Sam Nazarian, once known as the “Emperor of Cool” in the nightlife industry has turned over a new leaf.
In 2008, Bloomberg celebrated his kingdom of hotspots in Los Angeles, and if you’ve ever eaten at Katsuya or stayed at an SLS hotel you can understand why. The founder of SBE knows how to make hotspots buzzy for a work-hard, play-hard crowd of A-listers.
By 2019, Nazarian had nine offices around the world and 11,000 employees. “I was the majority owner of my company, and I was the most unhealthy I’d ever been,” he said. “I didn’t have the same ambition and drive that I’d had.”
That year, he sold the hotel brands in a cash-and-asset swap to Accor.
“I was looking for a reset,” he said. The deal included a three-year non-compete clause in the lifestyle sector, giving him time to contemplate his next “disruption.”
Nazarian turned to friends who were feeling the same burn-out. They turned him on to health types like Mark Hyman and “biohacker” Gary Brecka. From there, his wellness journey took him to luxury longevity retreats like SHA and Lanserhof and Chenot.
Then along came Tony Robbins.
Robbins was early to some of wellness’s more unconventional practices: “Tony was the first guy who was going in an ice bath, and everyone thought he was crazy,” as Nazarian put it. Nazarian visited Robbins’ Fountain Life longevity center in Orlando, Florida. There, a bevy of tests found a “pretty aggressive” aneurysm in his brain.
“Over the next 30 days, I saw four top neurosurgeons, got four opinions, did more testing and then had a seven hour brain surgery that removed the aneurysm,” he told Real Tactics Pro.
The aneurysm is gone, but Nazarian’s commitment to preventative health and his relationship with Robbins continue.
Nazarian and Robbins are working together on wellness-focused hotels and longevity centers with a new brand called the Estate. (They’ve already inked a lease for a center at the Reuben Brothers’ Century Plaza, have a hotel under development in St. Kitts, and plan 25 locations by 2030.) Meanwhile, Nazarian and entertainer Marc Anthony, who’s also a partner on the Estate, launched a new hotel brand. HQ, which is a partnership with Wyndham, will also have a wellness and longevity strategy.
Nazarian’s next business boom may not have the same hard-partying style as the last one, and his weekends reflect that. With a wife, three kids and a home in Miami’s Gables Estates neighborhood, weekends are more about kids’ basketball games and family dinners than the nightlife scene or even business meetings.
Friday
Evening
Shabbat dinner with my wife and three kids. We do it every Friday night. We’re not very religious, but my kids are eight, six and three so it’s something we’ve always had as part of our cultural component.
My mom flew in from L.A., so having her with us was a treat as well. I grew up in Los Angeles but we’ve lived in Miami for five years now. This is our biggest market area, and we made a conscious effort in 2019 to raise our kids in Miami as well, so we got a place in Coral Gables, where the best schools are.
We also have access to more quality-of-life things here, like being out on the water. We have a place in the Bahamas as well. And obviously proximity to Europe, which is very important to us; my wife’s European, so we have a home in Montenegro. It’s just easier to get around the world from Miami.
Saturday
Morning
I took my three-year-old son to soccer practice, then I took my daughters to tennis practice at Coral Oaks.
Afternoon
At 12 p.m., I had lunch on my yacht with one of our bankers from CFG, Erik Howard. Actually, on the way there I went and saw a site, but we haven’t announced that yet.
The rest of the day, we took the boat out to Fisher Island Bay as a family. In L.A., you’re on the water, but you never go out in the water. Now we have a boat in the back of our house, a 48-foot bay boat, but we also ended up buying the yacht in 2021. That’s a 42-meter Benetti. Nothing crazy, but big enough for us and a couple friends.
Usually we keep it in the Caribbean, at our place in the Bahamas or we’ll go to St. Barths or discover new islands. But it just so happened to be here, so we jumped on it. It’s such a pleasure to have it and get to see the city from the water.
Sunday
Morning
I worked out in the morning. We have these oxygen and red light machines in our house, so I got in the hyperbaric chamber and red light in addition to the workout. Then I took the girls to Hebrew school.
Afternoon
I went to a meeting with our general contractor. We’re actually building a permanent bio-hacking and longevity addition [on our house]. Our team from the Estates designed it. When you think about home gyms and spas, they’ve been very traditional. We really believe that there are some key components – saunas, the red light and oxygen — that can pivotally change the different KPIs you’re looking for, whether it’s better sleep, deeper sleep … there are lots of benefits.
Right now I have the machinery, and now we’re integrating it into a new structure. Another part of it is a meditation room, kind of a quiet room. We have three young kids, they can’t find you there.
After that I took my son to the park before I coached my daughters’ basketball game from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Then I had meetings from 4 p.m to 7 p.m on Sunday, because we had a board meeting on Monday.
Want to hear more about Sam Nazarian’s next chapter? TRD subscribers can join him at the next Salon Series event on April 3 to learn more. RSVP today.