1628-9 Various Miami Beach II
11 of 18, 1 Terms
• mh04 1951 HOTEL WILL TURN INTO LUXURY CONDOS 02/01/2004
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 2004, The Miami Herald
DATE: Sunday, February 1, 2004 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Neighbors BC PAGE: 3MB LENGTH: 83 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: The Allison Hotel 2pix (A)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY CASEY WOODS, cwoods@herald.com
1951 HOTEL WILL TURN INTO LUXURY CONDOS
Even before it has been fully approved by the Miami Beach City Commission,
the North Beach Resort Historic District is helping to rejuvenate the
1950s-era oceanfront hotels it was designed to protect.
'The Allison Hotel, known as the Comfort Inn in recent years and located at
6261 Collins Ave., will be reborn in 2006 as Cabana, a sleek condominium
development that is being lauded by city planners and preservationists as an
example of how good preservation can work - and how a historic district can be
economically viable.
Although the City Commission has not yet fully approved the district - the
second reading of the ordinance approving it is scheduled to take place-at
Wednesday's commission meeting - the buildings within the district boundaries
have been provisionally protected since August, when the Historic Preservation
Board voted to approve the district. That vote set off the city's "zoning in
progress" rules that prevent demolitions until the issue has been voted on by
the commission.
The district, which runs from 60th to 72nd streets, mostly along the east
side of Collins Avenue, is the first one to target the fanciful Miami Modern,
or MiMo, architectural style prevalent across North Beach.
The developers of the Cabana project say the Allison Hotel - built in 1951
and designed by A. Herbert Mathes - would have been doomed if the preservation
district had not been on line.
"That property has some fairly aggressive building rights, and we could
have built a sizable building there, " said Ronald Bloomberg, a principle of
BSG Development, Cabana's developers. "If we could have developed new, we
would have.;torn it down, but the district prevented that. " •
BSG sought out the property with the idea of providing, a beach club for its
other two developments in North Beach, 6000 Indian Creek and the Terra
Beachside Villas.
The company entered into a contract to buy the Allison last summer. It
plans to close the deal in March, $loomberg said.
Bloomberg's design partners in BSG, Charles Seiger and Jose Suarez, are
well-known for their massive high-rises, like the Murano and the Portofino
Tower. Cabana is their first foray into designing a historic preservation
project in Miami Beach, Seiger said. "This project is interesting because the
MiMo architecture is really the first kind of modernism in buildings, and we
still use modernism, ' ! he said. "So what we're doing is picking up on the old
modern and putting the new modern with it. "
Bloomberg brought in Teri D'Amico, a designer who helped spearhead the
movement to save MiMo architecture, to consult on the historic preservation
issues and to help design the interiors of the condominiums.
The concept of the project is a beach retreat, made up of 210 luxuriously
furnished studios of 525 square feet or less. It is designed for
out-of-towners or area residents who want a turnkey pad in Miami Beach, but
don't want to pay millions for it. The studios start at $200,000, and since
they went on the market two months ago, 40 percent have already sold.
• The planned renovation to the building will add two floors, extend the
building in the rear, and add balconies.
It will also raise the pool deck and disguise two floors of parking
underneath, avoiding the monolithic concrete parking garages common in
high-rises across the city.
"One of the design's major successes is the way they did the parking,
because it doesn't ruin anyone's view and is beautiful from the ocean side, "
D'Amico said. "Because they're hidden behind the dunes, there are so few
pools in the city that actually have an ocean view. "
The construction is slated to begin in July, Bloomberg said, and will be
finished by early 2006.
City historic preservation officials and members of the historic
preservation board lauded the project as an example of the possibilities for
the historic district.
"The design of that project is a smart, well-thought-out plan that should
be ,an example for others, " said Colleen Martin, who was a member of the
historic preservation board when it approved plans for the Cabana project in
December. "I hope it will be a catalyst for other projects in the area,
because the possibility for creativity in restoring that district is so
immense. "
CAPTION: ABOUT TO CHANGE: The Allison Hotel at 6261 Collins Ave. will be
reborn in 2006 as the Cabana, a condominium project with 210 studio apartments
of 525 square feet or less.
NURI VALLBONA/HERALD STAFF RENOVATED: The lobby of the Allison has been
renovated. Its new owners are preserving the building, thanks in part to the
pending North Beach Resort Historic District.
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