Sam Nazarian: Emperor of Cool

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Nazarian has signed designer Philippe Starck to an exclusive, multiyear contract to design hotels and restaurants in North America.

There are currently two Katsuya sushi restaurants, with two more due to open this year.

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Capturing the "Cool Factor."

And to keep up with the fickle crowd, Nazarian continually redesigns his establishments, as often as every six months. Privilege, now under renovation, will reopen as an upscale supper club this summer. So far, Nazarian has managed to keep up with the in-crowd, opening a "pop-up" version of Hyde at this year's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. for example. He'll do that again at this weekend's Super Bowl in Phoenix.

To give his properties even more star power, Nazarian pursued designer Philippe Starck for more than a year before signing him to an exclusive, multiyear contract to design hotels and restaurants in North America. Starck designs the interiors for the budding Katsuya chain and is working on Nazarian's three new hotel properties. When he's in Los Angeles, Starck works out of an office in Nazarian's low-slung, modern headquarters on Beverly Boulevard. Nazarian admits negotiating new projects with the famous designer can often be a battle. "He always wants the best," Nazarian says. "Stone, tiles, fabric, everything." And while for the most part it seems like Nazarian humors his French collaborator, he has also found some savvy ways to offset that cost. Through a partnership with Italian furniture maker Cassina, he'll be selling the couches, tables, and desks that Starck designed for the new Los Angeles hotel.

Nazarian wants to be more than just a younger version of Ian Schrager, the former Studio 54 promoter who launched the boutique hotel craze in the 1980s with properties such as the Morgans Hotel in Manhattan (MHGC) and the Delano in Miami Beach. He plans to link his various establishments with a common computer system so guests can present their room key and use it to charge drinks, dinner, or hotel services wherever they are. He's also looking to advise other businesses, such as sports stadium owners and private jet operators, on how to capture what he calls the "cool factor." Nazarian says he's been talking with stadium management company Anschutz Entertainment Group to find ways to enhance the dining experience at Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the Lakers and Clippers basketball teams play. "People are paying $2,200 for floor seats and getting served a chicken sandwich," he says disdainfully. Sounds like another opportunity for Kobe beef.

Palmeri is a senior correspondent in BusinessWeek's Los Angeles bureau .