William and Michael Achenbaum, the father-and-son team that own the Gansevoort Hotel in New York City, now have officially nothing to do with the massive Gansevoort South in South Beach.
The duo officially lost ownership of the hotel-and-condominium building last month when they failed to find a another buyer, Credit Suisse swooped in. Though it appeared that the Achenbaums would retain control of management of the hotel, Credit Suisse gave the management contract Coral Hospitality, a Naples, Florida, company that appears to have little experience with a flashy party hotel like the Gansevoort South and has no other presence in Miami.
While it's a slightly laughable point to be making in the midst of serious financial problems, they probably have a point.
Coral Hopsitality's six other hotels are realtively low-profile, with few of the amentities that characterize the Gansevoort. Four of the six are described as "nestled" on their thesaurus-challenged website. The Gans is decidedly not "nestled" kind of place.
It'll be interesting to see how Coral works with the Opium-controlled Louis, David Barton Gym and newly opened STK restaurant. It'll be worth keeping on eye on the hotel to see if anything changes.
The Achenbaums always maintained that the hotel was profitable, but weak sales of condominiums led to the financial problems. Credit Suisse will, of course, be allowed to use the Gansevoort name.
