the 285-key Ambassador East the flagship and debut of a new hotel brand called Public, which he describes as “accessible luxury” with an emphasis on service. The Public concept borrows from the luxury, boutique and limited-service segments to create a brand that is simultaneously aspirational and affordable. The new brand will debut this fall.

Calling himself in a press release “anti-design,” “anti-flash,” “suspicious of the ‘wow factor’” and “completely sick of slick,” Schrager wants Public to appeal to both upscale bargain hunters and traditional budget consumers looking to trade up. “This is a huge opportunity to create a new genre of hotel that is not pigeonholed into a specific and traditional business classification,” Schrager says.

In today’s press release, which is purportedly written by Schrager himself, he says that Public “may well represent the revitalization of the hotel concept itself and another worldwide wakeup call for the entire industry.”

The man often called “the father of boutique hotels” says the rapid worldwide expansion of boutiques has trivialized the concept. The Public brand seeks to reconnect with the boutique movement’s roots while making it accessible to a new class of consumers. “The idea behind the boutique, as I saw it, was meant to touch people emotionally and viscerally and offer guests a truly unique experience,” Schrager says. “The idea has been lost with the huge number of watered-down versions. I want to bring it back in an updated version and elevate it to a cultural experience for the modern day traveler. These travelers now expect truly unique experiences, and not merely a place to sleep. Public will punctuate this with great value and service as well.

“My hotels were never about design. They were about an attitude, an approach and an experience. It’s something the industry never understood,” he says.

Service excellent, not superfluous

Excellent service will be a cornerstone of the Public experience, but the brand will not deal with “superfluous” services. For Schrager, this marks a new approach devoid of excess and a rejection of old-fashioned definitions of luxury. “Luxury is no longer about spending the most money; it is about getting the best value and being made to feel special,” Schrager says. “This is not in response to difficult economic times; it is a true paradigm shift.”

Public’s design team is being headed by Schrager’s longtime partner, Anda Andrei. The brand’s design will be restrained, refined and classically cool, devoid of pretense and hipness. “It’s a new simplicity. A ‘new chic.’ A ‘sincere chic.’ Tasteful and understated without attitude where quality and comfort are paramount. It is a really personal, authentic, confident style, and authenticity can’t be faked. Genuine, understated good taste is a universal language, yet hard to find,” Schrager says. “There is no pretense here, just effortless, timeless, purist design providing a relaxed vibe and familiar atmosphere that feels like home. We are trying not to be hip—we are, in fact, anti-hip— and therefore, by definition, we are.”

For Ambassador East Chicago—henceforth known as Public Chicago—Schrager has maintained the existing structure and architectural details and infused the interior with modern aspects to evoke a warm, personal style. The interior design features a smart mix of modern pieces in unexpected combinations.

Public Chicago’s Living Room and Library will be nicknamed “chat rooms,” juxtaposing comfortable, intimate seating areas with communal work tables and computer stations. Reminiscent of 1950s coffeehouses, The Library will house a coffee bar during the day, and by night transforms into a sexy lounge and bar offering plated exotic food by Chef Jean-George Vongerichten. Off of The Library is a candlelit Backroom that doubles as a screening room and hosts comfortable lounges and intimate seating for enjoying private screenings, video installations, poetry readings, original performances, relaxing and entertaining.

The hotel’s famed Pump Room is undergoing a complete renovation and will be helmed by Vongerichten. The restaurant will offer reasonably priced, delicious favorites in a relaxed, comfortable environment. Vongerichten will support local purveyors, regional flavors and offer a “farm to table” experience, as well as a daily special chef’s tasting menu of the most unique creations. At night, the restaurant’s bar will be transformed into a supper club recapturing the glamour of the 1930s and ’40s with a modern twist. Offerings will include light tapas style food including Asian specialties, exotic cocktails and great music.

Schrager to launch 2 new hotel brands, sells Gramercy Park

Chiel — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:24:14 +0000

Legendary hotelier Ian Schrager is set to launch a pair of new hotel chains, acting as an owner-operator, a departure from his history of managing properties for others.

