Anthony Pellegrino of ASH NYC | Hotel Peter & Paul in New Orleans | Embracing the Community
Transcript
Announcer 00:06
What goes into making an iconic building in America? What are the stories and who are the people behind the next generation of architecture? If your work touches the real estate industry in any way, or you're just curious about what goes into one of a kind cities and towns all across our country, join us on the American building podcast. In season two, we learn about everything from skyscrapers to single family homes from the famous and soon to be famous designers and developers responsible for them. This season focuses particularly on the pandemic and how our buildings will change in response. Our sponsor is the iconic design firm Michael Graves architecture and design. And now your host award winning architect turned entrepreneur, Atif Qadir, AIA
Atif Qadir 01:04
This is American building and I'm your host Atif Qadir. We are recording from the historic home of world renowned architect Michael Graves and Princeton, New Jersey. Check out this amazing space for yourself at the Michael Graves architecture and design YouTube channel. Now let's build something. today. Our guest is Anthony Pellegrino. He is the head of hotels for Ash, New York City, a real estate company whose work stretches from developing hotels and residential buildings to design to staging and creating products. They also manage a number of the properties that they own. The company is based in Brooklyn, and it's completed buildings are in Providence, New York, Baltimore, Detroit and New Orleans. I've had the pleasure of staying at their Dean's hotel in Providence several times and recommend that to listeners to check out if they're in the area. Today we'll be talking about the hotel Peter and Paul in New Orleans in this $20 million project. Ash New York City reimagined to campus of buildings once owned by the Catholic Diocese into a 71 room hotel with three f&b outlets and event space and a courtyard. We will take a broad view and talk more about how the hotel operations and social justice broadly overlap. So thank you so much for being here with us, Anthony.
Anthony Pellegrino 02:22
Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
Atif Qadir 02:24
Absolutely. So let's dive right in. So, Anthony, you aren't new to hotels by any stretch of the imagination. So tell us about your
Anthony Pellegrino 02:34
garrison. As I blush, right.
Atif Qadir 02:36
So tell us about your career in hospitality before Ash and what you learned along the way.
Anthony Pellegrino 02:42
Yeah, I joined hotels back in 2002, as an executive chef and really kind of worked my way through brand identity from Sheraton to W to certain cities, and along the way also through the ranks and ended up in Atlanta where I was working for an area managing director overseeing a renovation, working as a POA, helping open preopening a system. From my lingo, they're helping opening so many other W's down there in Atlanta, I get to come back to New England, where I'm from an open W. Boston, I was Starwood for almost 10 years. And then it was time to kind of do something new and do something fresh and do something that wasn't publicly held.
Atif Qadir 03:24
And when you say publicly held, I'm guessing that means that there is a certain amount of driving in the same lane without a lot of variation. Is that what you're?
Anthony Pellegrino 03:35
Yeah, I think there's a lot of pushing for stockholders, sometimes. And sometimes that can be done on the backs of others. So I think it was time to, you know, take my leadership and the hatchet I created over the years for read and do something else.
Atif Qadir 03:48
And so you mentioned you're from New England, you're from Providence specifically, right? Yes, I am. Okay. And that's actually where you met the owners of ash in New York City. So tell us about how you'll cross paths and how those first conversations went?
Anthony Pellegrino 04:00
Yeah, you know, very, very Providence, right. Five degrees of separation. Providence has three. So it was still working in Boston, I was living in Providence, my next project after W Boston was supposed to be in Providence would start with and fell through. And you know, just traveling in and out. Sometimes late nights, I got to meet up a local neighborhood restaurant, I gotta have a glass of wine, a bite to eat. And then we had flipped to box from home. So really got to talk with those and friendly with those folks who were supposed to be the first restaurant in this secret hotel that was being built in Providence. And after a while and getting to learn that project really wanted to throw my name in the hat and meet some folks and do something a little more organic. And that's really how it started to come about.
Atif Qadir 04:40
And the top secret hotel that you mentioned, it was a building that was empty for a long time.
Anthony Pellegrino 04:47
It was the infamous the city had closed which folks remember is the sportsman in which was really a strip club on the bottom and a brothel up top one block over from the convention center
Atif Qadir 04:58
that would qualify as mixed use Write in that case, yeah, yes, yes, yes. You
Anthony Pellegrino 05:04
know, I think we always say club and brothel because it gives a nice ring to marketing. But it was really a blight on the city city forced to close in 2010. And we decided to do it in 2013. So having this iconic building and really wanting to change the juju of it, and it was such a center of downtown, I thought, we can still make it a center of downtown or down city, if you're from Providence.
