Not even Robert De Niro is immune from the pandemic’s impact on real estate.
The actor and director said his investments in restaurant chain Nobu and the Greenwich Hotel have strained his finances, Page Six reported. The news was revealed during a divorce proceeding in which De Niro’s wife, Grace Hightower, requested an emergency order to raise her monthly credit card allowance to $100,000 from $50,000.
An attorney told the judge that the allowance had to be reduced because Nobu, which has two Manhattan locations, lost $3 million in April and another $1.87 million in May — before restaurants began opening for outdoor dining. The famed actor had to borrow $500,000 from his business partners to meet a capital call, “because he doesn’t have the cash,” his lawyer said.
The Greenwich Hotel, the other asset that De Niro’s legal team blamed for the actor’s financial troubles, charges $595 for a stay in a king-size room with a soaking tub. But it’s not likely many travelers are rushing to pay those lofty sums for a stay in the luxury Tribeca hotel. The lodging industry has taken a beating since the coronavirus kept travelers home. Occupancy has recovered dramatically since its mid-April low, but it was still far below normal occupancy for the sector.
In February, De Niro’s new film production studio closed on its $72 million purchase of a waterfront development site in Astoria.
[Page Six] — Georgia Kromrei