Together known as Schrager Hotels, the two new hotel brands include a luxury lifestyle brand and another that is “incredibly stylish, less expensive and reasonably priced for both large major city center 1000-plus-room hotels and smaller hotels,” he says. Both brands will focus on offering guests good value for money.

The luxury brand will charge rates slightly below the competitive set in a given market, delivering a modernized, unpretentious version of classic luxury. The other brand will consist of less-expensive, stylized large hotels in city centers.

The first hotel in Schrager’s latest venture will be Chicago’s historic Ambassador East Hotel, which he acquired last year and which is undergoing a US$25 million renovation. It is unclear which branding style he will stamp on the property.

Schrager plans to lean on existing financial partnerships, including Morgan Stanley, to help finance further building acquisitions and hotel conversions, he tells The Wall Street Journal. He says deals are in the works in New York City and London, and he is also scouting Los Angeles and Miami. Additionally, Schrager is targeting international gateway cities including Paris, Barcelona, Istanbul, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and other cities in Europe, Asia, China, India and South America.

The announcement comes in conjunction with the sale of Schrager’s interests in Gramercy Park Hotel, closed last thursday. “It was a very good financial transaction for me,” Schrager says of the sale. “I received an offer that was just too good to refuse. However, it is a bittersweet moment as well. I put 110% into that hotel, as I do with all of my projects, but it was time to move on and seek new challenges.”

Miami Beach’s Seville Hotel gets a rebirth

Chiel — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:27:16 +0000

Under Ian Schrager’s direction, the now-closed 12 story Seville Hotel in Miami Beach would become a luxury Marriott boutique property.

Ian Schrager, the celebrity hotelier who invigorated South Beach with his launch of the Delano Hotel 15 years ago, is coming back to the beach.

Through a partnership with Marriott, Schrager is set to turn the shuttered 12-story Seville Beach Hotel into a boutique property under the new Edition brand.

The new venture, confirmed Thursday by Marriott, is just the second announced U.S. location under the new brand. The first is scheduled to open this fall in Honolulu (see stylehotelsweb blog June 9, 2010)

Marriott spokesman John Wolf said the South Florida hotel, which sits on nearly three acres of beachfront property at 2901 Collins Ave., is expected to open in three years after significant renovations.

“Edition has tremendous growth potential and this hotel will be a flagship to showcase the brand,” said Marriott International CFO Carl Berquist in a conference call with investors.

Thursday’s announcement adds a new whiff of hip to the Beach scene, still basking in the glow of basketball star LeBron James’ decision last week to call the area home. And it comes at a time when few comparable projects are on the horizon.

Schrager left Miami Beach a few years ago with the sale of his interest in the Morgans Hotel Group.

In recent years, Schrager has focused on luxury residences and a hotel in New York City and on the creating the Edition brand, aimed at sophisticated travelers.

His return to the beach is being heralded as a renewal after a tough patch for South Beach hotels, with several high-profile properties stressed by the economy.

“The Delano has the vibe or whatever . . . and Schrager was the marketing genius behind it,” said Scott Brush, an independent hotel consultant based in Miami-Dade. “With him involved with this, I don’t think there’s any way that it won’t be successful.”

Some of Miami Beach’s hottest hotels, the W and the Gansevoort, are several blocks south of the Seville; the Fontainebleau Resort lies 15 blocks north. The action between is subdued.

“For locals, this was an area that you avoided,” said Peter Zalewski, a principal at real estate consultancy Condo Vultures. “Or if you drove through it, you went really fast.”

He wondered how easy it would be to translate a massive older resort into “boutique chicness,” but called Marriott a pioneer for moving into the area.

“This is a tremendous economic boost,” he said. “It’s going to fill in the gap between south of Fifth and the Fontainebleau. This is the piece that’s necessary to bridge.”

The 278,547-square-foot Seville, built in 1955, previously attempted a comeback. In 2005, developers announced plans to turn it into a condo and fractional ownership complex with the Ritz-Carlton name, despite three Ritz-Carlton properties already in the area. Marriott owns the Ritz-Carlton brand.

