It's strange to fly from one Caribbean island to another for lunch by helicopter, even if your destination is Nobu Barbuda, a famous restaurant outpost tucked away on a semi-deserted beach. It's strange in a different way to arrive and find 81-year-old actor Robert De Niro, wearing shorts and a tiny bucket hat, waiting for you at a table in the back.
But this is his restaurant, and soon his new resort, Nobu Beach Inn, will open at the end of the year. The project, aimed at high-end travelers willing to pay more than $2,500 a night for a one-bedroom bungalow, began when Mr. De Niro and a partner opened Tribeca Grill in Manhattan. It's the latest project in Niro's ever-expanding hospitality empire. 1990.
In 1994, Mr. De Niro helped persuade Nobu Matsuhisa, the acclaimed Japanese chef whose restaurant Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills became a celebrity purveyor, to open a branch in Manhattan, where his last name was I decided to give it a name instead. More Nobu restaurants followed, and the first Nobu Hotel opened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 2013. Nobu Hospitality, currently comprised of Mr. De Niro, Mr. Matsuhisa, and film producer Mayle Teper, has an international portfolio of 42 hotels, 12 residential developments, and 56 restaurants already open or under development. have. (Separately, Mr. De Niro is also a partner in New York's Greenwich Hotel.)
But this current project is particularly close to Mr. De Niro's heart, as it is the only one in the Nobu empire in which Mr. De Niro has direct ownership through the corporation he co-founded, Paradise Found Barbuda LLC. It's also a hotel. (The other hotels are operated under Nobu management and licensing agreements, but are privately owned.) Nobu Beach Inn is an upscale yet homely, understated yet upscale hotel with a “personal It's aimed at the type of people who don't want to feel like they're there. You’re surrounded by other people,” said Daniel Shamoun, managing partner of Paradise Found Barbuda.
How did Mr. De Niro find the time to do all this besides his putative day job?
When asked how his acting career ties in with the rest of his life, Mr. De Niro said with a laugh, “Oh, it does.” “I've done some work that's coming out, and I have other projects in the works that I haven't finished yet. And I have this, too,” he said, gesturing toward the beach. . Being a hotel and restaurant mogul is no more fun than being an actor, he said. That's completely different. “Acting is just another job,” De Niro said.
He answered the phone, but was momentarily distracted. “Sorry,” he said after putting it down. “I was adjusting the helicopter.”
Attracted by the princess beach
For Mr. De Niro and his partner in Paradise Found, Australian billionaire James Packer, and Mr. Shamoun, an international hotelier who is also co-owner and director of Luxury Hotel Partners, the helicopter Many adjustments were required. To get to this point. Paradise Found acquired the 391-acre property in 2015, paying $5.2 million for a 99-year lease.
Mr. De Niro first visited Barbuda, which is smaller than Brooklyn and about 38 miles north of Antigua, the country's largest partner, about 30 years ago. He was struck by the beauty of the most famous beaches, the pinkish sand and turquoise water that stretches along the southwest coast. (The beach was later named Princess Diana Beach, after the former Princess of Wales, who was photographed sitting poolside at the now-defunct K Club Resort in 1997.)
“I always thought it was something special,” De Niro said. “And I said, 'If you can get it, this is the place.'”
The first step in the development plan, Nobu Barbuda Restaurant, opened in 2020 and caters almost exclusively to people taking day trips by helicopter or boat from nearby islands. The menu includes Nobu classics like black cod with miso, as well as local ingredients like Barbuda lobster. (Prices are New York-style; for example, an order of beef tenderloin with teriyaki costs $66.)
Nobu Beach Inn is being built on the grounds of the K Club. The owner of K-Club, Italian fashion designer Mariuccia Mandelli, is credited with founding the fashion house Krizia and inventing the hot pants. The old K Club building was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017, but the skeleton of the swimming pool remains and will be rebuilt and built for a new hotel.
Mr. De Niro had his own house not far away, which belonged to the architect of the K Club. That's why De Niro is often on hand to review plans and consult with his team on design and décor.
local opposition
The partners say they are benefiting from the government, which is demonstrating its commitment to development by opening a new $14 million international airport this fall for private jets and small charter planes. Ta. “It's a great place for people from the East Coast and for people from places like Chicago to fly to on the weekend,” De Niro said.
De Niro and his partners said they have worked to ensure the resort is built with respect for Barbuda's ecosystem and is hardened against future hurricanes.
“We're applying the lessons we learned from Irma to the way we build this facility,” Paradise Found Managing Director Katie Horn said. The design and construction complies with Miami-Dade Hurricane building codes, with the one-story building being built far from the floodplain. The dunes, along with mangroves and other vegetation, will provide protection from wind and rising waters, she said.
Privacy, the ultimate luxury
In the Netflix miniseries “Zero Day,” which debuts in February, De Niro plays a former U.S. president who races against time to discover the culprit of a devastating cyberattack before it strikes again. are.
Here in Barbuda in November, the actor was leading a tour of a hotel construction site with Mr. Shamoun, Mr. Horne and Nobu Hospitality CEO Trevor Horwell.
The hotel has 36 bedrooms in 17 guest bungalows, as well as 25 private beachfront villas that can be rented out to guests at the owner's discretion.
All units will have private pools and lush landscaping, and guests will feel “like they're on their own property,” Horne said.
For privately owned villas, the size ranges from 4,500 square feet to 6,000 square feet and must be surrounded by 24 feet of landscaping on both sides to ensure complete privacy. These will soon be on the market and will cost more than $12 million each.
Horn said the resort will have all the amenities expected by the upper class, including a dedicated staff member for each party whose job it is to “oversee every detail of the stay and design a customized experience.” It is said that they have everything.
Guests never have to “fight for the waiter's attention,” Shamoun said. “The idea is to be at home, not in a hotel, and be able to do whatever you want wherever you are.”
Mr. De Niro said that when the hotel opens, visitors will be able to meet De Niro on-site, just as they can meet De Niro at New York's Greenwich Hotel, which has a cozy library and an enclosed courtyard. He said he looked forward to seeing him.
“We want the same cozy atmosphere, but the island version,” he said. “A comfortable place where everyone wants to gather.”
Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for the weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter for expert tips to travel smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Are you dreaming of future holidays? Or just armchair travel? Check out 52 places to go in 2025.
