Had a super chat with ZoeDare Hall about branded resi trends after this interview. She’s been writing enthusiastically and eloquently about the sector for longer than most (and was quoted in my first report a decade ago!).
Robert De Niro: ‘the sky’s the limit’ for Nobu residences
It’s a cold, lead-sky day in Manchester, and actor Robert De Niro, chef Nobu Matsuhisa and film producer Meir Teper are having lunch in a makeshift marquee on a building site in the city centre’s Deansgate area. The portable heating units are on full blast; trams rattle overhead. The founders of global hospitality brand Nobu aren’t savouring plates of black cod with miso, yellowtail jalapeño or any of the other Japanese-Peruvian dishes on the celebrated restaurant’s menu. They are tucking into bowls of chips, gravy and “Manchester caviar” — mushy peas. Nearly 40 years after De Niro first ate at Matsuhisa’s restaurant in Los Angeles and spotted the potential for a joint venture in New York’s Tribeca neighbourhood, the trio are in the city to break ground on the construction of a new branded residence.
The Nobu Hospitality Group, founded 31 years ago, and which now counts 50 or so restaurants, 40 hotels and two residences across five continents in its stable, was recently valued at $1.3bn, after Crown Resorts sold its 20 per cent stake in July 2024. Now, it is seeing its biggest phase of expansion. Having segued into hotels in 2013, starting with Las Vegas, and opening the first branded residential scheme in Los Cabos, Mexico, in 2023, Nobu is creating a pipeline of 18 more residential projects, including Tulum, São Paulo, Barbuda — and now Manchester, where work is just beginning on 452 apartments and a hotel in a 76-storey tower set around the site’s Grade II-listed Victorian viaduct arches. “I’m there for aesthetic and strategic decisions, where we go next,” says a softly spoken De Niro as he politely requests a pot of tea to warm up. He nevertheless wears that quizzical expression, familiar to all, from his almost 60-year film career. He is also, he says, tired. Not surprisingly, given this is the final leg of a whistle-stop European tour during which the co-founders have announced or opened projects in five cities in six days — including Amsterdam, for the groundbreaking of the city’s first standalone branded residences project, and Rome, where De Niro was awarded the city’s highest honour, the Lupa Capitolina, and the trio met Pope Leo XIV. In a few hours, he’s on a plane again, back home to New York.
“Sometimes I’ve felt a location doesn’t resonate with the brand. I don’t want to say which, but me being a layperson, my perception is as someone who’s looking at it fresh — and if it doesn’t make sense to me, I say we shouldn’t waste our energy on that,” De Niro continues. He admits he’s not that familiar with Manchester. “Yet. But I will come back.” Matsuhisa adds modestly, with a broad smile, of his own role: “I don’t know much about money. I know about quality of fish.” Renderings of the Manchester development, which will have 452 apartments and a hotel in a 76-storey tower set around Victorian viaduct arches Manchester — a £360mn scheme by local developers Salboy, whose 40-storey Viadux residential tower stands next to the Nobu site, part of the city’s new skyscraper district — “is one of the most dynamic cities in the UK, culturally, economically and architecturally. Great global brands need to be in the great modern cities of the UK, not just London,” says Trevor Horwell, chief executive of Nobu Hospitality Group since 2009.
“For us, it’s about partner and location. It’s about the relationship.” It’s a cool, chef-led brand with a bit of stardust — and its stars turn up. They give a good show,” says Chris Graham, founder of branded residences consultancy Graham Associates. Nobu is riding the branded residences boom. The number of schemes has risen from 169 in 2011 to 611 this year, according to a recent report by Knight Frank. By 2030 the number is estimated to be around 1,020 — an increase of 67 per cent. “I’m not saying we jumped on the bandwagon, but we started to look at the trend and we wanted to do it selectively with the right partners,” says Horwell. The 20 global residential projects open or in development represent $3bn of investment from their partners. Nobu partners with local and international developers and long-term investors, some in just one or two locations, others, such as LionTree Investment, in the entire group. “They own the bricks and mortar. Nobu brings the brand,” says Horwell. The restaurant always comes first. “It’s an upside-down business model where the restaurant is the social engine. If we believe a Nobu restaurant can become a genuine social hub for locals, then the hotel and residences can follow.”
They are not the only restaurant brand in the sector. Take Cipriani; there are five Cipriani or Mr C Residences schemes in the US and UAE, and more to follow in Europe and Asia. Nobu is “a great example of how an F & B [food and beverage] brand can expand into the residences sphere successfully,” says Chris Graham, founder of branded residences consultancy Graham Associates. “Ten years ago, I’d have said there was no chance a restaurant brand could do that.” Nobu Hotel & Residences Toronto opened earlier this year; two towers of 658 units sold out within three months “It’s a cool, chef-led brand with a bit of stardust — and its stars turn up. They give a good show,” Graham adds. “But it’s [successful] not just because it’s Nobu . . . it’s because they choose the right location, the right pricing and because of the design.” Nobu Residences Toronto opened earlier this year; two towers of 658 units sold out within three months, says Horwell. Prices for a one-bedroom apartment began at C$300,000 ($212,900); some achieved the highest prices for a branded residential scheme in the city.
