Raphael De Niro, star Douglas Elliman broker and son of actor Robert De Niro, is teaming up with his famous dad and five other partners to develop an 850,000-square-foot complex in Shanghai’s financial district.
Dubbed Project 179 after the municipally-designated blocks of land, the development would restore four buildings that are currently vacant and include a new fifth structure in a design geared to mimic 1920s Shanghai.
The De Niros will work with Ira Drukier and Richard Born of BD Hotels, Sam Natapoff of Empire Global Ventures, Wilson Lu of Amerasia S&T Corp and Tribeca Enterprises to develop the site.
The site will ultimately include an 80,000-square-foot, boutique five-star hotel in the vein of the Greenwich and Bowery Hotels — developed by Robert De Niro, Drukier and Born in New York City — more than 200,000 square feet of retail space, restaurants, a performance center and a multi-screen cinema.
“Project 179 will bring a little of New York City to Shanghai so that two of the great cities of the world will live together in the Bund,” Natapoff, president of Empire Global, said in a release. — Julie Strickland