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1675-13 Ritz-Carlton • PRT FRESH LOOK MEA 294 Docs Pg 10 of 19 Printing . . . Printing . . . Press [RETURN] to continue or type q to return to Menu: Ii mh RESTORED RITZ-CARLTON FITS SOBE'S GLAM ROW 01/25/2004 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 2004, The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, January 25, 2004 EDITION: Final SECTION: Tropical Life PAGE: 3M LENGTH: 129 lines ILLUSTRATION: color photo: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel lobby (a) , poolside at the Ritz South Beach (a) ; photo: the original lobby of the DiLido Hotel (a) , the DiLido lobby after a $20 million renovation (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY BETH DUNLOP, bdunlop@herald.com RESTORED RITZ-CARLTON FITS SOBE'S GLAM ROW The new South Beach Ritz-Carlton is an ode to a time and place that never really was - a sophisticated and glamorous Miami Beach that could have existed five decades ago. The hotel is largely housed in the DiLido Hotel, which the late and legendary Morris Lapidus designed in 1953 even before he created the Fontainebleau and the Eden Roc. The DiLido was never the lavish, outlandish or at the very least over-the-top setting that Lapidus was to become known for, but rather a stripped-down modern building. In more recent times, most of us have known the DiLido as the home of the Lincoln Road Denny's. How times have changed. Now, with a $20 million restoration and adaption, the Ritz-Carlton is the worthy cornerstone of what one might call celebrity row, the strip of trendy and sophisticated hotels stretching north along Collins from Lincoln Road - including the Sagamore, National, Delano, Shore Club and Townhouse, with more still to come. The designers of the Ritz-Carlton opted not for trendiness but for timelessness, however. Its look and feel are what one might call "early modern, " but this is a cosmopolitan European-inspired modernism, with a muted tropical color scheme and modern furniture that largely came from France. The hotel complex actually incorporates two postwar structures at the corner of Lincoln Road and Collins Avenue - the DiLido and the One Lincoln Road Building, which was designed by another of Miami's postwar architectural legends, Igor Polevitsky. Interestingly, Lapidus, who died in 2001 at age 98, didn't publicly own up to the DiLido, which he actually created with architect Melvin Grossman, though it's clearly his work. In his autobiography Too Much Is Not Enough, he mentions it not by name but describes being brought in after the building had been framed out as associate architect and interior designer, a role he describes as "designing and doctoring a hotel. " KEEPING FAITH The renovation architects (John Nichols and Anne Jackaway from Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates) and designers (Zeke Fernandez from Jeffrey Howard Associates) were respectful of Lapidus' design, but not constrained by it, which means that they ended up with something that Lapidus would have liked, maybe even enough to mention the DiLido by name in his book. The original black terrazzo floor is there, with a high sheen. A great curved "bubble wall" still stands in the lobby, but what once was painted • stucco is now clad in cherry. The aluminum railings along staircases and at the edge of the mezzanine are Lapidus' original design but redone a bit to fit the rhythm of the changed space. The front desk moved from the Collins Avenue end to the Lincoln, and though the original design was kept, the countertop is now backlit onyx. The mezzanine still opens over the tall two-story lobby, but lights are recessed into dramatic coved ceilings, which seem a Lapidus trademark but actually are a current innovation. Some of Lapidus' more dramatic flourishes - which found full spectacular expression in the Fontainebleau just a year later - are alluded to but not fully executed. Still to come are shops and a restaurant that fills the space of the original Collins Avenue entrance. The original front desk will eventually be a bar. To get 375 rooms, the architects had to add to the hotel; it, of course, is within both the local and national Art Deco historic districts, though this is an International Style building, a postwar modernist building with clean lines and an absence of decoration except for a painted mural, now restored (but hidden behind a glass wall) . OLD VS. NEW Nonetheless, the architects were expected to follow the Secretary of the Interior's guidelines for additions to historic buildings, which stipulated that one should be able to differentiate old and new, that the new portions should be "of our time" (a notion often misinterpreted to produce building additions that could be anywhere and any time and are not either referential or deferential to history) . This addition is different, which is to say, successful. The architects retained the sleek, simple geometry of the International style, but differentiated the new from the old by using dark glass and more metal. The additions actually look like they might have been made in 1955, and they are straightforward expressions of architecture, not of an architectural ego, which means that