Atif Qadir 05:29
I think that's one thing that is particularly unique about it is its location in the center of the city, amazing access to public transportation, number of really great restaurants and bars nearby. And your background is as a chef. So that's a good particular perspective that you brought to your career in hospitality. And I think because of that f&b is a big part of the dean, the Providence, the siren hotel, and in Detroit, and in the hotel, Peter and Paul, which we'll be talking about today. Could you talk about how you see restaurants and bars and clubs in your hotel, shaping the look and feel of the entire development?
Anthony Pellegrino 06:05
Yeah, FMB is so important. When we say you know, hotels, the room operations, make your money. But you know, your f&b really helps define your culture. And I think Providence was a bit easy. Our CEO, Ari Heckman grew up in Providence, I live two blocks from where he grew up, you know, that's how small it is. But it was that places a little bit easier for us. And we knew who to talk to and who we wanted to bring in going to cities like Detroit, and particularly Detroit, even more so than New Orleans. With all that development happening there. You didn't want to be a poser. Really, right. You really wanted to find out and be ingrained in this renaissance that was happening. You just didn't want to be the kids from New York. And I think that was super important. So really, trying to find the right people doing the right things that were part of the community was super exciting, you know, laughs You know, instead of the culture vultures out to do it, but we were able to find a lot of neat people doing really cool things. And not all of them had the money to do it. So really going out and finding investors or finding different programs in like match Detroit that were out there to help some of these folks come to life with their first brick and mortar or maybe their second was really, really exciting. And I think that was so important in New Orleans, a bit different, you know, the Bakken oil crew to us. They were just the right people. We've got this amazing building, and we really wanted to have this halo effect. We're really accessible to all. So yeah, I think it's super important in who you pick. And moving forward. It's kind of like the hotel piece, you might we managers ourselves, our next project, which is in the historic Lotro building in Mount Vernon in Baltimore, we're going to take our shot at running that food and beverage
Atif Qadir 07:42
to clarify then from what you've described as the previous hotels, the role that you played was defining the look in the field, but they actually were operated by a third party. Is that correct?
Anthony Pellegrino 07:52
Yes, yeah. So designed by ash, NYC kitchens, laid out by myself, stuff like that. And then really trying to find the correct FMB. When you get these boutique hotels, everybody's about being local in the neighborhood where they do this scratch surface research, and they try to become part of the city. And I just feel like that's incorrect.
Atif Qadir 08:14
I think particularly the project and the siren in Detroit, there is a level of coordination between all the different outlets that helped make the f&b experience in that hotel quite seamless. Could you talk a little bit about what your experience was like with that?
Anthony Pellegrino 08:30
Yeah, one it was finding kind of the right folks. Right. So having a 30 seats, I call it a destination lounge. And he hates that. But this, you know, is really candy bar that's really like focused bar in the center of your lobby, that's something to reconsider next time, you really did have to start to coordinate, it was so small, and it really kind of felt exclusive, and really had to go out of our way to make it inclusive with one the other operations around us the lobby itself is stunning and beautiful and making people feel comfortable. In that lobby, people be able to book online in the lobby to sit in certain areas, I think was another piece to help people not feel so excluded from this small, well designed bar. So I think that was a big piece of kind of that first floor. I call it like a sensory Multiplex, if you will, just the second floor diner. It's a high end candy bar.
Atif Qadir 09:23
And I think particularly what you're describing is a very good entree to the hotel, Peter and invol. So it's located in the marinade district in New Orleans and talk to us about your first impressions of New Orleans in this particular neighborhood.
