It’s strange enough to find yourself helicoptering from one Caribbean island to another for lunch, even if your destination is Nobu Barbuda, an outpost of the famous restaurant sunk on a semi-deserted beach. It’s weird in a different way to arrive and see 81-year-old actor Robert De Niro dressed in shorts and a tiny hat, waiting for you at a table in the back.
But this is his restaurant and soon to be his new resort, Nobu Beach Inn, scheduled to open at the end of the year. Aimed at high-end travelers willing to part with more than $2,500 a night for a one-bedroom bungalow, it’s the latest project in Mr. De Niro that started when he and a partner opened the Tribeca Grill in Manhattan in 1990.
In 1994, Mr. De Niro helped convince famed Japanese chef Nobu Matsuhisa, whose Beverly Hills restaurant Matsuhisa had become a celebrity favorite, to open a branch in Manhattan — and to name it after him, not his last name. More Nobu restaurants followed, and in 2013 the first Nobu Hotel opened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Now Nobu Hospitality, consisting of Mr. De Niro, Mr. Matsuhisa and film producer Meir Teper, has an international portfolio of 42 hotels already open or under development, as well as 12 residential complexes and 56 restaurants. (Separately, Mr. De Niro is also a partner in the Greenwich Hotel in New York.)
But this current project is particularly close to Mr. De Niro, as well as being the only hotel in the Nobu empire in which he has a direct ownership stake, through an entity he co-founded, Paradise Found Barbuda LLC. (The other hotels operate under Nobu management and licensing agreements, but are privately owned). you are surrounded by other people,” said Daniel Shamoon, CEO of Paradise Found Barbuda.
How did Mr. De Niro find the time to do all of this, on top of his supposed paycheck?
“Oh, that,” Mr. De Niro said, laughing, when asked how his acting career fits into that other part of his life. “I’ve done a few things that are going to come out, and I have other projects in the works that aren’t finished. And I’ve got that, too.” He gestured toward the beach. Being a hotel and restaurant magnate isn’t any more fun than being an actor, exactly, he said — it’s just different. “Acting is just another project, if you will.” , Mr. De Niro said.
He answered his phone, momentarily distracted. “Sorry,” he said, after hanging up. “I was tuning a helicopter.”
Taken at Princess Beach
It took a lot of coordination – of helicopters and other things – for Mr. De Niro and his partners in Paradise Found, Australian billionaire James Packer and Mr. Shamoun, international hotelier who is also co-owner and director of Luxury Hotel Partners, 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, its largest partner in the nation of Antigua and Barbuda, on a day trip about 30 years ago. He was struck by the beauty of its most famous beach, a stretch of pink sand and turquoise waters along the southwest coast. (The beach was later named Princess Diana Beach in honor of Diana, the former Princess of Wales, who in 1997 was photographed sitting poolside at the now-defunct K Club resort.)
“I always thought it was something special,” said Mr. De Niro. “And I said, ‘That’s the point if we can get it.’
Nobu Barbuda restaurant, the first step in the development plan, opened in 2020, catering almost exclusively to people taking day trips by helicopter or boat from neighboring islands. The menu includes Nobu classics such as black cod with miso, as well as local additions such as Barbuda lobster. (Prices are New York-style: an order of beef tenderloin with teriyaki, for example, costs $66.)
Nobu Beach Inn is being built on the site of K Club, whose owner, Italian fashion designer Mariuccia Mandelli, founded fashion house Krizia and is credited with inventing the hot pants. While the old K Club structures were destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017, the skeleton of the pool remains and is set to be rebuilt and executed for the new hotel.
Mr. De Niro has a house of his own not far away — it belonged to the architect of the K Club — so he’s often on hand to review plans and consult with his team about design and decor.
Local opposition
The partners stressed that they have the blessing of the government, which this fall showed its enthusiasm for development to foreigners by opening a new $14 million international airport that serves private jets and small charter jets. “It’s a great spot for people on the East Coast or even for a place like Chicago to fly in for the weekend,” said Mr. De Niro.
Mr. De Niro and his partners say they are working to ensure the resort is built with respect for Barbuda’s ecosystem — as well as fortified against future hurricanes.
“We’re applying lessons from Irma to the way we’re building this property,” said Katy Horne, CEO of Paradise Found. The design and construction comply with Miami-Dade hurricane building code standards, with single-story buildings located away from the floodplain. The dunes, along with mangroves and other vegetation, will serve as protection from winds and waters, he said.
Privacy, the ultimate luxury
In his latest role, in a Netflix miniseries titled “Zero Day,” airing in February, Mr. De Niro plays a former US president who races against the clock to find the perpetrators of a crippling cyberattack before they strike again.
Here in Barbuda in November, the actor toured the construction site of his hotel, along with Mr. Shamoon, Ms. Horne and Trevor Horwell, the CEO of Nobu Hospitality.
The hotel will have 36 bedrooms in 17 guest bungalows, as well as 25 privately owned beachfront villas that can be rented out to guests at the discretion of the owners.
All units will have private pools and such lush landscaping that guests will feel “like they’re on their own property,” Ms. Horn.
As for the freehold villas, they are to range in size from 4,500 to 6,000 square feet and be covered by 24 feet of landscaping on both sides for ultimate privacy. They will soon be on the market, priced at $12 million or more each.
The resort will have all the amenities expected of the luxury class, including a staff member dedicated to each party, whose job it is to “oversee every detail of their stay and design customized experiences,” Ms. Horn.
No guest will ever have to “compete for a waiter’s attention,” said Mr. Shamoon. “The idea is that you’re at home, not in a hotel, and that wherever you are, you can do whatever you want.”
When the hotel opens, said Mr. De Niro, guests can expect to see him around the property, just as they might encounter him at the Greenwich Hotel in New York, with its intimate library and enclosed courtyard.
“We want the same warm feel, but the island version,” he said. “A place that is comfortable, where everyone wants to gather.”
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