Ian Schrager

Developer

Developer Ian Schrager has been synonymous with New York City cool for nearly five decades.

Schrager co-opened Studio 54 in 1977. The club lasted just three years before he and business partner Steve Rubell were sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion — but Schrager’s legacy only grew afterwards. 

In 1985, he and Rubell opened another venue, the Palladium, which lasted over a decade and became a mainstay of the city’s club scene until it was bought and demolished by New York University in 1997. 

It was in the hotel game, though, that Schrager made his most lasting mark on the city’s real estate landscape and enshrined his tastemaker reputation. In 1984, he and Rubell opened Morgans Hotel, widely known as the first-ever boutique hotel project. 

Schrager worked with name-brand designers like Philippe Starck to expand the concept and nearly single-handedly turned the hotel business in wealthy cities like New York into a glamorous undertaking. 

Schrager continued innovating in the space, and as so often happens with beloved indie darlings, went mainstream with his partnership with Marriott and later, the launch of his Public Hotel brand.