Anthony Pellegrino 09:39
Yeah, my first impression of New Orleans was working in Atlanta actually back in 2006, when Katrina happened and taking in a lot of those folks who are displaced and working in our hotels time. They're W's unshared, and there's a lot of Starwood stuff there. So it was my first really thought and look into New Orleans. And it was it was a bit harder to see Even folks who have been displaced, trying to resettle in and being part of your workforce and managing that. So going to New Orleans, maybe I wasn't as open minded, but was wondering what it was like again, and what that workforce was like and how they will overcome it X amount of years later, or kind of what has been left behind because there's always some someone or something left behind. And then we pulled up to hotel, Peter and Paul, which is just this amazing complex of buildings. And I think my first impression was, we're in a neighborhood. There are houses across the street from us, literally right across the street, literally. There's a church that was built in 1861, that still has the stained glass windows. And now frescoes in this church, to me was part of this neighborhood, and the school had closed 20 years, 15 years before I forget, but the church was open for a long time, and people congregated there. And when it closed, and it was becoming a hotel, that neighborhood was wondering. And we understood that and I think that was a big piece of really then getting to New Orleans and understanding this neighborhood, the Mirani. And understanding the neighbors, they still wanted a place to gather, they still want a place that was for them. And I think we did that we made sure the doors are open we neighborhood to me was was one of the first times we usually go in, but it was one of the first times we set up a blog to talk with neighbors about construction and letting them know it was going on was pretty much like no AC meeting the neighborhood, but they loved it.
Atif Qadir 11:27
I think what is particularly unique about that approach is thinking what is the other option, the other option would be to do a rather anonymous or a restaurant or a bar that doesn't incorporate or doesn't physically seem open to the surrounding area. And then everyone that's there is basically just tourists that don't know the area that well anyway. And I think a lot of what for example, the way that I traveled the way my friends traveled is a certain curiosity about the place that we're going to and not just as a check the box, I saw this I ate there, I drank there now I can move on to
Anthony Pellegrino 12:04
the next place. And when you get to interact with those locals, too, they work as a concierge when they're inside and they're meeting someone and there's a connection made people are valued. And they're they they become insiders too. Right? Go here, check this out. We're going tomorrow. Oh, and they know free labor in some aspects, right. But it's part of culture building. Yeah.
Atif Qadir 12:25
So the hotel you mentioned, it's on burgundy Street. And it's amongst really stunningly beautiful low rise and some mid rise, wood frame and brick buildings. And you see echoes of those materials and that type of attention to detail put away with millwork. In the church itself. Could you talk about some of the design inspiration that you took from the surrounding area? The neighborhood specifically? Yeah,
Anthony Pellegrino 12:49
I mean, the building is beautiful. And it was probably one of the easiest ones to do. Just because it is so beautiful. The church itself was really just don't screw it up type thing. It really was. I mean, we took the pews out, we repaired some plaster faux finished it, we washed it, we had one missing stained glass window that we kind of we didn't want to put a faux stained glass window in and so we just kind of put the amber glass which shows in the church and other places just to kind of be like that was the stained glass window. And really put in some HVAC music system, some water closets and walked out of that. There was respect to like, don't mess this up. You're not that good. You're not going to be you know that important? No, you're just not going to be it's stunning. And when you sit in the courtyard outside, and you're having a cocktail there and and you look up and your backdrop of those stained glass windows and that church, it's I was just there maybe about a month ago, and it still gets me. And
Atif Qadir 13:47
so you describe the state of the church. And there's actually three other buildings associated with it in a complex Could you talk through the other buildings?
Anthony Pellegrino 13:55
Yeah, schoolhouse directory, and a convent and along with the church will use the church for event spaces. It's a it's a great wedding. And also community events. We do a lot of artists events in there, making sure the community is involved community yoga and stuff like that. So it's open to the public. The schoolhouse, again, just amazing staircases. One of my favorite parts is the old auditorium. There's a little stage in there and we thought a great another piece to work with. We put rooms on the stage and we had amazing local paint now and Marie come in and do this really faux stage painting on the stage which still looks like a stage but there are rooms there when the stage is still there. And we set the open auditorium up is almost like a second lobby, you know if you will place with people and go up and work or just hang out or bring a cocktail or people in those rooms. I think that was like one of those other special kind of things that you find and you work with you don't decide to like do something different. Like there's a stage here it's theater. Let's keep it how do we do that and make it guestroom so there was some of my favorite rooms There I stay in on the stage all the time and I go in the same room and I come out of that room and technically I'm on stage right and it's really neat. convent and rectory more rooms, part of house space finding rooms like mother's superiors room right like mother there was a mother superior on that was the headmistress. Yeah, she was on property back in the day and had her own room and deciding that we wanted to make that room super special because of that, calling our joint venture partner in New Orleans Mother Superior and called that now for five years. That's you didn't you knew baton.
