By Jason Turcotte
AKA Brand partner Larry Korman has helped play host to the hottest stars on the planet. As a developer of extended-stay hotels, he’s stealthily climbing up the ranks of the high-end hospitality business and the family firm has plans for expansion.
Raised in Ft. Washington, Pa., Korman was in the real estate trenches long before graduating from Duke University in 1986, where he studied business. The development business launched by his great grandfather fascinated him shortly after learning to walk.
"I started going to the properties when I was three, four, five years old, learning the business from a very young age," Korman said.
His interest, naturally, began with the real estate of playground space at his family’s portfolio of garden apartment complexes. By 16, he was working at the fitness centers in some of those buildings in and around Philadelphia before handling maintenance assignments.
But by the time he finished at Duke and worked at Korman full time, he had one goal that trumped all others: branding.
Korman hoped to create some synergy among the family’s 23-building portfolio and package them under a single uniform brand — a brand later known as Korman Suites. Part of that branding effort built upon the success of the company’s first extended-stay hotel, The Palace, to quietly seize a relatively untapped market.
Owned by the Kormans since the 1960s, The Palace (in Philadelphia’s City Center) has hosted celebrities Grace Kelly, Madonna, Jimmy Steward, Mick Jagger, Bob Hope, Charlton Heston, Pavarotti, and Tina Turner along with political elite like President Gerald Ford.
They attracted the likes of such stars, said Korman, because they offered high-end amenities that "weren’t typical of a traditional apartment." From the finest linens to the most fully equipped fitness centers, the family prided itself on its non-pretentious approach to luxury by offering the "anonymity" without sacrificing the "cache" — appealing traits to such famous guests. "I think some of our appeal to entertainment is my father’s first hotel with a small lobby," said Korman, who works closely with his father and brother. "Coming into a large lobby is not ideal for these people. They’re looking to get away. They’ve done their work for the day."
Those pioneering properties also became a Mecca for rock acts. According to Korman, their hotels were the only ones with parking lots large enough to accommodate the mega tour buses; performers from Bonnie Raitt to the Red Hot Chili Peppers stayed at their high-end hotels. And today AKA, the luxury brand launched by Korman Communities in 2006, holds roughly 80% of the entertainment industry market share.
"We became the name brand. We did a very good job in a very provincial market," Korman said.
Part of AKA’s success can be attributed to actress Diane Keaton. A frequent guest at their Central Park location, Korman said she’s provided the brand with a tremendous boost and — after stumbling upon one of their New York operations — sent many Hollywood referrals to them. "She walked into the hall and saw one of our designers finishing up a suite, and she actually fell in love with it," he added.
In an economy where glitz is passé, Korman also found success by flying under the radar. Without the stigma of flash or excess — unlike competitors like the Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton — the wealthy have flocked to AKA because of its low profile. And, ironically, he said that while fewer people visited New York during the recession, those who did were the ultra wealthy, keeping demand for high-end hotels healthy.
The tough economy also provided Korman with new investment opportunities. In fact, all four of AKA’s midtown Manhattan properties were purchased from developers in financial distress who were unable to sell their units. Those failed condos paved the way for the company’s popular hotel residence concepts at 42 West 58th Street, 123 West 44th St., 330 East 56th Street and 234 East 46th Street.
Today, Korman’s hospitality brand remains poised to expand upon its rapid growth. Over the past four years the extended-stay brand expanded to eight properties in Philadelphia, New York and D.C. Korman’s currently working to launch hotel residences in London and Beverly Hills by the end of the year, in addition to rolling out six new properties in New York over the next few years.
With the family development firm in business for a century, Korman Communities is responsible for the development of more than 30,000 single-family homes; 12,000 apartments and townhouses; and 6 million square feet of commercial/industrial space.
While real estate remains his top priority, Korman is a devoted family man — married with two children. Today he splits his time between AKA’s Central Park penthouse suite and his childhood home, which was the last residential project of renowned architect Louis Kahn. Possessing a fondness for architecture, he also leads formal Kahn tours through the University of Pennsylvania.