The Historic Seville Hotel

The Seville on Miami Beach was listed as one of the last remaining distressed properties back in September 2009. As of August 2010, Ian Shrager’s taking it over through a recent partnership with Marriott turning the now shuttered oceanfront hotel into a luxury boutique ‘Marriott Edition’ brand over these next 3 years.  The 278,000 square foot Seville was built in 1955 with a previous attempt at a comeback in 2005, when developers announced new plans to turn it into a condo and fractional ownership complex under the Ritz-Carlton brand. Part of the old property would have been knocked down to make room for two 21 story towers, but the project couldn’t get off the ground as lenders balked in an unfriendly credit market of 05. Marriott acquired the property in July 2010 in a $57.5 million short sale from owner 2901 Beach Ventures, a partnership between Lionstone Group led by Alfredo Lowenstein and Fortune International Management, County records show, which is nearly $10 million less than a foreclosure lawsuit that had been filed on the property which has since been dismissed.

Ian Schrager Revisits The Beach

Schrager left Miami Beach a few years ago with the sale of his interest in the Morgans Hotel Group which started in 1984. Ian Schrager is well known for the Delano’s “urban resort” style & success (along with Studio 54 and Palladium) introducing the concept of a “boutique hotel” to the world. In recent years, Schrager has focused on luxury residences and a hotel in New York City along with creating the Edition brand, aimed at sophisticated travelers.

“Mr. Schrager’s latest venture, a partnership with Marriott International, intends to create a new brand of as many as 100 hotels that will combine the personal, intimate, individualized and unique lodging experience that he created with the operational expertise that Marriott is known for on a global scale.” -IanSchragerCompany.com

Marriott’s Edition Brand in SoBe

Marriott’s portfolio includes the luxury brand Ritz-Carlton, the upscale JW Marriott, quality brands including Marriott and Renaissance and moderate hotels Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield Inn by Marriott. In addition to Edition, it also recently created the Autograph Collection, currently featuring 10 hotels with an individualistic ambience. Edition seeks to set itself apart by creating individualized hotels in busy markets that reflect the cultures of their surroundings with an emphasis on sophistication and service. Other planned Edition locations include Mexico City, Bangkok, Istanbul and Barcelona. Schrager and Marriott announced the partnership three years ago. Initially, plans called for the South Beach Marriott at 161 Ocean Dr. to become an Edition, but that failed to materialize as the recession hit.

South Florida’s historic hotel Seville, which sits on nearly three acres of beachfront property at 2901 Collins Ave., is expected to open in three years after it undergoes significant renovations during a continued market upswing. For more information check back here regularly or sign up for emailed updates or the RSS feed in the upper right column.

Seville Hotel Grounds

Well here it is friends… The first post in a long time and I’ve been waiting on something worthy. The same old, same old gets to be tired plus with summertime here and business actually increasing, I’ve been less inclined to write. I did start the Miami Beach Photo Blog last month and will be posting the very best of real estate photography for all to see.

This post looks at the last remaining 5 Miami Beach & Sunny Isles developments that broke ground yet didn’t survive the real estate storm from the past 5 years. Only 5?! That’s correct and if I may have missed another development then let me know and I’ll get it added here. I am open minded and would love to hear your thoughts & knowledge as to “the truth” from each of these developments.

Seville

So starting in South Beach, the old Seville tops my list with Ritz Carlton pulling out and removing the sales center, all the signs and from what I gather, completely scratched this condo hotel development which offered fractional ownership.

JULY 16th 2010 UPDATE:

The Seville Hotel, which was just purchased in a short sale by an affiliate of Courtyard by Marriott, will be getting the Ian Schrager treatment, Marriott has announced. The 12-story hotel in Miami Beach will be the second “Edition” hotel by Marriott, following the opening of an Edition hotel in Honolulu this fall. The renovations are expected to take approximately three years. Schrager helped reinvigorate South Beach when he launched the Delano 15 years ago.

Terra Beachside Villas

The second on the list is Terra Beachside Villas at 6000 Collins Avenue. One of the best known developments to go under. It appears Terra Beachside Villas were getting very close to finishing when it went to a standstill. The big cone eyesore was repainted to a less tacky blue and all the workers seemed to disappear. There were also concerns from the underground parking garage which by the way might double to a swimming pool when it rains (Miami Beach is only 5′ above sea level right).. These will be picked off fast when they hit the market at correct pricing. A great location (besides street traffic) and cool 2 story concept. Accurate pricing is ~$300k by my book.. not the $600k that once was.

NoBe Bay

Third on the list is a beautiful building known as NoBe Bay located at 6700 Indian Creek Drive. What happened here?! Sales center is still stationed at the Deauville Hotel Miami Beach yet all stopped months ago as the first few levels of hurricane impact glass began to arrive. This will be a winner soon enough..

Regatta 2

Directly beside NoBe Bay is the Regatta 2 development which cleared the land, kept the remaining concrete structure of the old hotel and simply stalled construction. What a complex this will be when it does finally finish. The Regatta is a “nice” building with small floor plans and the combination of the 2 created a cool community environment. Three recent sales in Regatta Indian Creek range from $315 to $450k far less than the $800k that once was.

Solis

Last on the list is Solis Sunny Isles Beach. There were a few workers on site so I’m not completely pessimistic on the success however it’s been an eyesore for MONTHS!

And that’s all folks! With limited space and high demand it’s only a matter of time before these 5 bounce back into action. For more information please contribute your knowledge here or call me at 1.888.383.7326 or Miami Beach FL Real Estate.