Atif Qadir 15:34
So you described a number of really important public spaces besides the f&b? There's this rolling lobby, there's a courtyard. Could you give listeners an experience of as you walk in the hotel? What is it that you're seeing? And what is like ahead of you to the side to
Anthony Pellegrino 15:48
the left? You know, I think could you, you know, depends on you know, how you're arriving. But yeah, there's a beautiful Piazza in between the schoolhouse in the rectory in the convent. So you drive into this beautiful Piazza, there are rooms on the side, that open up right to the piazza. So you can sit outside on a you know, table have a cocktail right there. Sometimes we do dining out there, the school house is I mean, the church is obviously amazing. The schoolhouse I love walking in. And the first thing I see is the grand staircases. Landscaping, and the landscaping is so lush, that was one of the things that I walking around New Orleans that I really fell in love with. And we do a good job at that hotel, of really taking care of the grounds. It's a beautiful place to walk around. And there are times you don't even have to leave, or in times I've been on property and hadn't gotten to go anywhere else because it was a short trip.
Atif Qadir 16:39
So in that situation, given that there's so much free flow between all of these public spaces during the pandemic, how did you manage all of that? Were there certain areas? And were were like closed off? Or was there sort of limits to how many people could come through?
Anthony Pellegrino 16:53
Yeah, so yeah, kind of hate that. Because people were still, you know, even with all we didn't really close, we did our best to protect people, but we didn't try to close too much off, people are still paying, you know, money, they're still looking for an experience, obviously, with labor and stuff like that. We did try to block people. But you know, in a place like Peter and Paul, it is as a schoolhouse directory icon, right. And at church, I think at one point, we counted, we have like 25 different room types. So we kind of scaled them down. But when someone books a certain room type, sometimes they're in, they're only in another building. So we really tried to keep as much open as we could,
Atif Qadir 17:30
that's given the emphasis that you have on the experience of your guests that are there. The finishes are a huge part of that as well on the particular color scheme of the muted greens, blues and yellows. Could you talk to us about the process of selecting that steam and the materials, some of the really special materials?
Anthony Pellegrino 17:48
So so no, I cannot. And I will explain it. So with ash at heart does a lot. But ash at heart is a design company, and their design team. I always say I've said it before, but you know, I'm an internal gas. I get excited when I start to see what's next. I think we were talking the other day or earlier today about you know, I just got shots, the new towel, you know, you know, walking through, really when it comes to the design piece and stuff like that. My feedback is really thinking about capex budgets, it's thinking about labor. My joke is designed the hotel for house never and everybody laughs But if housekeeping can go around to do an efficient job, enjoy doing their job and not break their backs doing it, we're on track to something special. So really, when it came to Peter and Paul, I was worried about how high the bed off the ground one because one I know the eyesight, right, we want to make sure under beds clean. And really how a housekeeper has to clean that the surfaces making sure that whether it was the terracotta or the glaze tile on the mouth or my glass, I'm always wondering, how many different cloths how many different cleaners like like, how hard Am I making this? How hard are we making for someone to do their job? So that's really when I think about design. That's how I think about it. So when I say you know, they were thinking about it, for sure.
Atif Qadir 19:01
So from that perspective, given that when you would visit the hotel they were in when it's in production there be a lot of those aha moments that you had in terms of being that internal guests are there particular like certain tiles or certain finishes that you when you saw it you just felt Wow.
Anthony Pellegrino 19:17
Yeah, I think it was all pretty Wow. And then when we went in, you've got those tall windows floor to ceiling windows and bathrooms are extremely special, right? You just got these giant rooms that are giving you so much height and so much freedom that was really nice. I enjoyed the beds in the post beds and I enjoyed that I was part of making sure that we could clean underneath improperly. We've run out it was something that was very important to me, and I still find it special was pretty neat.
Atif Qadir 19:43
So you mentioned that you kept a close eye on the capex budget because when you're doing a B spec Witsel it's easy for things just to go with with a budget so a lot of the sourcing of the finishes came from a state sales right I'm across New Orleans. And there's also materials that came from Europe as well. But given that you had so many sources of materials, and there's little you, as you said, 25 different types of rooms, what were some of the ways that you look to control and manage the capex as well as the operations procuring all this?
