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1615-16 Various Miami Beach * Published rates are $200-$385 but will vary. KEYWORDS: PROFILE STATISTIC COST CUTLINES HARLES TRAINOR, JR. / HERALD STAFF TREE TOP: A PALM IS PLACED ON THE ROOFTOP OF THE LOEWS HOTEL UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN MIAMI BEACH. TAG: 9710311133 4 of 24 , 35 Terms mh97 BEACH ORDERS LIMITS TO BUILDING HEIGHTS 10/09/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997 , The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 48 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: By RICK JERVIS Herald Staff Writer BEACH ORDERS LIMITS TO BUILDING HEIGHTS p Towering condo buildings and soaring hotels may no longer be a threat to Miami Beach' s skyline. In the midst of a strong anti-development sentiment sweeping the city, Beach commissioners Wednesday unanimously passed an ordinance that slaps height limits on new buildings. The law mandates different limits for different areas of the city. Under it, no new building would rise higher than 400 feet, or about 44 stories -- almost as tall as the Blue Diamond and Green Diamond buildings on Collins Avenue in mid-Beach. The maximum only will be allowed on lots over 200, 000 square feet -- and only in three areas of the Beach. The law also puts height restrictions in areas that had none. Buildings along Indian Creek Drive, for example, will be capped with a 100-foot height limit. Previously, the sky was the limit. "There is still more work to be done, " said Commissioner Neisen Kasdin, who initiated the ordinance and is running for mayor in November. "But we've made a significant accomplishment in lowering heights around the city. " Miami Beach had height limits in its zoning laws from the 1930s to 1971, when city leaders liberalized the laws to invite development, said Dean Grandin, the city' s planning director. A new zoning law was passed in 1989, but it only included height restrictions for portions of the Beach. The new law represents the greatest citywide height limits to date. Developers at Wednesday' s meeting balked, saying the new restrictions infringe on their rights and would botch their projects, especially those planned near the convention center. Buildings in that area -- a central zone near Lincoln Road and the new Loews Hotel -- would be limited to 100 feet, or about 11 stories tall. Before, the area had no height limits. This proposal will stop our project and others like it, " said Jeff Berkow, an attorney representing an unnamed developer planning twin 20-story office buildings in the convention center area. "There ' s a very large entertainment industry that would like to relocate here, but there is no class-A office space, " Berkow said. Commissioner Nancy Liebman, however, said the city shouldn't fiddle with the law for the whim of developers. "To increase height in that area goes against the flavor of that district, " she said. "The historical district element in that area is the driving force. " The question remains whether the dozen or so high-rise projects -- which flooded the city' s planning department at first word of the ordinance -- will be exempt. The city attorney will research the issue. TAG: 9710100254 6 of 24 , 5 Terms mh97 PRESERVATION BATTLE RAGES OVER OCEAN DRIVE HOTEL 07/16/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997 , The Miami Herald DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 113 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: Edgewater Beach Hotel (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: RICK JERVIS Herald Staff Writer PRESERVATION BATTLE RAGES OVER OCEAN DRIVE HOTEL To its owners, Miami Beach' s Edgewater Beach Hotel is a decrepit, dangerous structure that should be demolished to make way for a new hotel. To preservationists, it ' s a priceless pearl in the Art Deco necklace, a 1936 gem that should be restored to its original elegance. The destiny of the long-vacant Ocean Drive hotel -- its wood frame rotted by exposure to the elements -- will be determined in Circuit Court. It ' s a familiar drama in Miami Beach, where for two decades preservationists have wrangled with developers to save the city' s signature skyline. But as time and neglect eat away at some of the buildings in the historic Art Deco district, the recurring question is : When to raze, and when to save? The answer is increasingly more difficult to come by. In its zeal to preserve its past, the city' s tangle of regulations, review boards and restrictions is intimidating some developers eyeing the neighborhood. Then there is the cost of a delicate restoration project, often more expensive than building from scratch. " It ' s very, very difficult to do business on