When he bought the land on which Palácio Tangará now stands–a 26-acre tract of native Atlantic forest in the middle of the urban sprawl in São Paulo’s southwest, rare even then and vanishingly scarce today–he had big ideas about what he would do with it, almost none of which came to pass. Seen from the gardens outside, the hotel is a pale, fairy-tale-esque apparition; inside, it is a wonderland of silks and suedes in muted greens, blues, and yellows, sensitively orchestrated by architect Patricia Anastassiadis. Young, well-heeled locals bring an irresistible buzz to the dark, sexy Burle Bar–and to Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s airy, light-filled restaurant next to it.