Starwood Capital Group’s Baccarat Hotels and Resorts have finalized the plans for an ultra luxurious hotel and residences with rates exceeding $800 a night. The project has been in the planning stage for five years now. A 45 story building has been planned at a site belonging to New York Public Library, located across from the Museum of Modern Art. Originally hotel developer Orient Express had drawn up a contract to buy the land but never closed it. Now Starwood has acquired the rights to the site. As per the agreement the first four floors of the building will house a completely renovated Donnell Library Center. The hotel will be spread over nine floors from the fourth through 12th. The rest of the floors will feature a total of 64 luxury condos.
Baccarat Hotel Manhattan Design Combines Louis XV with Modern Era
The library cum hotel cum condo complex is expected to be ready by 2014. The brand, the look and the feel of the Baccarat hotel has been inspired by Baccarat Crystal, the French manufacturer of fine glassware which became part of Starwood in 2005. The hotel lobby will feature a unique crystal piece that will rotate. There will be Baccarat chandeliers and a boutique store selling crystal. Barry Sternlicht, CEO Starwood Capitals and the Chairman of Baccarat sees the new hotel combining Louis XV with the modern era. It will be targeting high-end couples and business travelers who may be shopping on Fifth Avenue. The hotel’s design will strictly follow the guidelines of feng-shui but above all in the words of the CEO iw will be ‘sensuous, luxurious and discreet’.
Baccarat Hotel Manhattan Features Crystal Everywhere in the Hotel
The Baccarat Hotel in Manhattan will have garden terraces and predictably blinged out with crystal. The interiors of the hotel will be designed by Gilles et Boissier. The project is estimated to cost $403 million. Starwood wood be investing $161 million in the project but the tougher part would be organizing the balance through construction loans. New hotel projects are not a favorite of Banks or financing companies. Mr. Sternlicht who created Starwood by combining brands such as ITT Sheraton and Westin has already created the trendy hotel brand W. He has been pushing persistently to make Baccarat into a chain of luxury boutique hotels. The uncertainties of the global economy has made the task that much tougher. The Manhattan hotel will be Baccarat’s flagship but it will be operating properties developed by third parties in China, Japan and Dubai.