the Beach, " said Craig Robins, president of Dacra Development, which renovated the Marlin and Leslie hotels, as well as Espanola Way. ' The Beach has gotten so overbearing in its regulations, enforcement and process that it ' s frustrating and hard to work here. " The result, some say, is "demolition by neglect " -- the term used in preservation circles when a property is allowed to deteriorate until it must be demolished. " It is a very real issue, " said John Hildreth, acting director for the southern regional office of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "There are a myriad reasons why that happens, and different communities are taking different approaches to try to solve that problem. " For more than a decade, the Edgewater sat vacant, slowly deteriorating. The hotel ' s owners, 1401 Ocean Drive Inc. , bought the three-story hotel in May for $2 . 65 million. Engineers hired by the company deemed it unsafe. City building officials agreed but then refused to issue a demolition permit when the city' s historic preservation department decreed the Edgewater should be saved. The hotel ' s owners took the city to court, and last week the Miami Design Preservation League jumped into the fray with its own lawyer. On July 9, Circuit Judge Murray Goldman set the hearing for Aug. 11 . The Edgewater strife comes at an alarming time for preservationists. According to a University of Miami survey released last month, as many as 10 percent of the important buildings have been destroyed since the Beach' s Art Deco district was named to the National Register of Historic Places 18 years ago. Preservationists say the Edgewater, which stands in the middle of the Art Deco historic district, is an important part of the city' s history. It' s one of only two Mediterranean-revival style buildings on Ocean Drive. The other is the old Amsterdam Palace, the home of designer Gianni Versace, who was shot to death there Tuesday. The original facade sits intact, hidden behind a seven-foot-deep, green-and-white aluminum facade added in 1959, said William Cary, the city' s historic preservation coordinator. The Edgewater was designed by Roy France, architect of the St. Moritz on Collins Avenue, which will be preserved as the centerpiece for the Loews hotel, and the old Arthur Murray Dance Studio on Lincoln Road, now home to Yuca Restaurant. In its heyday, the Edgewater welcomed visitors through an elegant arched entrance and was topped with bell towers. Once the facade is removed, you ' ll see one of the most spectacular Mediterranean-revival facades in the city, " Cary said. The new owners hope to raze the structure and build a new five-story, 52-room hotel. An independent engineering firm hired by the city said the building could be saved by reinforcing it, then renovating it -- although it will likely cost more than demolishing it and starting from scratch. Cary and others say demolishing the Edgewater will open the way for other developers who buy structures deemed unsafe with the intent to demolish, thus skirting the city ' s strict preservation laws. To renovate or build within one of the city' s three historic districts -- Ocean Beach, Art Deco or Harding Township -- developers must submit plans to the city' s Design Review Board, gain approval from the Historic Preservation Board, and draw their plans within stringent height and style restrictions. Rather than deal with the costs and rigors of renovation, some property owners opt for demolition, Robins said. " It ' s not purely a cost issue, " he said. "The fear of having to deal with some of these boards is so great that the developers are driven to demolish rather than renovate. " Many times, architects go through the process two or three times before their plans are approved, driving up costs. In October, plans for a McDonald' s on Alton Road had to be scrapped three times before gaining approval by the city' s design board. But it ' s the Art Deco facades and stylish lobbies that draw people to Miami Beach, and the rules are intended to keep it that way, preservationists said. Developers on the Beach have learned to creatively weave the new with the old. A parking lot under construction to accommodate the upcoming Loews convention hotel will be built behind the front lobby and facades of the historic Anchor Hotel and Justice of the Peace apartment building on Washington Avenue. The new Michael Graves condominium and retail complex on Collins Avenue will be built behind the Art Deco Bancroft Hotel. At today' s City Commission meeting, a new amendment will be proposed to the city' s Historic Preservation Ordinance mandating more frequent inspections of vacant buildings in historic districts. Currently, the city' s historic