Unbeknownst to many, one of the city’s most exclusive hotels has been discreetly operating at 815 Fifth Avenue, between East 62nd and East 63rd Streets, since February.
via Fasano Fifth Avenue
The Fasano Fifth Avenue is a sleek 14 story building designed by French architect Thierry Despont. It offers four apartment-like duplexes and seven clubhouse style suites, some of which include views of Central Park. Unlike traditional hotels that offer nightly rates to anyone who can pay the tab, if you want to make a reservation here you need to be a Fasano club member, or be invited by one. Membership is currently by invitation only.
Jose Auriemo Neto, chairman of Fasano’s parent company JHSF Participações SA, told Bloomberg “We are seeing that more and more, our clients want to stay in boutique and small properties and also ones that are very exclusive.” Neto also operates a portfolio of high-end retail and restaurants throughout Brazil, where the original Fasano Hotel stands.
The members club at Fasano Fifth Avenue also offers an elegantly furnished and intimate private dining bar, Baretto New York. Conceptualized by restaurateur Gero Fasano, the restaurant offers Italian cuisine with specialty crafted cocktails.
A listing for a stay at Fasano’s is listed on the Christie’s Real Estate website for a cool $100,000 a month, if you’d like to request more information.
If you’re curious why nightly rates are not available, it all comes down to the current zoning of the building. The Fasano buildings’ certificate of occupancy (PDF) currently excludes it from offering anything under 30 days, per the NYC Building Code of 2014. If they were to offer nightly rates they would face substantial fines, penalties, or even get shut down, according to New York based real estate attorney, Pierre Debbas, in a Bloomberg interview.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he says, “but perhaps they’re testing out the waters and proving viability before going through the timely and costly process of changing the certificate of occupancy.”
For those who are ‘lucky’ enough to get in, “Fasano Fifth Avenue fuses world-class luxury with impeccable design, all within a sophisticated space that makes its members feel taken care of and secluded from the bustling city right outside its doors,” writes Gotham Magazine.
It certainly makes all the sense in the world why Fasano’s Fifth Avenue can be found along Manhattan’s Gold Coast.
