Step into the lobby of Robert De Niro's Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, and you're immediately transported from the bustle of Manhattan to what feels like your chicest friend's rustic townhouse, one that's equal parts comfortable and exclusive. A favorite among celebrities (including Kate Hudson, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kristen Stewart, to name a few), the hotel has a restaurant where even locals elbow to get a reservation, and a Japanese ryokan–styled spa with a pool beneath a roof made of 250-year-old wood. It makes you wonder, Where am I? Wait, who cares? In the winter, guests are invited to relax by the fireplace in the drawing room. Come summer, weary travelers can sip a cocktail in the open-air courtyard. The hotel's design rejects attempts at being hip, and instead focuses on pure taste—which it has in spades.
Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that De Niro, along with BD Hotels and Capital & Counties Properties PLC (a.k.a. Capco), has set his eyes on a posh part of London for his next venture: the Wellington Hotel in the city's Covent Garden district. The 83-room luxury property—just shy of Greenwich's 88 rooms—will reportedly include a spa, two restaurants, a café, and a central courtyard.
The project awaits approval by the Westminster City Council, so travelers should keep their fingers crossed. If all goes as planned, construction on the Wellington will begin next year and will be completed in 2019. The building itself is on, no surprise, Wellington Street, bounded by Tavistock, Burleigh, and Exeter streets.
“The Wellington Hotel would honor the heritage of the area, while bringing the best of what we’ve done in New York to London,” De Niro said in a statement. Neighbors of the new hotel would include Chanel and Dior stores, as well as Balthazar and Ivy Market Grill. A Sushi Samba restaurant, also with locations in New York City, is scheduled to open in Covent Garden’s Market Building later this year.
This would be the latest in a number of creative boutique hotels that have opened London in recent years, including the Art Deco–inspired Beaumont just a short walk from Bond Street, and André Balazs's 26-room, A-lister hangout in Marylebone, Chiltern Firehouse.
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