This summer has seen a surge in the highest end of luxury across the world. Some of it is about revenge travel and increased global mobility: A lot of the Middle Eastern market parked closer to home in Covid and are now shipping their Bugattis to the streets of London and other haunts in Europe. The palaces of Paris, the best hotels in Europe, and five-stars in the U.S. did brisk business at eye-watering rates.
Inventing a Boutique Hotel in Kentucky's Horse Country Isn't Easy
25.08.2023 - 12:53 / skift.com / Leslie Barrie
Nik Feldman long believed that Lexington, Kentucky, was ready for a high-end boutique hotel.
Every summer in his teens, his parents sent him to the “Horse Capital of the World” to stay with a professional polo team, take care of the horses, and play in tournaments. Years later, while working in Manhattan for real estate developer Brodsky, he realized that Lexington had no hotel tailored to the city’s wave of next-gen visitors.
That changed in June when Feldman and his co-founder Hank Morris debuted The Manchester, a 125-room boutique.
“My plan — not particularly well thought through — was to move to Lexington and build a great hotel — because the city needed it,” said Feldman. “Easier said than done.”
Feldman noticed Lexington was booming — whether it was the city’s Distillery District (revitalized in 2008), its spot on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail (which hit record visitation in 2022), its $37 million 12-acre park (set to open in two years), or the recent $300 million expansion of its convention center, Central Bank Center.
“You do a day at the races, explore the Bourbon Trail, see some horse farms, visit Lexington’s gorgeous little buttoned-up historic downtown, and go to a Kentucky basketball game,” Morris said.
He’s banking on that growth, and his background in the horse world, to help The Manchester thrive. Still, the path to reaching this point had its hurdles.
In 2019, Feldman moved to Lexington and began New Circle Investments. Over eight months, Feldman acquired about 2.5 acres of land and existing property. He funded the effort with his father’s help.
Then, he proposed his development plan to 30 banks and nearly 50 private investors.
Some of those banks, he believed, would meet with him just for entertainment.
“’A 29-year-old, with no track record, no brand for the hotel, hasn’t identified a guarantor yet, and we’re in COVID, a crisis with seemingly no end in sight — I’ve gotta see this Don Quixote!’” said Feldman.
With practice, he got better at his pitch. Friends at Cushman & Wakefield — a former employer — helped him design his presentation so that his data (which he researched himself) visually stood out.
Finally, someone said yes: Traditional Bank.
“Traditional Bank is deeply rooted in Lexington, so they understood how the city was quickly evolving from one focused primarily on the thoroughbred industry and University of Kentucky into a major tourist destination centered around distilleries throughout the entire state,” said Feldman.
Linda Gorton, the town’s mayor and head of VisitLex tourism promotion, also supported the city’s use of industrial revenue bonds to help finance the roughly $40 million project.
Now, Feldman and Morris (formerly of Sydell Group and Life House) are hoping
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