For architect Gene Kaufman, the strength of New York City’s hospitality industry relies on one simple principle: “Build it, and they will come.”
Kaufman dropped by The Real Deal‘s New Development Showcase & Forum last month, where he explained that the city’s old supply of hotel rooms would not have been able to accommodate the 56 million tourists that now visit the Big Apple each year. In an exclusive one-on-one interview with TRD managing web editor Hiten Samtani, Kaufman chatted about some of the pitfalls starchitects face when working in New York City, how the super-luxury market has transformed architecture in the past ten years and more.