Back in Manchester, some industry experts question whether 452 high-end units — rather than a mix of trophy and small investor-driven units — will be too much stock for the city to swallow. But Louis Keighley, head of Savills’ global residential development consultancy, says that “there’s a lot of wealth in Manchester — and Nobu’s timing is spot on. Being the first to do something in a location is a big risk, but W Manchester were first. Being second is a great position to be in. Salboy’s reputation is strong and Nobu has delivered two good projects [elsewhere], so that will help diversify the buyer pool. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see three to five more branded schemes launching in Manchester soon.” Nobu’s property buyers, says Horwell, often start as diners, then become hotel guests, then residents. “They’re not just buying square footage. They’re buying a cultural connection . . . We’re already seeing cross-project interest with owners buying in more than one country.” Hospitality gives the Nobu Group an edge, believes Teper: “It makes more sense to me to buy [into] a brand known for its food and hospitality than to buy a residence by [a fashion brand],” he says. “What are they going to give me — some dresses in the closet?” De Niro nods: “The food is so important. The other companies don’t have that” — prompting Matsuhisa to add his main concern: “Who’s going to do the cooking?” ‘They’re not just buying square footage. They’re buying a cultural connection . . . We’re already seeing cross-project interest with owners buying in more than one country,’ says Trevor Horwell, chief executive of Nobu Hospitality Group
“The risk is reputational,” says Graham. “The brand must do their due diligence with who they partner with. The experience of residents and hotel guests will determine its success.” Nobu is now making a beeline for the Middle East. It has already made its mark in the region; the Nobu Residences in Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island, opening in 2027, set a new local record, with an off-plan penthouse that sold for $37.3mn, more than Dh96,000 ($26,140) per sq metre. It makes more sense to me to buy into a brand known for its food and hospitality than to buy a residence by a fashion brand. What are they going to give me — some dresses in the closet? Nobu hospitality group founder and film producer Meir Teper Cairo and Ras Al-Khaimah in the UAE also have schemes in the works. As does Al Khobar, one of the few designated areas for foreign property buyers in Saudi Arabia, as determined by a new law that takes effect in January. Vision 2030, Crown Prince Bin Salman’s initiative to drive economic diversification beyond its dependence on oil, and more than $3tr of investment, “has opened up a new market for high-end brands and we felt the timing was right”, says Horwell. “The Middle East is evolving at an extraordinary pace. We see positive momentum in creativity, tourism and urban development, and we aim to contribute constructively to that evolution.” Saudi Arabia’s record for human rights abuses means some brands are reticent to open there. But the list of other global brands that have, or which have announced residential projects in the past few years, is growing, and includes the Four Seasons, Elie Saab and Ritz-Carlton.
Rather than simply “flag-planting” in limitless new locations, Horwell says place-making and regeneration are key to Nobu’s ethos. In Al Khobar, the brand is helping to create a new waterfront neighbourhood. “Nobu isn’t just a tenant. We’re a partner in shaping the district.” Renderings of the branded residence in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia The pace of expansion seems relentless, but “You can’t compare Nobu to the big hotel brands that still dominate, such as Ritz-Carlton, which has 60 completed schemes and 40 in the next five years,” says Keighley. “But as a non-hotel brand — which Nobu began as — then they are leading the space, along with Missoni, Fendi and Lamborghini.” De Niro says he never could have imagined the business would take off in the way it has. “I figured it would just be in Tribeca. But I started thinking that if we were asked to go into places to help kick them off, to give them a certain cachet and credibility, I thought at the very least we should be approaching these partners and say we want to do a restaurant and a hotel. That’s how it started.” “The sky’s the limit,” De Niro says of the pipeline. Horwell muses on a future in which the group becomes “the LVMH of hospitality, harnessing other brands under the Nobu umbrella”. Los Cabos, Mexico, opened in 2023; another in Tulum is in the pipeline So why not residences in London? “My answer may be wrong, but nobody asked us,” De Niro laughs — and I’m not sure if he’s joking. London was the location of the brand’s first European restaurant; Nobu Old Park Lane opened in 1997. The hotel Nobu Portman Square followed in 2020. “It deserves a flagship Nobu residential project,” says Horwell. “I like Marylebone.” Recommended Prime property Supercharged branded residences for the wealthy and lonely Still, at this Manchester lunch, the camaraderie when the group are on the road together is clear. They talk of dining in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, bathed in the glow of Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch”, and of their papal visit. Says Teper: “You can’t get more of a highlight than that. Once in a lifetime.” They clearly have an appetite, too, for trying new local delicacies — though it could be some time before Manchester caviar makes it on to a Nobu menu.