Anthony Pellegrino 20:17
Yeah, I think first piece is making sure you have the right caretakers on property is very important, having people who kind of understand for lack of better terms of brand new created there, or what you created there and make them ambassadors to it. And we hired a maintenance person who is amazing, but we had hired from an antique store on the French Quarter to make sure that obviously, anytime you buy a vintage lamp or something, everything needs to be rewired, right, or his needs different certification to it, utilizing the home office, making sure that we had an inventory in place that we could put through there setting up, you know, we just kind of set up a call and set up our inventory. So folks can go on login and see what they have available to themselves. And just making sure that it's kind of always fresh. But again, empowering the folks on property, right to know the materials we use, know who we use it to be able, you know, to refinish things. So a lot of it is, in many ways, not a giant conglomerate, it's very Mom and Pop,
Atif Qadir 21:12
I've got to take a break here to let our listeners know that we'll be having on a guest later this season that we're incredibly excited about. It's the president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. So one of the largest managers of real estate in the city of New York, she was appointed to this role by Mayor Bill DeBlasio. subscribe to the podcast, you don't miss any of these interviews, either with Rachael or any of our other guests that we'll be having on in season two. So you develop and operate hotels, why do you do that rather than hiring a third party operator or just selling the hotel after you develop it?
Anthony Pellegrino 21:48
I think it started while job security, right and obviously right at sea as an operations person, but no, it really started with the dean. I don't think ash ever really thought they were going to getting into hotels, they found that sportsmen in this very special building, certainly already being from Providence, the CEO of ash, and growing up there knew how important that building muscle and really wanted to turn it into something I think as you know, it started to develop, they thought we can't hand this over. Right? There's a piece like, is there anyone special enough to take this on to think the same way we do hence, where I stumbled in and was like, you know, I will be the caretaker of this, I will open this I will put it in the right way. They're not hoteliers. They weren't hoteliers. No one understood PMS systems and doorlock configurations and revenue management systems that we built. We built from scratch, we just didn't get one, we plug it in, we built them on that hotel being you know that special, we would nailing down the carpets and mopping the floors. And I think at that point, it was just we just couldn't let it go. And came the caretaker of it and ran it for three years. And they thought, wow, this is really cool. Let's do another one. And then one turned into three very quickly, they had moved talking about Peter and Paul. But they had purchased Peter and Paul and had a design and we're really looking for kind of construction loans at that point. And then the world to building and trade came along. And stuff was going so fast. And it just so happened that we opened the world to second. So we really went from one to three very quickly and grew up pretty fast, pretty fast. But then now here we are. Now we're trying to figure out what that looks like. It's it was very organic wasn't you do have people who are thinking about design, thinking about operations and thinking about the people working on hotels and the people stay at our hotels, very micro level.
Atif Qadir 23:38
Yeah, I think that definitely, I would imagine is one of those particular challenges because as a developer of historic properties, I think I've come to realize that if I schedule out a year and a half, that's actually three years, so just do X everything just to x everything. But I think particularly with what you're describing, it seems like there is there is a recipe on how to do this, this idea of identifying a particular location and a particular property that has enough character but also has enough meat on the bone to actually be able to do something with it, then being able to create this particular look and feel that has enough creativity and independence and uniqueness. But everything isn't precious that there is a certain amount of repetition to things, and then being able to operate well from there.
Anthony Pellegrino 24:25
Yeah, I think they think that's the repetition piece right now is operation, we're getting more and more but um, again, when you find these, you know, we call them exciting. Some people call them secondary markets, if you will, of the time, or whatever. And I just think we found exciting places with some story that we had heard or someone we had talked to said we needed to go somewhere to visit something and check something out. And that's really how organic it was. I think now we try to be a bit more strategic, create a spreadsheet and then people looking at places. But yeah, we'll get to repetition at some point, I think and we'll have to I mean We do in the operations standpoint, we know we can go in and take over pretty much anything. And we have the systems in place. And we built them out so many times now that we go from there. But I still think design and creating something unique and special, don't want too much repetition in that, right? I want something that's unique to the space, I want to place it that people want to go to and be in, right. And people love to be in a great space.
