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A Taste for Luxury
Hank Freid stresses high style, from Times Square to the High Seas
 
 
   
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  Of his four-and-ahalf star Times Square hotel now in development, Hank Freid says:

“Sanctuary will cater to sophisticated tourists, publishing and corporate executives, modeling agencies and movie studios.”

The trendy rooftop bar he is building will likewise be the hot-spot desination for both New Yorkers and tourists alike.
 

 

 
 
I
f there’s one thing that Hank Freid understands well, it’s the essence of luxury. For more than 30 years,
Freid, the CEO and founder of the Impulsive Group, has been a successful developer of high-end and boutique hotel properties in New York City.

Freid is currently developing a four-and-a-half-star lifestyle hotel on West 47th Street called Sanctuary, slated to open in fall 2009. This “tranquil oasis in the heart of Times Square,” Freid says, will boast 120 spectacular rooms and an exclusive duplex penthouse suite with roof access. Freid has three other hotels in New York : the Ameritania in Midtown, and Marrakech Hotel NYC and the Broadway Hotel—both on the Upper West Side.

Continuously looking for new ways to offer luxury to those who seek it, Freid offers yachts for charter ( impulsivecharters.com) during the Mediterranean high season and the Caribbean winter months. An 82-foot Sunseeker Predator is available for daily or weekly charter in the Caribbean, starting at $10,000 and $60,000 respectively. In the Mediterranean, his 120-foot Norship, the Impulsive—which comes replete with a Michelin Star chef and a staff of seven crew members—can be chartered for $100,000 per week. Impulsive recently underwent a multimillion-dollar refit, and the renovations, including beautiful new custom-designed staterooms, have made the yacht even more sumptuous than before.

Helicopters and private jets will be available to take guests between Freid’s hotels and yachts.

By 2009, Freid will formally merge the two businesses by offering vacation packages that integrate his hotels and yachts and incorporating helicopters and private jets to transport his guests between them. The business is a family affair. Freid’s son, Brandon Freid, is the company’s vice president of acquisitions. Father and son are currently in negotiations on three more properties in Manhattan, exploring acquisition opportunities in San Francisco, Boston, Tahiti, and the Dominican Republic, and developing a hotel with a spa in South Beach.
  When Freid is not expanding his luxury holdings, this lifelong New Yorker enjoys vacationing in the south of France and Italy, boating and tennis with his son, and spending time with his daughter Nicole, son-in-law and grandchildren. Actively involved with Tem ple Emanuel and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in memory of his sister, Freid maintains a balance between his work, philanthropies, family and leisure.