preservation ordinance states that owners of a vacant building within a historic district " 'shall provide sufficient maintenance and upkeep to ensure its perpetuation and to prevent its deterioration. " Cary said the proposed amendment would discourage property owners from letting their structures purposely deteriorate. And add another layer of regulations to the zoning code. " It sometimes makes things more difficult, " said Ari Sklar, owner of a Miami Beach architectural firm who has renovated Art Deco buildings in the district. "But the thing that made Miami Beach so famous is that they saved all the old buildings . You have to respect that. " CAPTION: HERNAN REYES / Herald Staff HIDDEN GEM: Behind ugly ' 50s facade, original Edgewater Beach Hotel has been deteriorating. KEYWORDS: ART DECO TAG: 9707180182 11 of 24, 12 Terms mh97 BEACH REGULATES WHEN BUILDERS CAN MAKE NOISE 07/06/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997 , The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, July 6, 1997 EDITION: Final I SECTION: Neighbors MB g PAGE: 7 LENGTH: 27 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: RICK JERVIS Herald Staff Writer BEACH REGULATES WHEN BUILDERS CAN MAKE NOISE Adding a rec room to your home? Renovating your condo? Make sure you do it at a reasonable hour. Miami Beach Commissioners on Wednesday passed an ordinance regulating the time of home construction to try to bring some peace and quiet to neighborhoods. Under the new law, construction can take place in single-family home neighborhoods between 7 : 30 a.m. and 6: 30 p.m. In multifamily areas, such as apartments and condominiums, the construction hours are between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturdays, and no construction will be permitted on Sundays or national holidays. The ordinance was created after residents around the Bayshore Golf Course complained of early-morning and late-night hammering, drilling and rumbling concrete trucks. The law was spread to condominium neighborhoods to appease residents complaining of condo conversion construction, Commissioner Nancy Liebman said. The Collins Avenue corridor near 17th Street was spared from the ordinance to allow the new Loews Hotel to be completed on time. —The neighborhoods need peace and quiet, " Liebman said. —We have enough distractions in this community. We don' t need any more. " TAG: 9707090391 12 of 24 , 3 Terms mh97 HIGH-END RISK FOR AN ART DECO GEM 04/21/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997 , The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, April 21, 1997 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business Monday PAGE: 7BM LENGTH: 179 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: Hans Krause and his wife Ursula inspect the renovation work at the National (a) , National Hotel (a) ; chart: Daily Room Rates; photo: NATIONAL HOTEL SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: DALE K. DuPONT Herald Business Writer MEMO: HOTELS HIGH-END RISK FOR AN ART DECO GEM Amid the scaffolding, hammering, sawing and dust, Hans Krause presides over the reconstruction of an Art Deco gem. The landscaping is in. The narrow 200-foot-long pool is shimmering. The simply furnished rooms are taking shape. And Krause promises the National Hotel will be ready to open and make its mark on South Beach May 1 . Krause, a German tourism entrepreneur, is one of a group of buyers paying more for landmark properties, spending more on renovations and betting that higher room rates will hold because of unparalleled locations. Krause knows the area. He ' s been bringing in tour groups since the 1980s. Next door to the superchic Delano Hotel on the 1600 block of Collins Avenue, The National is 15 blocks and a league away from another hotel, the old Sea Isle, that he bought and overhauled in 1991 . The Bonn businessman insists he ' s not trying to copy the Delano. "What he has there is unique, " Krause said. "We just happen to be neighbors. We are going to create a very different style " -- first-class, classic and maybe a bit old-fashioned. This new breed of developers differs from the risk-takers who moved into South Beach a decade or more ago, before the district had caught on. But there are still risks. High-end risks With rates higher than at Krause ' s other resort, the National is looking at a different market. He ' ll have to make a name for himself with the multi-million dollar makeover. The National might be able to count on spillover from the new 800-room Loews convention hotel due to open nearby in the fall of 1998 . But there ' s no guarantee of overflow from the Delano. Part of its appeal is the owner: Manhattan trendsetter, Studio 54 disco co-owner and now boutique