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bobliocatt

By bobliocatt
in Miami/South Florida

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Posted on Sat, Feb. 05, 2005

DEVELOPMENT

Ritz plans fourth Dade resort

A fourth Ritz-Carlton is slated for Miami-Dade County. But don't plan on checking in. This time-share and condo complex in Miami Beach will be for owners only.

BY DOUGLAS HANKS III AND MATTHEW HAGGMAN

[email protected]

Developers plan a Ritz-Carlton condominium and time-share complex in Miami Beach, the fourth Miami-area property to carry the luxury hotel brand.

Diego Lowenstein, whose family owns the Ritz-Carlton in South Beach, said he and Miami-based developer Fortune International plan to convert the Seville Beach Hotel at 29th Street and Collins Avenue into an unspecified number of condominiums and extended-stay time-shares known as fractional ownerships.

Owners of those units have the right to use them for a month or more, instead of the one-week stays typical for time-share properties.

To build the new Ritz-Carlton, Lowenstein plans to demolish part of the 1955 hotel and build a pair of 21-story towers on the oceanfront property once known for hosting boxing matches.

Miami Beach zoning officials have recommended that the city's historic preservation board reject the plan, saying the Seville shouldn't grow beyond its current 12 stories and the hotel's old Matador room should be saved, documents on file with the city say.

If it wins zoning approval, the venture would bring a fourth Ritz-Carlton property to a region that already has three Ritz-Carlton hotels: in South Beach, Coconut Grove and Key Biscayne.

But Ritz-Carlton executives and Lowenstein aides emphasized that only unit owners would be staying at the new property, not transient guests.

''It is different -- it is residential versus hotel,'' Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Beth Vairo said of the chain's residential properties, including one in Jupiter.

The developers -- zoning documents list Fortune President Edgardo Defortuna and Alfredo Lowenstein, Diego's father, as majority owners of the now-shuttered hotel -- are scheduled to appear before the preservation board Tuesday.

The new Ritz-Carlton venture reflects the growing value hotel brands are finding in the real estate market.

The Ritz-Carltons in Key Biscayne and Coconut Grove were paired with condominium complexes, as was the Four Seasons tower in Miami. And hotel projects from Fort Lauderdale to Islamorada are selling off single rooms as condo-hotel units.

The planned Ritz-Carlton Residences and Club South Beach would bring a novel hybrid for South Florida: time-share and standard condominiums. Though popular in other resort markets, the time-share and fractional concept has yet to gain traction here.

And this is believed to be the first South Florida property bearing a major hotel brand without a hotel component.

''It is like a hotel, but it is being sold as real estate,'' said Lowenstein, chief executive officer of Lionstone, his family's company.

Though some analysts had earlier questioned the wisdom of opening three Ritz-Carltons in a single market, others dismissed suggestions Friday that the property might dilute the brand locally.

''I don't see that as competitive at all with our resort,'' said Sherwood ''Woody'' Weiser, an owner of the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne. ``It just doesn't affect us.''

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Brickell Burg

Brickell

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The saga continues...

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10919036.htm

MIAMI BEACH

Demolition order given for coral rock house

The Miami-Dade County Unsafe Structures Board on Wednesday ordered the demolition of one of Miami Beach's oldest structures -- an 87-year-old coral rock house on Collins Avenue.

The board declared that the house, located at 900 Collins Ave., should be demolished within 60 days. The house, built in 1918, was declared structurally unsound by a Miami Beach building official in August 2004.

The Unsafe Structures Board first considered the fate of the house in November, giving the city a 30-day reprieve to attempt to find a way to save it. The city asked for, and was granted, two more 30-day extensions from the board.

On Wednesday, the city asked for another 120-day extension, but the board determined that there was no feasible way to save the house. The city is exploring other alternatives to demolition, according to city staff.

In the past, decisions by the board have been appealed to the Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

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Brickell Burg

Brickell

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We can only hope. I don't know how close you are but maybe you could keep an eye on it for us. I was hoping to go down there to get some shots of it before it's gone. Since the Everglades implosion, I've developed an interest in capturing our vanishing history. If anybody gets any shots in progress I'd love to see them.

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Posted on Wed, Apr. 27, 2005

Beach's Fifth Street to get parking garage

The Miami Beach City Commission has given preliminary approval to invest $9.5 million to create hundreds of city-owned parking spaces within a high-profile shopping center development.

