‘We Transform Abandoned New York City Buildings into Stunning Guesthouses’

An abandoned New York City building with bricked-up windows, rotting plywood, and rusted chains on the front door would make most prospective buyers run in the opposite direction. But for South Carolina couple Laureta Gjata and James Gale, these forgotten structures are pure gold.Today, Gjata and Gale operate Gale Guesthouses, a hospitality business dedicated to restoring historical properties across the city and converting them into unique rentals on Airbnb.Long before either of them picked up a sledgehammer, both founders developed the resilience needed to tackle ambitious goals through vastly different life paths.Gjata, 39, has a background in customer-facing hospitality. She immigrated to Greece from Albania as a young refugee during the war in 1997. While she remembers feeling embarrassed as the kid in school who didn't speak the language, she credits those challenging years with laying the foundation to overcome tough renovation challenges."Back then, it seemed like the worst thing that could happen to a kid," Gjata explains. "But looking back, some of the skills that I have have been useful to our journey restoring these buildings."Gjata eventually moved to New York to pursu...