Manhattan Loft Co CEO Harry Handelsman is one of London’s most visible developers, taking on pivotal projects like the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, the Chiltern Firehouse, and his most ambitious project yet, the Manhattan Loft Gardens residential tower. We talked with Harry to find out what, exactly, makes him tick. (Spoiler: It’s the joy of creation.)
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Way back in the 1990s, Harry Handelsman brought the New York loft concept to London. When all of Europe was experiencing recession, he snapped up an industrial building in Clerkenwell for £435k and developed the building into 23 lofts. London went wild for them, and the Manhattan Loft Co was established.
You’ve no doubt seen his work. The St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel? That’s his. At the time it was built it was the zenith of Victorian grandeur and is now an elegant throwback to a gentler time and riveted East London as a cool new area to see and be seen.
The Chiltern Firehouse changed perceptions, Harry says. Marylebone was a good neighborhood, but it didn’t have a particularly vibrant scene. The Firehouse, as he calls it, shook up the area, made it glamorous where it was fusty before. Politicians (David Cameron and Bill Clinton), young royals (Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, Pippa Middleton) and celebs like Madonna, Katy Perry, Bono, etc. changed the vibe as they tumbled out at 2am surrounded by paparazzi. Marylebone went from being a nice, quiet residential and shopping area to a destination.
That’s kind of Harry’s genius: he spurs regeneration wherever he goes.
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His current baby is the Manhattan Loft Gardens residential tower that was recently completed in Stratford (shown here). He had no real intention to build in Stratford, he says. He wasn’t impressed by the Olympic Village, and believes the people can spend their tax dollars better than governments can. But there was an almost altruistic element to the deal. If it had any chance to succeed, Harry says, it needed a developer who cares about the project and the community and not just the commercial considerations. It required someone who could draw people to be excited by the project. In short, it needed him.
The new 42-story residential tower will provide 248 apartments, a design hotel and two cantilevered roof gardens. The penthouse priced at £10M recently sold.
Harry makes it clear that money is not his motive behind his projects. “I have a desire to be involved,” he says—convincingly. “It’s not about revenue. It’s about creating an exciting place.”
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