hotelier Ian Schrager. A spokesman for Schrager said he did not want to comment on Krause ' s project. Industry analysts are cautious about whether Krause can duplicate the influential Schrager' s success and wonder how substantial the basic Art Deco business is. On the other hand, there ' s more investment interest because Schrager has outperformed every projection, said Chase Burritt, managing director of hospitality services for Ernst & Young Kenneth Leventhal in Miami. Tourism executives and brokers point to Krause ' s success in transforming the old Sea Isle resort at 30th and Collins Avenue, now the Miami Beach Ocean Resort. - -He has his finger on the German travel market, " said a Miami hotel broker, Sheldon Greene. "He filled that place up. " Knowing the market The 245-room resort has been 92 percent full over the last two years, Krause said. After the German tourist slayings in Florida several years ago hurt the state ' s tourism industry, Krause brought in the best sales force he could find and sent them to South America. " I was forced to do the right thing, to get a better market mix, " he said. The success of the resort convinced him they could sell even more here. So he started looking for property nearby. Then he heard about the National. He loved the building. - - I saw a landmark. I hope I 'm right, " said Krause, who purchased the property for $9 million last year and will spend at least another $5 million to redo it. " It was a nightmare to get financing on the Miami Beach Ocean Resort, " he said. This time he didn't bother trying. - -It' s a cash investment for our family. " The target market differs from that of his other hotel. He ' ll go after the entertainment industry, corporate business and the upper end of the tourism Itrade. He sees limousines, not tour buses, pulling up out front. If he handles the National as well as his other resort, "He ' ll have another winner, " Greene said. He won' t slap a brand name on the hotel, which was built in 1940. And he will manage and market it himself. His rates are lower than at the Delano, which quotes $395 for an ocean view and $320 for a city view in high season, and in the samerange with some other spiffy Deco properties. "We haven' t reached the ceiling yet for what we can get for these rooms, " said Jeff Cohen, of Real Estate Enterprises. There ' s no formula for purchase prices either, Greene said. "Every deal has to be looked at separately. " Prices vary widely by property. As for payback on investment, industry experts give this rule of thumb for a 10 to 12 percent return: If you spend $100, 000 a room for acquisition and renovation, you need to get $100 a night with 60 to 70 percent occupancy. Analysts point out that typical hotel investors look for returns in 18 months or less, but Krause, 57, said he doesn't expect a return for five years. "My intention is not to go in, do something and sell it, " Krause said. Upper-end properties may be in demand, said Burritt, but he doesn' t know how many the market can support. Others are testing it, too. The Rubell family, once associated with Schrager in Manhattan, is running the Albion Hotel, a 1939 Art Deco building. It sits two blocks from the ocean, the Delano and the National. The family bought the 120-room hotel for a reported $5 .2 million. Another group of investors plans to build a $30 million, 242-room oceanfront luxury hotel near the southern tip of South Beach. The 10-story project will preserve the historic Century Beach Club hotel on Ocean Drive. Asking prices are raising some eyebrows. "What I ran across was a lot of people looking, but a lot of people balking because of the prices, " said Rick Besse, one of several Dallas-based investors who just bought the Essex. Lots of fixing-up needed Many of the hotels on the market need renovation -- and not just paint and caulk, he said -- " for the long-term health of South Beach. " The Essex had been on the market for several years for $4 million, said Cohen, who handled the deal. Besse got it for $3 .8 million and plans to renovate the 67-room property and turn adjoining apartments into 18 luxury suites. In-season rates will range from $150 for rooms to $200 for suites. Hotels that were going for $600, 000 to $700, 000 about 10 years ago might bring $4 million today, brokers say. Most of the sellers are the risk-takers of a decade ago, said Besse, who' s aggressively looking for other properties in an area he says " simply cannot be duplicated. " - -All of these things are somewhat risky. Even Schrager' s deal would be considered risky, " Burritt said. Schrager paid $4 million for the dilapidated 238-room Delano in 1993 and spent $22 million on the renovation. "The only way you get the upper level