Nobu San Juan is scheduled to open in 2028 as Nobu Hospitality’s first hotel and restaurant in Puerto Rico. The 50-room project, developed with KTT, will combine accommodation with a Nobu restaurant and bar at street level and a rooftop lounge and bar.
Announced on 30 September 2026, the scheme adds a compact urban property to the brand’s development portfolio. It remains a future opening, with no opening month specified in the announcement.
Dining anchors the Nobu San Juan proposition
The planned layout gives food and beverage a prominent position within the hotel. A street-facing restaurant and a separate rooftop venue create two distinct settings alongside a relatively small accommodation inventory.
For operators, that configuration raises a familiar commercial question: how to serve overnight guests while building a dining business with an audience beyond the bedrooms. The announcement does not set out restaurant capacity or the expected balance between resident and non-resident trade, so those remain questions for the eventual operating plan rather than established features.
Nobu’s official property page describes a design approach intended to reflect San Juan’s heritage. It also envisages experiences connected to the island’s culture, architecture, waterfront and food scene. Specific programming has not yet been detailed.
A partnership focused on the destination
Trevor Horwell, chief executive of Nobu Hospitality, highlighted Puerto Rico’s cultural appeal and hospitality in explaining the decision. Joakim Lehmkuhl, managing partner of KTT, similarly pointed to San Juan’s combination of history and energy.
The announcement presents the destination as part of the proposition, rather than simply a location for the brand. Translating that intention into a credible guest experience will depend on the eventual design, supplier relationships and local knowledge of the team.
Different formats across Nobu’s development pipeline
San Juan should not be confused with Nobu Beach Inn in Barbuda. That separate project is planned around 36 bedrooms across 17 villas, with a beach club, spa and 25 beachfront residences. Nobu currently describes it as under development, with construction scheduled for completion in late 2026.
The contrast illustrates the range of formats within the brand’s pipeline: a small city hotel in Puerto Rico and a lower-density beachfront development in Barbuda.
Elsewhere, Nobu’s Monte Rei project in Portugal’s eastern Algarve is planned as a 100-room hotel alongside a restaurant, villas and residences. Its official page anticipates construction beginning in 2027 and first guests in 2029. These are separate projects with separate timetables, not a single opening programme.
What remains to be confirmed
For San Juan, the principal confirmed elements are the 2028 target, the 50-room scale and the two food and beverage settings. Nobu’s announcement does not disclose a project budget, room rates or a detailed recruitment programme.
The next useful milestones will therefore be a more precise opening timetable and further operating detail. Until then, the story is a development commitment, not the launch of a hotel already welcoming guests.
Related reading: Nobu’s planned Maldives resort and residences and Sunset Hospitality Group’s Singapore expansion.