The Fifth & Alton Shopping Center, which will straddle a city block at the foot of the MacArthur Causeway, will include a public transit facility, 179,000 square feet of retail, a supermarket and 1,081 parking spaces.

Read more: Miami Herald

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See also the P&C directory entry.

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Lynx Unveils $120M Beach House Condo Plan

By Marita Thomas

Last updated: April 26, 2005 01:25pm

miabeachhouse1nk.jpg

MIAMI-Lynx Strategic Development, a locally based development company headed by Jorge Brugo and Ian Ludmir, paid the Rubell family just shy of $26.5 million for Beach House Hotel at 9449 Collins Ave. with plans to demolish it at the end of this year and develop Beach House, a 105-unit condominium complex. Brugo tells GlobeSt.com the projected construction cost is $120 million, including the land...

Read more: GlobeSt.com

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Posted on Thu, May. 12, 2005

UP FRONT | MIAMI BEACH

A gamble for the Fontainebleau

The Fontainebleau hotel's new owner is rolling the dice on a Las Vegas strategy and has hired the head of Mandalay casinos to run the resort. Plans include musical acts, celebrity chefs -- but not gambling.

BY DOUGLAS HANKS III

[email protected]

The Fontainebleau's new owner seems to be doing everything he can to bring Las Vegas to Miami Beach.

Jeffrey Soffer plans a major reworking of the 1,340-room resort, South Florida's largest and most famous hotel. Though Florida law doesn't allow gambling there, he plans to bring in the kind of celebrity chefs, big-name musical acts, upscale shops and entertainment options that are signatures of hotels along the famed Vegas Strip. After renovating the hotel's Morris Lapidus-designed Chateau building, Soffer promises high-roller room rates, too -- up as much as 70 percent from its current $180-a-night prices.

Read more: Miami Herald

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Brickell Burg

Brickell

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Kind of ironic. The Fontainebleau was Vegas before Vegas was Vegas. It was home to the Rat Pack, Jerry Lewis and mob bosses. One of the first big themed hotels on the strip was the Flamingo which borrowed heavily from the Miami Beach style.

It'll be nice if this works for them.

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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Some of the hotels and condominiums built in the 70s and 80s on Miami Beach (don't know which ones) have holes predrilled in their columns for inserting explosives... The developers were anticipating the day that Class III gaming would be legalized in Florida..

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Brickell Burg

Brickell

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PMG Collins plans condos on Miami Beach land

A subsidiary of Property Markets Group said it has bought the last oceanfront land parcel in Miami Beach.

PMG Collins said it purchased 1.75 acres at 5875 Collins Ave. from First Ocean Estates Realty. The company did not disclose the price, but it did say PB Capital of New York provided a $98 million loan.

On the land, PMG said it plans 135 condominium residences in 22 stories. The proposed name is Mei, which the company said is Mandarin for "beauty" and "femininity."

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/st...16/daily42.html

Related Urbanplanet.org topic: South Florida P&C: Mei

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Brickell Burg

Brickell

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South of Fifth

Some new condominium developments are launched with hoopla, newspaper inserts and ads galore. Others, like South of Fifth, designed by Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates, come in under the radar, discreetly attracting brokers and buyers in the know. The courtyard-style project at 135 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach has only 28 open-plan, flow-through units (which sounds even better as

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prahaboheme City

prahaboheme

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Its funny how different the development and designs are on South Beach as compared to the rest of Miami. They really push the bar on South Beach. As much as I love the highrises galore just over the causeway, Sobe is far more interesting from a pedestrian perspective.

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mercator Unincorporated Area

mercator

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The pedestrian perspective is ultimately the only one that counts I think.

Maybe the Miami planning board has been caught asleep at the wheel, or maybe the politicians (in the developers pockets, when they are not developers themselves) are driving the process too much.

I predict a backlash of NIMBYs, and it won't be unjustified. Some of the projects being approved in Miami are really going to scar the city.

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Aessotariq Burg

Aessotariq

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The St. Regis Hotel project, proposed for the now-closed Sheraton Bal Harbour resort, has been temporarily delayed until at least September, at the request of a civic association. If approved, a new St. Regis hotel with luxury condo will be built on the site, with 350 residential units, 250 hotel units. Starwood Hotels and Resorts owns the property and operates the St. Regis, Sheraton, and Westin brands, among others.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/...es/12194854.htm

Related UrbanPlanet.org topics: South Florida P&C: St. Regis Hotel Bal Harbour

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