is to create the ambience that would support the upper level, " Burritt said. Restoring the luster That ' s what Krause is trying to do. With original blueprints in hand, he and his wife, Ursula, are recreating much of the original feel of the National and adding features of their own, including a restaurant, a lounge for high tea, a small business center and minibars and safes in the rooms. The National ' s 165 employees are being recruited now and going through three extensive interviews. Redoing a historic building took a lot longer than anticipated, given all the rules and regulations. Krause originally hoped to open by Christmas. Now, he gets to kick off the traditionally slow summer season. ' 'So this is a challenge, " he said. Krause has a reputation for keeping close tabs on all of his businesses, which have ranged from tour companies to a mailing house to hotels, and for seeing potential in places like the Sea Isle. Former partner Ray Friedheim, who runs Specialized Travel Systems in North Miami, recalled how they acquired the Sea Isle property. They were bringing in thousands of German tourists and weren't thrilled with the hotels between budget class and first class. So they started looking for something to buy. When Friedheim found the Sea Isle, he called Krause. But Friedheim warned him, "You have to imagine what you can do with it. It looked like a bomb hit it. " The Art Deco-style building had been closed for six years. "He came, he saw, he liked it, " Friedheim said. They acquired the hotel for $4 million. Krause estimates the total investment at $16 million. Partners no more Krause bought out Friedheim' s 10 percent stake last year. The two are still good friends . Friedheim said the National ' 'is the best thing that can happen to Miami Beach. The man knows his business . He ' s very meticulous in his planning. " What drives him? " 'Making money and pride, " Friedheim said. The Eden Roc ' s general manager, Michael Furcht, who has worked with Krause, said he has the right ingredients for the National project: "He understands the destination, he understands the business, and he understands how to make clients happy. " noweb DAILY ROOM RATES At the National Hotel -- as at other Florida hotels -- the time of year determines the price you pay: April-Sept. Oct.-Dec. 19 Dec. 20-April City view $180 $200 $225 Oceanfront $220 $245 $285 Palm garden $245 $280 $345 Tower suite $440 $490 $570 noweb THE NATIONAL Built in 1940, the 160-room hotel has had three owners in the last nine years : * 1988 : Taha Awad Jalal Amin Angel bought it for $3 million. * 1993 : National Hotel Corp. , whose president is Donelson C. Glassie, paid $4 million. * 1996 : Hans and Ursula Krause bought the 11-story landmark for $9 million. cutlines CHUCK FADELY / Herald Staff GRAND DESIGNS: Hans Krause and his wife, Ursula, inspect the renovation work underway at the National, which Krause recently acquired for about $9 million. He also owns the Miami Beach Ocean Resort. CHUCK FADELY / Herald Staff National Hotel Herald file WAR BABY: The National was built in 1940, at the beginning of World War II; here is how it looked seven years later. Its current renovation, costing $5 million, will take the National into the ranks of South Beach' s most upscale hotels. KEYWORDS: PROFILE NATIONAL STATISTIC MB TAG: 9704240137 15 of 24, 9 Terms mh97 CURRENT PROJECTS: 03/17/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997 , The Miami Herald 7 DATE: Monday, March 17, 1997 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business Monday PAGE: 25BM LENGTH: 40 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: Herald Staff MEMO: COVER STORY CURRENT PROJECTS: FROM DEVELOPING TO LEASING, MANAGING Some of the Codina Group' s recent deals, contracts and prospective projects have included: * Republic National Bank -- Codina recently completed a 150,000-square-foot headquarters for the bank in Coral Gables. In the type of profitable corporate synergy which Codina has perfected, his company will lease and manage the property. * Blue Cross/Blue Shield South Florida headquarters -- Codina bought land from Ryder Corp. in West Dade and developed a 152, 000-square-foot tower for the insurer; he then sold the building to Prudential Life, which hired Codina Group' s property management division to oversee the building. * Convention hotel -- Through his relationship with the Tisch family, Codina is co-developing and building a $135 million convention hotel for Loew' s Corp. , the first such project on Miami Beach in 30 years. The Tisches own Loew' s. * Blue Lagoon office park -- In a deal with AMB Institutional Realty Advisors, Codina brokered its recent sale. AMB, of San Francisco, has hired him to manage