OPERATIONS
Rosie’ s Wine Bar in Austin is one of 17 bars and restaurants operated by MML Hospitality.
Living room of Hotel Saint Vincent’ s Mary Suite, which overlooks the hotel’ s 150-year-old Virgin Mary grotto.
live and hang out, largely because of the rejuvenated South Congress Avenue.
TYING IT TOGETHER MML hotels are distinct for what they don’ t have: a brand. It’ s not by mistake but part of MML’ s ideals, especially as it revolves around F & B and scene setting, and how it believes its guests want to travel. That’ s because McGuire is his customers.“ A lot of times when I travel, I want to feel like a local and experience cities that way,” he said.“ People, now, want to experience things through other people’ s eyes, where things are real.”
Austin is the one city where McGuire and his partners don’ t have to act like locals. It makes sense, then, that they should have a hotel there— they are working on one. A 57-room hotel will be part of Sixth & Blanco, a five-story, mixed-use development in the Clarksville neighborhood that will also feature residences, a members’ club, retail shops, galleries, public gardens and, a MML staple, restaurants. The development features mass timber design by Pritzker prize-winning Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron, which was behind the conversion of London’ s Bankside Power
Station into the present-day Tate Modern. Like Rifkin’ s ardor for Nine Orchard, McGuire has an intensity for Sixth & Blanco, an enthusiasm because the development is literally in his backyard, an acre and a half of land behind his office and around some of his first restaurants. He’ s been working on the project for five years now and the expectation is a 2027 opening.
MML has a penchant for following in its restaurants’ tracks. Beyond its multiple restaurants and bars in Austin, MML also operates eateries in Aspen, where it is also developing a 59-room Europeanstyle chalet, a renovation of an existing building it bought in 2020. Like Austin, it’ s also scheduled to open in 2027. That’ s the collection right now, McGuire pronounces: New Orleans, New York, Austin, Aspen.“ That’ s our four.”
One gets the sense that this new spotlight on MML was an unintended consequence. Like Pharrell Williams, an erstwhile behind-the-mic producer before the world embraced him with frenzy for his vocal and artistic talent, MML never intended to be a front-facing name and brand.“ We struggle with it; it’ s kind of just become that as we’ ve grown,” McGuire said. All four properties
operate and will operate as a collection of independent hotels and there are no plans currently to build out a brand. While Austin might keep it weird, MML likes keeping it on the down low:“ We’ re not like celebrity chefs or operators; we’ re pretty low key,” McGuire said. But he does envision people piecing the hotels together.“ I see someone saying,‘ I love Saint Vincent. Oh, it’ s the same people as Nine Orchard. I think they’ ve also got a hotel in Aspen,’” McGuire said.“ We want to be practical about it, but we do think about it.”
Though McGuire might prefer to keep a low profile, the amount of money MML is investing forces it to be more proactive in burnishing the company and its assets. For a group that hangs its hat on creativity, McGuire will admit that marketing has never been its strong suit.“ We’ re starting to think about that because the size of the investments is so big,” he said.“ It’ s about being good at every part of the business.” Still, McGuire chafes at the idea of doing anything more than what MML was created to do: concept, design and operate great, convivial places to gather, dine and drink.“ Our real love will always be hospitality,” he said.
48 hotelsmag. com November 2025