Upscale dining is matched with upscale apartments

In cities and resorts around the world, fine-dining restaurants have become a key component of the upscale residential scene

DEVELOPERS WANTING a bigger slice of the buyer market are now attracting signature restaurants, often backed by a globally-recognised brand or Michelin-starred chef. In the same way that high-end spas and gyms have become a must-have within top residential developments, fine-dining restaurants are a key component of the upscale residential scene.

This is partly because consumers have become generally more food-aware, lat ching onto popular concepts like farm-totable dining. Extensive media coverage has also contributed to the rockstar prominence of chefs like Ferran Adrià, the former chef of El Bulli in Spain, and Wolfgang Puck, the owner of the Spago and Cut brands. “A high-end restaurant without doubt makes a project more attractive to buyers,” says Jacob Sullivan, head of sales at the Berkley Group, the developer of One Tower Bridge in London. Berkley recently announced a deal with the company that operates The Ivy, the famous 100year-old restaurant in Covent Garden, to open a branch of its offshoot brand The Ivy Market Grill. The venue will have a riverfront site with a terrace and mezzanine level. “An internationally branded restaurant may not be the only reason buyers purchase in a development, but it improves the offering,” Sullivan says. “Wealthy people are used to the finer things in life and enjoy having a quality restaurant on their doorstep.”

Just as chefs chase Michelin stars, so do diners, which is why it is the one accolade many developers in commercial and residential real estate want to bring on board. The MahaNakhon building, nearing completion in Bangkok, the Thai capital, is the city’s tallest and has 194 residential units. Restaurants run by internationally acclaimed chefs feature in the adjacent MahaNakhon Cube. A branch of Joël Robuchon’s L’Atelier is on the fifth floor, with Vincent Thierry’s Vogue Lounge on the sixth. Both chefs are French and have solid global pedigrees, including Michelin stars.

In West Asia, developers of mixed-use projects, with retail, residential and hotel components, have also worked hard to create the quality restaurant scenes found in cities like New York and London. The Palazzo Versace hotel and residential complex in Dubai, for example, plans to operate what may be a world first in fine dining. Its Enigma restaurant will host a series of one-time, three-month visits from globally recognised chefs, including Quique Dacosta of Spain and Bjorn Frantzen of Sweden, both holders of several Michelin stars. The trend is not limited to urban locations. There is now a climate in which resort-based and regional developments are enlisting restaurants and chefs recognised by Michelin.

Casamia, a Michelinstarred restaurant in Britain, recently moved into The General, a new residential development in Bristol, in the west of England. “It is a perfect match,” says Helen Moore, managing director for The General’s developer, City and Country. “A Michelin-recognised name like Casamia brings a cachet to a project. It gives confidence to buyers that we offer a premium product.” Similarly, the developer of the golf resort Monte Rei, on the Portuguese coast, has employed the chef Albano Lourenço to oversee its signature restaurant, Vistas. Lourenço previously ran the Michelin-rated restaurants São Gabriel and Arcadas da Capela, both in Portugal.

Monte Rei has a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course that is one of Europe’s top-rated, but it is at the eastern end of the Algarve coastal region, which has a lower level of development but also less tourism. Recognised names like those of Perez and Lourenço have helped raise the resort’s profile.

“The idea is to create destination dining for visitors, residents and potential buyers,” says Ramon Lopez, chief executive of Monte Rei. “Albano Lourenço is one of the most respected chefs in Portugal. His Michelin status is a good indication for potential buyers of the quality the resort can offer over all.” Property prices at Monte Rei are attractive compared with some of the betterknown but more densely developed golf resorts farther west. The services of a Michelin-ranked superstar do not come cheap, as per Elodie Casola, marketing director for developer Arum Group, which is constructing the residential component at the Abama resort on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands of Spain.

“Wealthy international buyers are very demanding when it comes to standards,” Casola says. “The presence of a top chef or Michelin award is a guarantee of quality and value across the whole product.”