the property, near Miami International Airport. * Florida Schoolhouse Developers -- In one of his first endeavors with public projects, Codina is part of a joint venture to develop schools. The group, which includes former Dade County Manager Joaquin Avino, has started slowly, deciding not to bid on a proposed high school in South Dade and coming in third on a bid for an elementary school. It plans to bid on another elementary school in Dade. —We 'd like to get our feet wet and stay close to home, " said Rafael Rodon, president of Codina Rodon Consulting. KEYWORDS: PROFILE STATISTIC CODINA TAG: 9703220144 17 of 24 , 4 Terms mh97 BLACK-OWNED HOTEL CELEBRATED 03/06/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997 , The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, March 6, 1997 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: R. Donahue Peebles (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: By CONNIE PRATER Herald Staff Writer BLACK-OWNED HOTEL CELEBRATED Crossing the first major hurdle for construction of what would be the nation' s largest African American-owned convention hotel, developer R. Donahue Peebles and city of Miami Beach officials Wednesday signed a pact for a mmommw public-private deal to build a 425-room hotel complex on Collins Avenue. Miami Beach Mayor Seymour Gelber and Dade black activists who led the tourism boycott are touting the agreement as a major accomplishment for Miami Beach and Dade County. " I take pride in the fact that this city has played a major role by what is happening today, " Gelber said Wednesday before a celebration luncheon toasting the signing of the contract, which was approved by a 5-1 commission vote. Along with Peebles and his partners, several prominent Dade County black activists and business leaders attended the commission meeting to witness the formal signing of the hotel pact -- one of the key points that led to the end of Dade ' s three-year black tourism boycott in 1993 . "Today is a milestone for Greater Miami. . . . This is a dream that the black community has had for many years, " boycott leader and Miami attorney H.T. Smith declared in a statement read during the meeting. Smith was in court and couldn't attend the signing. Longtime Miami activist M. Athalie Range, another witness, said the hotel is a concrete accomplishment for those who participated in the boycott. "We felt we needed something that we could look at as a true monument -- something you could put your hands on and know this is the outcome, " Range said. Wednesday' s signing of the letter of intent between the city and Peebles doesn' t seal the $60 million project. Still to come: the nuts and bolts development agreement, which spells out the terms of the pact in even more detail. Opening December 1998 If all goes as planned, the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort hotel will rise in the 1500 block of Collins Avenue. The plans, which were approved in December by the city' s design and development boards, call for one Art Deco-style building with two wings. Each wing would retain the original facade of the existing Royal Palm and Shorecrest hotels. The Royal Palm portion would have 258 rooms, as well as convention, conference and meeting facilities. The Shorecrest wing would have 167 suites. The expected opening date: December 1998, just in time for the 1999 Super Bowl the following month. Peebles says he hopes to begin construction by June 1 . The Royal Palm will be 100 percent black-owned. The hotel pact includes a clause required by the city that at least 25 percent of the hotel ' s management personnel and supervisory staff must be African-American. Peebles said Wednesday the minority hiring component was "the easiest part " of the city deal . "We plan to exceed that and have a target of 50 percent or better, " he said. The inclusion policy will extend to construction subcontractors as well, Peebles said. Restaurants The Beach hotel also will feature Hamps Restaurant, owned by jazz great Lionel Hampton. Peebles said he ' s also hoping to sign a Motown Cafe, the New York-based soul-food Motown theme restaurant, although that deal hasn't been finalized. Peebles and his partners won the bid to build the hotel in June 1996, after the first black hotel developer chosen by the city in 1995 couldn't get financing. After Peebles stepped in, negotiations have lagged for nine months, in part because Peebles and the owners of the Shorecrest hotel land were disputing the value of the parcel. Under the original plan, Peebles was to have purchased the Shorecrest. But in a concession to move the deal along and allay city concerns about protecting its investment, Peebles agreed to let the city buy the land