Industry Insiders: Michael Achenbaum, Haute Hotelier

Michael Achenbaum of the Hotel Gansevoort puts down The Law, emerges a towering hotel titan, and reveals what’s in the works for Park Ave.

Point of Origin: I grew up on Long Island and went to the University of Michigan. Then I went to NYU for graduate school for a JD and MBA for law business. When I was in school here and in Michigan, I began to concentrate on children's charities. I worked at a Japanese bank and Bear Stearns doing commercial mortgages -- an industry that's just falling apart right now, and the residential component is now affecting the commercial component. I left to go and work with my father in commercial development as he had his own construction company. Prior to my involvement, my father was responsible for developing thousands of apartments and several million square feet of office space. After I joined the company, we decided to take a few projects in a different direction, including high-end hotels, and we ended up picking up the property that would eventually become the Gansevoort.

Occupations: Socially I was going out to the Meatpacking District and saw the importance. If they could draw people to that market in the state that it was in, crunched in between Chelsea and the Village with cool restaurants and the impossible cobblestone streets, far from the midtown grid pattern, it would be an up-and-coming neighborhood. Did I expect it to top out? Not then. Obviously the rise of that area was far quicker than I had imagined. Socially, there was a great reason to be there. Ian Schrager had made hotels epicenters—hearts of the new nightlife in New York—so I figured if I built a great hotel with great food and bev component, with easy access to fabulous restaurants, there would be a great upside. Gansevoort made it. Now one of the best hotels in the world—we’ve made our mark by offering something of a high level of service to our clients, on par with the midtown hotels. Having cool bars and restaurants and a spa gave it a youthful, stylish element.

Any non-industry projects in the works? I give to charity and to my graduate school, but still concentrate on children’s charities. In college we did the Big Sibling program and I continued with it post-graduate and turned into a Big Brother in Michigan and formed a charity for children who wanted to go to college. Now, we’ve formed Camps Catamaas for after school, and camp facilities where kids have the opportunity to go to two-week sessions for a vacation. I work with two young men from the Bronx—and I’m putting one of them through college right now. Now, I’m a mentor through social services.

Favorite Hangs: I love La Esquina for late dinners, rather than to clubs or lounges. But I love a lot of European-style music. Still, the primary focus is work and sitting through nice dinners—when I have time.

Industry Icons: Ian Schraeger has tremendous vision and created the chic hotels that people had dabbled in Europe, and made them stylish with great public areas, unique environments. He continues to be very visionary, as Andre Balazs and the Thompson Group do. They all create a buzz-worthy environment.

Who are some people you’re likely to be seen with? Generally, you’d see me with industry people in the nightlife or hotel industry or lending industry or with law school friends—people who I’ve known forever. Right now it’s the hotel, but we’re really building developers.

Projections: We’re working on a ton of stuff beyond hotels, now we’re taking on more technical assistance and management roles in Toronto and Chicago. We’ve been hired for long-term management arrangements. We find talented local developers. Miami’s Gansevoort South opened in April, and we’re finishing the project over time. We have STK, Philippe, David Barton, Inca for resort wear and BoHo chic, Bustello in their first high-end coffee shop-cum-Cuban lounge for home-grown atmosphere. Cutler the hair salon with great products. We’re firm believers in branding benefits to have unique entrepreneurial companies in the mix. We’re also in construction at 29th and Park [in New York], so we’ll be in business in 2010—a big hotel with a special pool area. Our signature element is a rooftop pool and bar. The rooms are huge! We’re doing a small bar with the One Group for a high-end lounge.

What are you doing tonight? I’m in Miami at 512, then probably to our rooftop bar, Plunge (my sister’s idea), and to a club run by the Opium group called Set.