it all works as a whole. The work is quite nautical, enhanced by the rooftop enclosure that hides the mechanicals and harkens to the idea of a ship's smokestack. Poolside is, as is de rigueur on celebrity row, an exercise in over-the-top minimalism. The pool has "infinity edges " and the ocean is beyond, giving it all a further shiplike feeling. The indoor restaurant and bar look out on this with ocean views, and down on the sand is a second restaurant (with wonderful tile-cladding) . Start at the Ritz-Carlton and head north, and for five blocks or so, you are in the presence of the hotels that movie stars and moguls select as their South Beach hideaways these days. If your trip is along Collins - where there are just about the same number of unrenovated hotels and where the west side of the street is awaiting attention - you might wonder what all the fuss is about. THE GRAND TOUR The beach side imparts a slightly clearer picture, but it is the grand tour that tells it all - one great set for glamour after another. There is the moonscape-spare Sagamore with its superb art collection, and the white-and-black Shore Club with its Moroccan-sybaritic outdoor terraces. There is the architecture-as-performance-art Delano with its wide array of chairs and huge flowing curtains. There's the crisp beachy red-and-white Townhouse, tucked on a side street. And there is the South-of-France-meets-South- Beach-High-Deco embrace of the Raleigh. And not least is the National, which was actually restored to the level of splendor it had when it opened in 1940. These are all elite hotels, to be sure, and expensive, but we should be glad to know that in Miami Beach, the hotel lobbies are now considered historic public places, and of course many have restaurants and bars that are open to all eaters and drinkers, even if the poolside is private. And the beach is there for us all with a view back onto the oceanfront cityscape of hotels from the 1930s, '40s and '50s to be shared by all. We tend to take beach access for granted, but we shouldn't. NAME'S SIMPLICITY Fifty years ago when the DiLido was being built, there was another structure on the site as well - the Town and Beach Club motel. By the time the Ritz-Carlton got under way, all that was left of the motel were some block walls, but the simplicity of the name resonates, for that's what we have here - town and beach, and the history of how Miami Beach became just that. This new Ritz-Carlton opens a new chapter in that history, but it doesn't close the book, and for that it will probably outlast some of the nearby glitter that is not actually gold. CAPTION: TONY BERMUDEZ-SALVETTI/HERALD STAFF PAUSE TO REFLECT: Above, puttin' on the Ritz on South Beach. Right, poolside is an exercise in over-the-top minimalism, with 'infinity edges' and a view of the ocean, which gives the complex a shiplike feeling. BEFORE AND AFTER: Top, the original lobby of the DiLido Hotel; above, the lobby after its $20 million renovation. DONNA E. NATALE PLANAS/HERALD STAFF INNER BEAUTY: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel lobby - with its original black terrazzo floor and curved 'bubble wall' - gets some last-minute dusting before its opening in December. KEYWORDS: TAG: 0401290399 17 of 294, 24 Terms mh RITZ-CARLTON OPENS WITH A SPLASH 01/19/2004 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 2004, The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, January 19, 2004 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business Monday PAGE: 5G LENGTH: 56 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: Franz Ferschke and Alice Kanavos with Paul and Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos (a) , a charm featuring a cruise ship (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: The Herald staff MEMO: SUNSHINE BRIEFS RITZ-CARLTON OPENS WITH A SPLASH The much-delayed Ritz-Carlton in Miami Beach finally cut the ribbon last Wednesday with a synchronized-swimming display that recalled the days of Esther Williams. The opening capped a five-year, $200-million renovation at the former DiLido hotel, designed by Morris Lapidus in 1953. The Ritz-Carlton, which opened to the public Dec. 31, features a sleek, modern style that fits with its 1 Lincoln Road address. William Marriott Jr., chairman and CEO of Marriott International, parent company of Ritz-Carlton, said the hotel reflects a trend in Ritz-Carlton of designing new hotels that fit with their settings, rather than sticking with the traditional Newport-style Ritz-Carlton design. On hand were Marriott; Simon Cooper, president and COO of Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. ; Alfred Lowenstein, who owned the hotel before its conversion and is principal owner of Lionstone Hotels and Resorts, and his partner, Paul Kanavos, principal owner of Flag Luxury Properties. - JANE WOOLDRIDGE 20 of 294, 20 Terms mh NEW RITZ-CARLTON SEEKS TO HIRE HUNDREDS 10/30/2003 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 2003, The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, October 30, 2003 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business PAGE: 3C LENGTH: 55 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY D.E. LeGER, dleger@herald.com