Atif Qadir 25:22
And I think the what you've talked about so far is this, this idea of repetition and standardization and the entire building maintenance process. And I'm really curious specifically about the the amount of leeway and a room that you give your staff to be able to solve problems the way that they would like to so for example, when I was at the Dean hotel, there was an incredible amount of independence, it seemed that you allowed your staff to be able to say things and give their opinions and provide personal input that seemed very different than any other hotel that I've been to. Could you talk about how you inject creativity into that process as
Anthony Pellegrino 25:59
well? Yeah, we just talked about kind of going into these neighborhoods and finding these special buildings and the special neighborhoods and understanding the neighborhood and the neighbors. Well, those are the people I want to work with the hotel and the dean in particular, there weren't a lot of hoteliers working, people working the front desk were hairdressers. And they were DJs. And they were drag performers. And they were all something else. They were all somebody, they all lived by the hotel, we all hung out at the hotel. And I think that was something again, that was important. These people became a concierge as they came in, they become ambassadors of the hotel, they become ambassadors of their neighborhood of their community. And I think that's important with hiring, right? I want to find unique, that are doing just amazing things and I want to learn about them. And I want to understand who they are and know what they do. And I think when you do that, and you bring people in and you give a freedom within framework, right hotels, let's not overthink it, right? If I like check you in properly into a clean room, that's the correct room for you, I check you out your bills correct, we get those things now pad, the rest, we can really now start to create a scene for you or an environment that you want to be in, or an experience during your stay. So there is a framework that we need to know things that we need to do properly. But again, having people if you've booked a small room and come in and you've got all this luggage I'm looking at, I know that room is not for you, right? I don't God forbid someone has to call a manager to solve that problem. You know, I'd be heartbroken, be heartbroken people are smart people are intelligent people, people know their job.
Atif Qadir 27:30
So given that you foresee the human interactions being a key part of the hospitality going forward, and that you have a wide variety of types of people coming to the hotel, many of whom are for rather as employees, many of whom don't have a hospitality experience before, give us a window into what your training process is to get the staff to be able to be those ambassadors that you want them to be.
Anthony Pellegrino 27:54
So again, the first piece is find the right talent. And the second piece is making sure that we're providing a great workplace for them, you know, that they didn't come to a place where they didn't try to make a proper living, they can have the right health and medical benefits is a place of, you know, community and belonging. And I think once you get someone in that environment, the training process is easy. There's always 10 days of training, depending on what you're doing, whether it's pre opening, or you're on board. And then after that there's a shadow process. Once people you know, get that they're ready to go. And then to me, it's almost a backwards piece. Once you get trained in the basics. It's starting to learn from them, they tell you what's wrong, they tell you what's better.
Atif Qadir 28:35
That's like the idea of if you have a property waiting to do the landscaping till after someone starts using it to see where people are actually walking and having the pads follow that that's essentially what that that is. So the pay and benefits you mentioned is something that's very important to attract and retain the best talent. So talk to us about how you how you pay, like what are your living wages are versus minimum wage, etc.
Anthony Pellegrino 28:57
Yeah, so it's important, it's important to me, because again, that's really being an operations person at heart. And that's what I do, right. I am a leader of people. And I take that pretty heavy and making sure that I'm eliminating barriers for folks. And I say that because the Dean had health and medical benefits for their staff before Ash to death as a company. That's how important it was to me when we did this was we were just starting up and we're like, oh, like no, that's not we're gonna do here, even when we started to do the minimum wage at the time and I was like nine change and I did a labor analysis of the city and I seen one of the larger branded hotels, which I won't name, you know, hiring housekeepers at $9.92. And I thought to myself, Wow, from a kid who grew up in a kitchen, who is making more than that 10 years, it's almost hurts me like, like even now. So that time we started hiring 2012 And that was before the real living wage conversation started and we built it Sensient most of our properties now or at the starting wage is the living wage which is 50 Now's an hour, which you can argue that's really a living wage, certainly people figure out how to live off of it. It's quite the living wage. But at this point for our hotels being so small and self, you know, it was really being so small and self, you know, it was really, you know, the best I could do at the moment was, you know what, we're going to start everybody, housekeeping front desk, it's all the same pay scale, right? Your classes and but there's no like physical labor versus desk labor and see them different. So everybody starts with that. And everybody starts with medical, dental, vision two weeks vacation after their first year, they accrue their first year, they accrue PTO time. So the crew of five days sick and five days personal, that's on top of that vacation time. So again, just really thinking of people and personal days, people shouldn't take a vacation day to have to go do something personal, right. It's not a vacation. So you just wanted to make sure that people had that New Orleans is the last we brought a lot of people back from furlough. Currently they're at 14, but all the people we brought back will be ready for Villa made their new year after that they will all get the living wage adjustment at that point.
