Who

With Ira Drukier, Born is the founder of BD Hotels, the company that owns boutique hotels like the Mercer, Chambers, and Maritime and also developed the Richard Meier-designed glass towers on Perry Street.

Backstory

Richard Born grew up in Forest Hills, the son of Robert Born, who developed midrange apartment buildings during the middle part of the 20th century with, as it happens, Charles Drukier, Ira's father. Born initially didn't have plans go into the family business—or work with the son of his father's partner. He attended medical school at NYU and put in time as a surgical resident at Bellevue, before changing career directions and teaming up with Druckier. In 1985 the duo started off acquiring and renovating midrange hotels like the Holiday Inn on West 57th Street and a Ramada at Newark airport. They plunged into luxury hospitality in 1996 when they partnered with Andre Balazs to complete the Mercer Hotel, which was still far from completion despite eight years of effort on Balazs's part. The project, of course, was a success—and became the first luxury hotel in SoHo—and Born and Drukier moved on to the David Rockwell-designed Chambers in 2000 and the Maritime two years later.

Today BD Hotels owns and/or operates 21 hotels, the vast majority of which are located in New York. Born and Drukier are also responsible for one of the most high-profile condo developments in recent years, the two Richard Meier-designed glass towers on Perry Street that are home to the likes of Calvin Klein, Martha Stewart, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Of note

Although they keep a low profile, Born and Drukier seem to have had a hand in the development of almost every major boutique hotel built in the city over the past decade. In 2001, they teamed up with nightclub impresarios Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode to turn the Covenant House in the meatpacking district into the Maritime Hotel; the quartet more recently reassembled to create the Bowery Hotel, which opened in 2007.

In 2008, Born and Drukier unveiled the $43 million Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, a property they developed in partnership with Robert De Niro. Other hotels in the BD portfolio include the Elysée Hotel (which they co-own with Henry Kallan), the Skyline, Belvedere, Pod Hotel, Travel Inn (near Times Square), The Blakely, and an outpost of the Chambers in Minneapolis.

Off hours

Born is a prolific art collector—he boasts one of the largest collection of contemporary Chinese art in town. With help from art adviser Larry Warsh, in 2005 he spent more than $2 million at auction to acquire nearly 300 works by up-and-coming Chinese artists. A number of Born's pieces have been on display at his hotels.

Personal

Born and his wife Debbie have two daughters and one son. They live on Fifth Avenue, in the same building as Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Sr.