Morgans Hotel Group opened its third Mondrian-branded hotel in early spring. The 270-room Mondrian SoHo has been five years in the making and is managed by Morgan’s for owner/developer Cape Advisors.

“We started looking at this project as far back as early 2006,” says Gary J. Thomas, general manager for the hotel. “When we conceived the project the hospitality market was booming and this market was a little underserved.”

As the hotel was becoming reality, occupancies and room rates declined. Now, says Thomas, they’re recovering in New York City and the timing is right.

“Because we were sort-of delayed, we’ve been fortuitous in hitting the market now,” he says. “We can see it in the way our corporate business is responding. It’s been incredibly busy for us. We’ve seen a strong comeback. It may be too early to tell, but it’s been a busy past couple of months.”

Once a 10-story building, the now 26-story hotel is an adaptive reuse of a manufacturing-facility-turned-office building. Making it so had big city challenges. “Barriers to entry included the high cost of land, a competitive market, high cost of construction and the logistics of adapting a building,” says Thomas. These were complicated by the real estate’s location over the subway, buildings on either side, and New York City’s zoning and bureaucracy.

Today, the modern, glass tower is a landmark in the SoHo skyline, rising above surrounding buildings and giving guests views around the city. Barry Rice Architects and H. Thomas O’Hara Architects designed the property, including four large suites, each with a terrace, and the grand 1,170-square-foot penthouse on the 25th floor.

Asked what makes the Mondrian special, Thomas says the building, however edgy and upscale, is just a shell without the people. “What really defines the difference between a good and great hotel is the experience. The building is just a ticket into the game.”

“What defines the Mondrian brand is our ability to deliver an experience unique to us because of the people working here,” he says. “We have highly motivated, cool connected people who bring people back. It’s that ‘it’ factor. It’s either there or it isn’t … It’s design combined with the right people, not just the people who work there but people who come to play and stay.”