How Barry Sternlicht Plans to Move Ahead With 1 Hotels
Ah, 1 Hotels. Such a mystery to us. A fantasy, even. But after years of being talked about and planned and hyped up...might you actually become a reality? Barry Sternlicht (who established Starwood Hotels) apparently thinks it's possible — even in this economy.
Now, we've mentioned him before as the man behind Starwood Capital's fabled 1 Hotel & Baccarat Hotel brands, two planned luxury chains that ran into some serious funding-related complications and were mostly either delayed or taken out of development entirely.
We'd put 1 Hotels on DeathWatch and were ready to write the brand off as a poorly-timed dream that never really came to fruition amidst the whole economic meltdown. And the Baccarat brand, in the opinion of one source we consulted, "was announced at the height of the market when everyone was frothin' at the mouth. And then the floor fell out before he could get all the cash to start an actual project, just like 1."
And now, despite the economic climate and the sagging demand for luxe development, it seems Sternlicht is ready to take a different approach to move forward with those brands: according to Bloomberg News, he is reportedly seeking to raise $100 million for a new hotel management company called SH Hotels that would develop and operate properties around luxury brands; the hotels would be managed by SH Group but may be owned by Starwood affiliates (and others).
It sort of makes sense that Sternlicht would tear away from Starwood Capital — where things are probably pretty tough — to start a management company, as the cash needed to start a management company is significantly less than, say, the money needed to buy and develop something big.
We'll be keeping a watchful eye on SH Hotels — though we're not exactly going to bet that we'll be sleeping at the 1 Hotel next time we're in Seattle.
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