Global Impact Attention to Detail An Interview with André Balazs, André Balazs Properties EDITORS’ NOTE André Balazs stud- even in those circumstances, because the slide into a nightlife-only largely out-of- ied humanities at Cornell University of the unique nature of its follow- towners ghetto halted and the area came back. and obtained a masters degree in a ing, we were virtually immune to any How broad can The Standard brand be- joint journalism and business pro- downturn. come and do you want to limit the number gram at Columbia University. While at the standard level in new of properties? in school, he launched several news- york, we have a quality product and when it started out, i envisioned it would papers and magazines. After a stint good pricing. we’ve always taken care be a more youthful brand, and as it turns out, as a political consultant, he founded to build value into the brand, so we’ve there is no way to categorize the age. we live a biotech company with his father, never practiced exploitative or oppor- in a time where both age and the pocketbook an internationally renowned scien- tunistic pricing. don’t defi ne what you want to consume. tist. After a decade of investing in Many who think of boutique For example, the standard has a lot of cul- nightclubs and restaurants, he be- hotels think of great bars and life- tural content. we embrace artists – it’s part of came a developer and hotelier with André Balazs style with small rooms, but you the experience of being at the standard. the the 1990 acquisition of the storied have built things differently. Is consumers are not young or old – they are bud- Chateau Marmont. André Balazs was a founding it well understood that there is more to get conscious. so there is no limit to it. trustee of the New York Academy of Art, has served your boutique hotel concept? our current objective is to move into key on the boards of the New York Public Theatre and the boutique hotel phrase is greatly over- overseas gateway cities and one or two very ac- the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum, and is the recipient used these days. steve rubell and ian schrager tive sports-related resort-type areas. of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum came up with that idea and it was clever, if You have also had strong impact on the Design Patron Award. you understand it in the context of department residential side. Is that a growing area for you? stores versus boutiques. we like it, especially in conjunction with COMPANY BRIEF André Balazs Properties in merchandising terms, the concept of a hotel and hotel services because for the new ur- (www.andrebalazsproperties.com) owns seven boutique is that it’s a select limited offering, but banite who is international, moves around, and is hotels in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, in- highly focused. so you shop in a boutique be- easily in two or three cities at a time, the idea of cluding Chateau Marmont, The Mercer, cause the owner has preselected items – you having a service department is very compelling. Sunset Beach, and The Standard hotels can’t get everything, but if you are a client look- the hotel life as we generally define (www.standardhotels.com). The four Standard ing for that selection, it’s ideal. it – one of hot and cold running service, maids, hotels are located in Downtown Los Angeles as long as the boutique phrase is used ex- room service – is a compelling adjunct to mod- and Hollywood, California, Miami, Florida, actly as it’s meant to be used in retail, then it makes ern life. and having an apartment that delivers and New York City’s recently opened prop- sense, because it doesn’t imply less or more – it that is extremely compelling. erty in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. implies a highly selected, highly focused offering. we got into the business shortly after André Balazs’ residential projects include One so you can have a high-end boutique or a 9/11, almost by default – converting some Kenmare Square and the 40 Mercer Residences low-end boutique; it’s just an offering with a very hotel projects to residential for fi nancing rea- in Soho, as well as the William Beaver House in strong point of view, and by defi nition, a strong sons. but it has been very successful in every New York’s Financial District. point of view is exclusionary as well. it will not end of the market, whether it’s the top end appeal by design to a broad number of people. correlating to our luxury hotels or the mid- When you look at these past 24 months, When you created The Standard in the priced correlating to the standard. how much of an impact did you see on hos- Meatpacking District, the area was not then As the business has grown, has it been pitality and were you surprised at how deep what is has become today. Has the develop- challenging to give up some of the control? the impact was on the hotel business? ment in the area been what you expected? it’s not hard at all to give up control. the we’re in miami, los angeles, and new this is the fourth standard – we have two point is to build an organization where other york, and each market is different. in los angeles and one in miami, and that brand people are trained and have similar passions. speaking just of new york, we have been has had a strong following. i spend most of my time on development fortunate because we operated on two market three years ago, the meatpacking area was and marketing. because of the unique nature of tiers: one at the top end with the mercer, and perceived as largely marginalized and becoming our concept, marketing encompasses the expe- the other at the mid-tier or affordable pricing a nightlife ghetto in the city. rience of the hotel. with the standard. in both cases, the properties the standard is a product with a lot of the issue for me and our top executives is are so distinct that they’re outperforming their depth and offering to it and it’s very new york, trying to maintain the tone. usually, the tone is comp set for different reasons. unlike some of the other properties in that im- defi ned by attentiveness to the details. there are at the mercer level, we have sophisticated mediate vicinity. the high line is itself a desti- many ways to do things as long as they’re done travelers for whom the fi nancial downturn is not nation that has opened up the area. with attention to detail.• an issue. we saw this after 9/11; notwithstand- the standard being an authentic new york ing the fact that we’re in a downtown prop- hotel had a lot to do with it being embraced by Pool at The Standard Spa, Miami (left); The Standard erty and that tourism more or less dried up, new yorkers and, therefore, in that whole area, New York Lobby (right) 76 leaders posted with permission. copyright © 2011 leaders magazine, inc. volume 34, number 1.