NEW YORK CITY — Starwood Capital Group has unveiled a new luxury hotel brand, Baccarat Hotels & Residences, which the company says will fill a void at the very top end of the upscale hotel market. The brand shares the name of the world-renowned French crystal maker.
Additionally, Starwood Capital and Tribeca Associates have announced plans to build the 46-story, 114-room Baccarat Hotel & Residences New York, located at 20 W. 53rd St. just off Fifth Avenue in New York City. Skidmore Owings & Merrill is the architecture firm for the project and Gilles et Boissier is the interior designer. The hotel, which is slated for completion in 2014, will cost $403 million to build, according to The Wall Street Journal. Some room rates are expected to exceed $800 a night.
“A truly iconic luxury European brand now enters the hotel segment,” said Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital. “Baccarat’s name is synonymous with hand-crafted quality and a nearly 250-year-old pursuit of perfection. We’re excited to introduce a super luxury hotel to the world’s most important travel market, New York City.”
The hotel will also feature luxury residences, which will include access to hotel services and amenities, as well as the latest technological innovations. Amenities will include a Baccarat Spa, fitness center with an indoor pool, a “B Bar” which will be ensconced in a crystal pavilion wrapped by a garden terrace, meeting salons, a distinctive restaurant and a curated collection of Baccarat products for sale.
“We expect to truly innovate the service standards for a luxury hotel, embracing state-of-the-art technology solutions and creating an overall experience that is sensuous, luxurious and discreet, yet supremely comfortable,” said Sternlicht. “In our design, we will celebrate the qualities of light and we will design new specialty decorative products for both the hotel and the spectacular residences.”
Additional Baccarat hotels are planned for Rabat and Foshan, China, as well as Dubai, Marrakech and other locations in the Middle East and Asia. Starwood Capital Group, a private U.S.-based investment firm, maintains its American operations in Greenwich, New York; Atlanta; San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; and Los Angeles.
— Savannah Duncan