Part of the old property would have been knocked down to make room for two 21-story towers, but the project couldn’t get off the ground as lenders balked in an unfriendly credit market.

Marriott acquired the property recently in a $57.5 million short sale from owner 2901 Beach Ventures, a partnership between Lionstone Group — led by Alfredo Lowenstein — and Fortune International Management, records show. That’s nearly $10 million less than a foreclosure lawsuit that had been filed on the property, which has since been dismissed.

Marriott does not expect to be the property’s long-term owner, Berquist said Thursday in a conference call for investors.

Marriott owns few properties that bear its name, instead franchising or managing hotels for owners under long-term contracts.

Marriott’s portfolio includes the luxury brand Ritz-Carlton, the upscale JW Marriott, “quality” brands including Marriott and Renaissance and moderate hotels Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield Inn by Marriott. In addition to Edition, it also recently created the Autograph Collection, currently featuring 10 hotels with an individualistic ambience.

Edition seeks to set itself apart by creating individualized hotels in busy markets that reflect the cultures of their surroundings with an emphasis on sophistication and service. Other planned Edition locations include Mexico City, Bangkok, Istanbul and Barcelona.

Schrager and Marriott announced the partnership three years ago. Initially, plans called for the South Beach Marriott at 161 Ocean Dr. to become an Edition, but that failed to materialize as the recession hit.

“We continue to explore other opportunities in the market, including the South Beach Marriott, but that project has been delayed due to market and other conditions,” Marriott spokesman John Wolf said.

Brush said he expects success from the hotel once it opens in a few years.

“It’ll be well into an economic recovery and there is very little opportunity for additional supply out on the beach,” he said.

Source: Miami Herald.

Ambassador East: The Rebirth of Chicago’s Cultural Icon

Chiel — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:54:06 +0000

Ian Schrager officially acquired on April 1st, 2010 the historic landmark Ambassador East Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, located in the heart of the exclusive Gold Coast. This coveted location is the city’s most desirable retail, dining, entertainment and residential neighborhood.

Mr. Schrager, who has owned and operated multiple hotels, comprising thousands of rooms, in gateway cities such as New York, London, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco, has always wanted to own a hotel in Chicago. ”I have always considered Chicago one of the most beautiful and architecturally significant cities in America-the city that Mies van der Rohe, one of the best architects in history, called home. It also doesn’t hurt that my wife and her family are from Chicago too!” says Schrager.

The 285-room and 189,000 square foot hotel, built in 1926 located at 1301 Northstate Parkway at Goethe Street, and world famous, acclaimed restaurant, The Pump Room, will undergo a renovation in the following months. Schrager intends to return them both to their past glory. ”It will still be the Ambassador East…but better,” says Schrager. In its hay-day, the esteemed hotel served as the wedding location of Humphrey Bogart to Lauren Bacall and played host to world renowned celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, John F. Kennedy, Natalie Wood and Robert Redford, to name a few. Frank Sinatra was known to have booked an entire floor of rooms when in town, as well as, clear out the Pump Room for private entertaining with his famed Rat Pack buddies. The Pump Room is also famous for introducing the Bloody Mary with the celery stalk to the world!

“I respect and love this hotel, its history, the city, the Gold Coast location and the neighborhood. I cannot think of a better city, time or location to launch one of the 2 new hotel brands that I am creating,” says Schrager.

There is no doubt that Schrager will continue the Ambassador East’s successful legacy and may even create a few new legends of his own.

Ian Schrager Company (ISC) builds, develops and markets innovative lifestyle residences and hotels, introducing new concepts and reinventing industry standards. ISC was founded in 2005 by visionary Ian Schrager following a formative career revolutionizing and impacting nightlife (Studio 54 and Palladium) and hospitality (Morgans, Royalton, Paramount, Hudson, Mondrian, Delano, Shore Club, Clift, St. Martin‘s Lane and Sanderson). ISC’s recent projects include the transformation of the fabled Gramercy Park Hotel in New York, 50 Gramercy Park North, and 40 Bond, among others.