NEW RITZ-CARLTON SEEKS TO HIRE HUNDREDS For the past decade, Enrique Martinez has bounced around local restaurants, working as a short-order cook or waiter. Now with his third child on the way, the Little Havana man wants to move up to a classier hospitality job. He joined 1,500 people Wednesday at the Miami Beach Convention Center applying for 625 openings at the new Ritz-Carlton South Beach. The job fair continues through Friday. The Ritz-Carlton South Beach, set to open Dec. 11, will feature a 13, 000 square-foot spa, 20,000 square feet of meeting and conference facilities and 375 rooms designed to look like the staterooms of a luxury yacht. To keep it ship shape, it needs hundreds of workers to fill jobs from valets, maids, and doormen to department heads and supervisors. Greg Merrick, the hotel's human-resources director, said wages range from $8.50 an hour to $85,000 a year. On average, Ritz-Carlton only hires 6 percent of applicants. Franz Ferschke, the general manager, said Ritz-Carlton, which also has South Florida hotels in Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne and Palm Beach County, has "extremely high" expectations for the new South Beach hotel. Located at Collins Avenue and and Lincoln Road in a restored 1950s oceanfront art moderne hotel, the Ritz-Carlton South Beach will charge $299 to $3,500 per night. Ferschke expects more than 6,000 applicants during the four-day job fair. Crayons and paper were supplied to amuse kids accompanying their parents. Prissila Vargas of Miami hopes the new hotel will be the right place for her to break into the hotel industry. "I have no experience, " said the 18-year-old who is looking for a part-time job she can hold when she begins attending Johnson & Wales University in December. Applicants learn whether they won a job on the spot after completing various phases of the interview process. It starts with a pre-interview. Those who pass that hurdle go on to an in-depth interview followed by a drug test. On Wednesday, Martinez disappeared into one of the interview rooms and there was no word on whether he was one of the lucky ones who landed a job. The most important thing is for an applicant to project a winning personality throughout the day, Merrick said. "We can teach skills, " he said. "The key is for people to remember we're in the service business. We're looking for people who enjoy serving other people. " ABOUT THE JOB FAIR * What: To fill 625 job openings at the Ritz-Carlton South Beach hotel scheduled to open Dec. 11 on the corner of Lincoln Road and Collins Avenue. * Where: Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach. * When: Today from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. * What To Bring: Valid identification. • KEYWORDS: TAG: 0310310297 40 of 294, 20 Terms mh A TOAST TO RITZ-CARLTON 07/25/2001 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 2001, The Miami Herald DATE: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 EDITION: Final SECTION: Living PAGE: 6E LENGTH: 103 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: GB Hotel partners Karim Alibhai, Douglas Weiser and Sherwood Weiser, and Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne general manager, John Cottrill (n) , Margarete Bronhard, Gaucho Room chef Frank Randazzo, Donna Peyton and Gregory Campbell (n) , Linda Zilber, Ronald Schieb, Alice Fisher, Wally McMurray, Judy Sorota, Erin Berg and Rosary Martinez at Calder (n) , Prince Harry, Prince Charles and Melissa Ganzi (n) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY STEPHANIE SAYFIE AAGAARD, Special to The Herald MEMO: STEPH SEZ A TOAST TO RITZ-CARLTON Get ready, South Florida - the Ritz-Carlton has arrived. More than 300 guests celebrated at the grand opening of the Ritz-Carlton, Key Biscayne - the first of three Ritz-Carlton's planned for the area (hotels in South Beach and Coconut Grove will open soon) . Sherwood Weiser, Karim Alibhai and Douglas Weiser, who make up GB Hotel Partners, owners of the Key Biscayne hotel, joined general manager John Cottrill in presiding over the kickoff ceremony for this new hotel. "In 1915, Key Biscayne was a coconut plantation and we wanted to pay tribute to the island history with a coconut champagne pour (champagne was poured over hundreds of coconut shells in a 12-foot pyramid) , " Cottrill said. "This hotel will be a great corporate citizen not only to the Key Biscayne but to the city of Miami. " Reminiscing on the work put into this resort, "here we are 19 years later opening what I consider to be Miami's first five-star resort on a great beach on a great island, Key Biscayne, " Weiser said. The oceanfront resort and spa is decorated with a West Indies Colonial design and features 402 guest rooms and suites as well as a 20, 000 square-foot spa. One Ritz-Carlton signature treatment is the Fountain of Youth Ocean Balance, where guests can get relaxing therapy while floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Others at the event included Kamal Farah, Craig and B.J. Spencer, and Tina and Dan Carlo, who enjoyed a divine feast of delectable delicacies. As guests exited the event, they were given gifts of coconut macaroons created to commemorate the resort.