instead. According to the agreement, the city' s original $10 million incentive package will remain the same. The city capped its portion of the Shorecrest purchase price at $4 .5 million -- the amount of the $10 million remaining after the city bought the oyal Palm for $5 .5 million. Peebles and his partners must pay the difference between the city' s share and the estimated $5 .5 million purchase price of the Shorecrest. In the end, the city of Miami Beach will own all the hotel land and lease it to Peebles for at least $490, 000 a year. If the hotel is successful, rent payments could rise to $600, 000 annually. The Royal Crowne hotel pact is similar to the one the city negotiated with Loews Hotels, which is currently constructing an 830-room convention hotel adjacent to the Royal Palm and Shorecrest hotel lots. Completion of the Loews and Royal Crowne hotels -- a combined 1,200-room capacity -- will help the city attract large conventions and meetings to the Miami Beach Convention Center, city officials say. Peebles is the same developer who last week gained approval from the Broward County Commission to build a 500-room convention hotel in Fort Lauderdale with a consortium of partners that include the National Baptist Convention USA and Crowne Plaza Hotels. TAG: 9703070418 19 of 24 , 12 Terms mh97 BEACH TO UNDERGO 02/27/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997 , The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, February 27, 1997 EDITION: Final SECTION: Neighbors MB PAGE: 6 LENGTH: 20 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: Herald Staff BEACH TO UNDERGO 2 YEARS OF REPAIRS This week will mark the beginning of two years of heavy construction in Miami Beach, mostly between 14th and 17th streets along Collins Avenue. Set to start right away is the installation of new manholes and electric ducts along the east side of Collins, followed in May with a $59 million plan to replace water and sewer pipes. Other construction includes a parking garage on 16th Street and four new developments: Loews Miami Beach Hotel, Il Villagio, 1500 Ocean Drive and the Royal Crowne Plaza Resort. Other planned improvements include extending 16th Street between Washington and Collins avenues, road resurfacing and more landscaping. KEYWORDS: MIAMI BEACH CONSTRUCTION TAG: 9702280216 21 of 24 , 7 Terms mh97 TOURISM 01/20/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997 , The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, January 20, 1997 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business Monday PAGE: 21BM LENGTH: 116 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: view of South Beach (a) ; chart: Dade Visitors in Millions, Florida Visitors in Millions, Broward visitors in Millions, Monroe revenues from tourist tax SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: DALE K. DuPONT Herald Business Writer MEMO: FLORIDA' S ECONOMY OUTLOOK 97; TOURISM TOURISM INDUSTRY IS THRIVING -- BUT KNOWS HOW QUICKLY OUTLOOK CAN SOUR Tourism executives have worked hard the last few years drumming up good publicity at home and abroad. The aggressive marketing combined with strong economies elsewhere has paid off, with record numbers of visitors to South Florida. The challenge is keeping up the momentum -- and making sure visitors are satisfied, with everything from rooms to taxis. Hotel companies are snapping up and renovating properties. But few are building. Occupancy and room rates have been rising as the glut of rooms dries up. "I 'm optimistic we can maintain the numbers we've experienced now for two years. I think we ' re on a roll, " said Merrett Stierheim, president of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. "I don't think we 've hit the top yet, " said Nicki Grossman, head of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. But the enthusiasm is tempered by memories of how quickly things can change for South Florida ' s No. 1 industry. And of how much image counts. Stierheim has one nagging concern: Miami ' s financial crisis and what promise to be widely publicized attempts to dissolve the city. - -Right now, that ' s the only negative I see on the horizon, " said Stierheim, who spent several months last year as interim city manager, trying to help straighten out the mess. Publicity campaigns are under way to differentiate the city from the beaches and the rest of Dade and to point out that the county operates both the airport and seaport. Tourism officials hope the push will work as well as the last several years ' worth of aggressive marketing by South Florida and the state, which helped revive an industry devastated by a series of tourist murders. - -We can't let our guard down, " said Scott Berman, director of Coopers & Lybrand' s hospitality consulting group, in Miami. "We really have enjoyed a nice two-year recovery and renaissance. There ' s no reason to think 1997 isn't going to be a terrific year for the tourism industry in South Florida. " Both he and Chase Burritt, managing director of hospitality services for Ernst & Young Kenneth Leventhal, cite a need for more quality hotels. Grossman agrees. "Most of our challenges are related to growth in the industry, " she said. "We need more four-star properties in Broward County. You need to give [hoteliers] a reason to make their money here, " she said. One incentive is the growing number of visitors. " I think the Marriott time-share will be seen as a beacon for new development, " she said of Beach Place, a massive new restaurant, retail and residential project on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Burritt warns that hotel rooms will be in short supply, especially full-service lodgings for business travelers who book at the last minute. Leisure travelers can expect an 8 to 10 percent rate increase. The problem is not unique to Miami, he said: - "The watchword is get your bookings early. " Few new hotels are being built, and leisure travel is up. "We went so far the other way in the late ' 80s and early ' 90s " -- with overbuilding and record losses -- that ' s nobody' s building now. Lenders remain skittish, Burritt said. Pointing to the new, 800-room Loews Hotel in Miami Beach, Marc Kopelman, senior consulting manager at Ernst & Young Kenneth Leventhal ' s real estate group, said, "Public-private partnership will become more the rule than the exception for full-service hotels, especially those servicing convention centers . " Loews broke ground last year on a $135 million luxury hotel that tourism officials are counting on to boost convention business. Miami Beach is providing $50 million in incentives. Broward, too, is trying to lure a convention hotel to prime county land on 17th Street in Fort Lauderdale. "The land cost and the amenities run the price up, " Kopelman said. " It doesn't justify private investment, because the returns don't pencil out. " But that, too, may be changing. "Five years ago, there were probably less than a dozen publicly traded leisure companies, " Berman said. Now, there are close to 40 . "With the equity markets quite strong, there' s been a viable source of capital, mainly to buy hotels. A number of these companies are looking to South Florida to increase their portfolio. " Florida is back in favor. The industry -- particularly the hotel segment -- is reporting record profits, "and that sends a signal to the investment community, " Berman said. Leading tourism towns like Las Vegas and Orlando each have about 90, 000 hotel rooms, compared to Dade and Broward, which have a total of about 65, 000. Still, tourists keep coming to South Florida. "The numbers coming out of Latin America are very, very impressive, " Berman said. About half of Dade ' s visitors and a fifth of Broward' s are from abroad. Thanks to new scheduled and chartered service, Miami International Airport expects a 7 percent increase in international visitors this year, after a 1 percent increase last year. The airport already has seen a record 30, 000 international passengers a day in January. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport anticipates a 5 to 7 percent growth in international traffic this year, after 9 percent growth through November of last year. But early in the year, everyone is keeping a close eye on domestic aviation and the strike threat from pilots at American Airlines, Miami ' s dominant carrier. Any problems could hurt South Florida' s tourism. The Keys don' t depend on Latin American business as much as Dade does, but they count on tourists. Michael Ingram, chairman of the Monroe County Tourist Development Council, said advance bookings throughout the Keys "seem quite good. " Ingram said he doesn't expect a 10 percent increase in bed tax revenue again this year. Like Dade and Broward, the Keys draw a lot from the East Coast and Great Lakes areas, but they also are attracting more visitors from major Texas cities like Dallas and Houston, Ingram said. The Keys also look to neighboring counties to fill in soft spots in bookings, counting especially on folks longing for a weekend retreat. Herald business writer Cindy Krischer Goodman contributed to this report. cutlines CHUCK FADELY / Herald Staff TOURIST MAGNET: South Beach -- and other glittering attractions in South Florida -- are drawing record numbers of international and domestic visitors. KEYWORDS: STATISTIC TOURIST MD FLORIDA BRWD MONROE ECONOMY TAG: 9701240138 22 of 24 , 6 Terms Transfer complete. Press [RETURN] to return to Menu: