New York Has Too Many Rich People

In his long career, Ian Schrager has given New York City many things – Studio 54, the Palladium, boutique hotels and, now, ungodly expensive luxury condo buildings. Yet Schrager claims, in an interview with Dezeen magazine, that all the rich people flooding the city – presumably including the ones buying his luxe condos – are a threat to diversity.

“I do think that not having diversity in the cities is a bad thing,” Schrager tells Dezeen. “And it just being rich people is not a good thing. It is a diversity that brings the energy, and brings the greatness to a city.”

Schrager joins former mayor Michael Bloomberg in touting tiny little micro apartments as a way of alleviating the worsening shortage of affordable housing in expensive cities like New York and San Francisco. Meanwhile, Schrager is busy tossing up luxury condo towers at 215 Chrystie Street and 160 Leroy Street in lower Manhattan. The very un-micro, 19,500-square-foot penthouse at the latter building is expected to fetch up to $80 million.