Atif Qadir 31:06
And I think what I want to point out, as you mentioned that your living wage at the hotel in New Orleans is $14. And Louisiana is actually one of only five states in the entire country that has no state level minimum wage, which means that labor in the state has a default back to the federal minimum, which is still $7.25. So you're nearly double what I'm sure they're your competition is paying people
Anthony Pellegrino 31:30
Yeah, yeah, when we've done it, we've paid double time for holidays, we'll we'll get to the 15th there and it's the right thing to do, we'll always figure out a way to make money, we'll always figure out a way to keep our buildings, we're always figure out a way to have distributions will always figure out a way to have a great GOP flow through, it'll get figured out and in turn, they'll have an amazing place, but amazing ambassadors, and we'll be able to support the communities that we live in and that we make money.
Atif Qadir 31:53
And I think and also tied to that is, as of now Louisiana, only about 35% of population is fully vaccinated versus about 50% across the United States. What COVID protocols have you put into place internally to protect your staff from those particular challenges, they'll have to do their jobs.
Anthony Pellegrino 32:11
Yeah, super, super interesting. And COVID happened and having hotels on the east coast, midwest and south and watching how communities behave differently, how labor behave differently, how states behave differently. It was something that was really difficult to deal with New Orleans, in many ways was probably the toughest of all to deal with. There are just so many layers to the onion, right? There's the South and the way the south reacts, there's labor, and it's very different. Their labor there is still very complacent than it is in most other places, bigger demographics, their new social demographics, a lot of people who, whether it's because of ethnicity or religion, didn't want to get vaccinated. So it was really interesting for me to start to peel back the layers of the onion to truly understand why people weren't or not for us. It was it was the basics. It was the sanitizer, it was the mask wearing. It was the temperature checks. Also, the electrostatic sprayers were a big piece at first to make sure everything was you know, funny story about I'm gonna, I'm gonna sidetrack here for FY electrostatic sprayers. There was a time where every hotel wanted one and nobody could get them. And if you're from Providence, you understand the phrase, I know a guy, right? Because that's, you know, that's just like Brooklyn as well. Yeah, yeah. And really, I was able to have some pulled off the back of a UPS truck that was out going out for delivery to someone else to get them to our hotels just because of not because you know, a guy, but really because of long standing relationships that I made with vendors over time, and those relationships that are valued. Because again, they're people are in the people business, and they're no different. They don't get treated differently than my workers or our guests. Right. And I was able to get that equipment. You know, it's still it's still pretty crazy. We're dealing with COVID and COVID outbreaks, you know, I think we would probably dealt with the most of them in New Orleans, Detroit was slow. Michigan was slow. It's very different. Detroit is not Michigan. So there's a bunch of different thought processes there. But
Atif Qadir 34:19
the same way that New York City isn't New York State and you can go on and on and on.
Anthony Pellegrino 34:23
Right, right. The urban versus suburban areas, and you dealt with that you dealt with that, too. But Detroit, we had a pretty good vaccination rate, their Providence we had folks just lined up even when they couldn't get the vaccination because they were doing it the convention center crossing the hotel and people would just go at like five o'clock. They'd be like, we got extra and they wonder we take them by age group. So we had half the hotel vaccinated before they were even the age allowed because people were ready to do it. In New Orleans. We still have a handful of people who are whether they're afraid to whether they were someone who didn't grow up with a flu shot and maybe that's because it could because of religion. Maybe it's because they didn't grow up with health and medical benefits and didn't see a doctor On a regular basis didn't have access to that. Now, they're they don't trust, you know, and a lot of people still don't trust government, you know, and they don't trust media. So it's interesting. I think that's I get caught up in it a lot. So I'm constantly like trying to layer those, that emotional intelligence to really figure out why people are doing things, what are their behaviors? What are the behavior patterns? And why? How can I influence them in a good way?
