Alan Faena, the Argentine real estate developer who wants to turn around New York’s West Chelsea district

Alan Faena wants New York to return to being the city that never sleeps. Apparently, post-pandemic, most New Yorkers now have dinner and go to bed early. Faena wants to reverse that trend with a maximalist and dramatic hotel in West Chelsea, where a speakeasy and a variety theater will remind the locals of the real yet abandoned nature of the city they live in.

It would sound pretentious if it weren’t for the fact that Alan Faena, 62, is an urban genius. His first experiment began in the midst of the 2001 crisis in Argentina, in Puerto Madero, a ruined port area of Buenos Aires. He had just sold his fashion brand, Via Vai, after which he spent four years growing roses at his home in Uruguay. Born into a family of Syrian immigrants and with a Sephardic Jewish surname, those four years were enough to generate a new idea. On the one hand, he wanted to build a luxury residential project in that wasteland, and, on the other, he wanted to attract global talent. Subsequently, he commissioned the interior designer Philippe Starck while Norman Foster was taken on board for the design. To Starck he sent dramatic postcards: “Argentina needs you”. “Creative souls recognize each other instantly,” he maintains. He and his partners built Puerto Madero and in 20 years turned it into one of the most desirable residential areas in the city.

The next stop, in 2015, was Mid Beach, another depressed area affected by more than one chapter of Miami vice. In the space of 10 years, Faena transformed it into a cultural district, the Faena District Miami, its epicenter being a luxury hotel where the best Art Basel parties are held. “Nobody believed in this project, only us,” Faena told EL PAÍS. “We’ve helped elevate Miami, we’re part of the shift in how the city is perceived.”

There’s no need to elevate New York, but Faena is there, between the High Line and West 18th Street, with similar ambitions and methods, although this time he has partnered with a multinational hotel chain, Accor, with whom he will build 20 Faena hotels around the world, according to Bloomberg. Madrid could have one of them: “It’s one of our priorities,” he says.

The Faena New York opened in September 2025. Fancy furs, tinsel and splashes of color contrast with the sober, raw stone and industrial style of Manhattan’s gallery area. It is there that Faena has chosen to establish his universe of cabals, cosmic eggs, Malaysian tigers, magic crystals and swords with superpowers. The symbolic and visual universe of Faena is everywhere, from napkins to pillowcases. Each night guests can find a card under their pillow, containing a mysterious message.

“West Chelsea is a rather quiet place where anything can happen. For the mural of the cathedral [Faena calls the reception area of his three hotels cathedrals] we have commissioned the muralist Diego Gravinese and his mural has taken longer to finish than the work on the building,” he says. Gravinese has painted The Colossal Woman surrounded by a constellation of quartz and symbols. On the second floor, a 12-meter neon-yellow mural by Keith Haring evokes the New York of the eighties, and, in the bar area, another one signed by Juan Gatti replicates emblematic monuments of the city, such as the Rockefeller Center Atlas and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Asked what luxury means to him, Faena replies, “It’s a devalued word. It is confused with expensive materials, such as marble and glossy woods. It is corporate, repetitive and low risk. It’s sold out and just being performed. It leaves me cold. Faena is the future of luxury because we use the voice of emotion and surprise through light and colors.”

Q. Is Zohran Mamdani’s position as mayor of New York going to affect this type of investment?

A. The vision for this project extends over the next 20 to 30 years. For the good of the city, I hope that its spirit of growth based on talent and the search for innovative paths is not harmed. We want to be in a free city and be part of Frank Sinatra’s legend: “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.”

Q. Will Faena New York be open in some aspect to New Yorkers who can’t afford its prices?

A. More than a luxury hotel, Faena is a cultural project – over time it will become a complex of restaurants and entertainment venues similar to Miami’s Faena cultural district, which is six blocks long.

Q. What does money mean to you?

A. I’m not guided by money. I follow my intuition and the money may or may not come. I’ve always taken a lot of risks. I never thought I would get this far in a foreign country, arriving as I did with Tarzanesque English. But I always had the confidence that what I did was going to be well received.

Q. Where does your confidence come from?

A. I was a very shy child, but I was always convinced of what I wanted to do. That gave me confidence.

Q. And are you cautious in any way?

A. With everything. I try to know each city inside out before opening a hotel. But caution is not a limit, it helps me to understand the world better.

Q. How many hours a day do you work?

A. I don’t work per se. What I do is my hobby.

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