Baccarat and 1 Hotels, two hotel brands hatched by Starwood Capital Group CEO Barry Sternlicht prior to the 2008 recession but shelved since then, appear to be making a comeback.
The first Baccarat Hotel & Residences is scheduled to open in midtown Manhattan in 2014. The 50-story property, located on 53rd Street across from the Museum of Modern Art, will have 114 rooms as well as 61 private residences. Condo sales are slated to start next month. The property will include a street-level restaurant and bar.
The 1 Hotel & Residences South Beach is scheduled to open by March 2014. The property will have 417 hotel rooms as well as 163 private residences, and will boast what Starwood Capital calls South Beach’s largest pool.
Starwood Capital is converting a 1970s building into the hotel, which will be designed to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards.
Sternlicht, who left Starwood Hotels & Resorts in 2005, announced the eco-oriented 1 Hotels concept in October 2006 with a goal to have 15 development agreements in the next two years. Sternlicht planned for the brand’s first property to open in Seattle by the end of 2008, and a New York property to open on West 40th Street near Bryant Park in mid-2010.
As for the Baccarat hotel brand, which is based on the French crystal company founded in the 18th century, that brand was unveiled in July 2007, with Sternlicht earmarking the first Baccarat hotel for Maui in 2010. More properties were slated for the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, but neither a Baccarat nor a 1 Hotels property ever opened.
“What was once just an idea will soon be a reality," said Sternlicht in a statement on Wednesday. “We are confident that Baccarat and 1 Hotels will place Starwood Capital Group at the very forefront of the dynamic hospitality industry.”
Within two years, Starwood Capital plans to open 1 Hotels in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as a Baccarat hotel in Rabat, Morocco.
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