Atif Qadir 35:23
Let me say So you mentioned some of those, peeling the layers of the onion that it is New Orleans? And have you had any challenges with your staff handling or guests that may not have wanted to comply with the rules that you had set out, particularly in a state where the dynamic I would imagine is that this stuff is generally black and brown, and your guests are probably white, and there's tones of slavery and the repercussions of that after? So what does that like versus say in Detroit or Providence,
Anthony Pellegrino 35:51
it's funny in New Orleans was very respectful. The guests who came to hotel Peter and Paul, and they because they walk up to a place it's to me, it's still mind blowing and amazing. And they walk up there and maybe that puts them in check. Maybe it's maybe it's the price point they pay, they don't pay too much. So they don't feel too privileged, but they pay enough where they're looking to enjoy their money's worth. But New Orleans, we thought, Oh boy, here we go. New Orleans. The guests have been wonderful. Wonderful there, Detroit and Detroit, Detroit's great city. Like I said, it's a second home to me. And again, people there have been pretty wonderful as well. I think once f&b outlets started to open up, and things started to open up Detroit, really, they're free to market as the suburbs. So it's everybody coming in for a you know, the Fox Theater or something at Little Caesars again, I think once the food and beverage operations opened up, it became a little bit more. You know, one because we have so many so many people come in, it became a little bit more to deal with folks who didn't want to abide. But by the time you know, we got to NOT abiding, there weren't really a ton of guests coming through we we just kept our hotels open. But it was a ghost town for a long time for everyone. So it was just the opening up Providence was a little bit different. I think provinces where we had the toughest time Interesting, okay, with guests. I'm on the board of directors for Rhode Island hospitality. And we've done a bunch of programs there. Now we have stuff behind really stuff with the labor shortage, people wanting to come out and maybe that's summertime in New England, and everybody's coming in, we always complain in Rhode Island about why the highways backed up with all the New York license plates. It's like a it's like a joke, but because of new board and because of power and schools and stuff. And we've seen a lot of people come back, and that's probably where we've had the toughest time. So you think New Orleans? No, I think, you know, I think Providence you know, and Ivy League city was really, you know, the biggest handful, and still continues to be.
Atif Qadir 37:38
And I'm guessing that something that predates the pandemic and will continue on after the pandemic.
Anthony Pellegrino 37:44
The hardest, you know, the hardest I tell the managers probably Detroit broken to try can still be the toughest in having so many food and beverage options. And like I said earlier, candy bar is a giant draw. It's it's a giant draw. But it's so small, that it really does feel inclusive. And then you have you can exclude people very quickly, just by number of seats. So really making sure that we put in a reservation process and stuff like that. So yeah, no, I grew up in Providence. So again, as crazy as it ever gets. So it feels very, you know, very warm, something I know already doesn't faze me too much.
Atif Qadir 38:17
And then you mentioned that you have the three hotels, you have Baltimore have an additional one coming on as well. So in terms of employees, what would you say are the skills that you value the most? And you mentioned problem solving, being able to think outside of the box? What else would you say you valued employees
Anthony Pellegrino 38:33
creativity, I like I want people who are from the neighborhood, I don't want people who drive in and out to work because they're not part of it. I think an interesting people interesting backgrounds, right? Because I think when someone is interesting, the guest find them interesting, like I mentioned before, was a hairdresser is a DJ drag performer who's actually getting his master's degree on someone else's time. You know, those are the type of people you look for this hotel is in a certain community. I want the folks from that community working there. And I want the interesting folks from that community working there again, because they they open up the city and they become ambassadors of their neighborhoods and ambassadors of the hotel so certainly managers and folks a little bit different skill set there. You know, I do like hospitality focused people, when it comes to folks who are you know, working, and even even the laborers jobs, I want people from the community, I want them to say hey, you know what, this is this place is in my neighborhood. This place is in the neighborhood adjacent I do go to this neighborhood. And you know, I want to work there and in turn, you know, it's a great place to work for me.
Atif Qadir 39:37
Perfect last question. And listeners if they want to get in touch with you what's the best way?
Anthony Pellegrino 39:43
It's Anthony at Ash nyc.com.
Atif Qadir 39:47
So thank you so much for joining us today on the American building podcast. If you want to hear the behind the scenes stories of how iconic buildings in our country were designed and built subscribe to this podcast on on Spotify, iTunes, Google or wherever it is that you listen, we all know real estate is a tough industry to make it. So how can professionals stand out and make a name for themselves in today's world, hear from me, the team and Michael Graves and many of our spectacular guests like Anthony, on what we did to make it where we are, grab our exclusive guide and seven tips on how to stand out in your field at American building. podcast.com Finally, we live in the richest country in the history of humankind. We must reach beyond the boundaries that we see and the boundaries that we create, to help build homes and communities for others. Today, Anthony and I have made donations to the Rhode Island Special Olympics. I encourage you or listeners to support on this worthwhile cause as well. My name is off of other and this has been American building by Michael Graves.