1675-4 Sagamore ❑ mh02 A SOUTH BEACH VISION: BOUTIQUE AND CHIC 12/16/2002
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 2002, The Miami Herald
DATE: Monday, December 16, 2002 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Business Monday PAGE: 7G LENGTH: 116 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Jason Pomeranc (a)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY CARA BUCKLEY, cbuckley@herald.com
MEMO: Checking In: Travel and entertainment
A SOUTH BEACH VISION: BOUTIQUE AND CHIC
Jason Pomeranc was 6 years old when New York's Studio 54 nightclub opened.
He was 13 when the club's masterminds, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, opened
their first boutique hotel.
Today, Pomeranc, 31 and a frontman for the new team managing the arty
Sagamore hotel, is stepping up to challenge Schrager's reign as the prince of
South Beach boutique cool.
"My crowd is not here yet, " he says. "They're in St. Barth's, Aspen.
They decided to stop coming [to Miami] a couple of years ago. We're seeking
them out. "
Pomeranc is a relative newbie to the boutique-hotel world, but his run
already smacks of success.
Two Februarys ago, he and his team, Thompson Hotels - which includes his
father and two older brothers - opened the stylish, 100-room 60 Thompson hotel
in Manhattan's Soho.
The hotel's look, billed as 'warm modernism, " and pedigreed restaurant,
run by Jean Marc Houmard of the preen-friendly eateries Indochine and Bond
St. , quickly developed a chic following.
A year later, when Pomeranc was checking out the Winter Music Conference in
Miami Beach, he stayed at the Sagamore, whose museum-quality modern art draws
an in-the-know crowd that has affectionately nicknamed it "the Shagamore. "
Marty Taplin, the hotel's owner, always believed the place could do better.
Dozens of suitors, from major hotel chains to independent boutique owners, had
offered their management skills. But Pomeranc made the best impression.
He was young, fresh and connected. Sixty Thompson boasted good service,
something Taplin feels most boutiques lack. Plus, the hospitality biz was in
the kid's blood; his father, Jack, had opened a dozen or so airport hotels.
A deal was struck. Thompson Hotels bought into the Sagamore - though Taplin
and his wife, Cricket, are still majority owners - and took over its
management this month.
"The Taplins have provided an ideal template; it's in the vein of a
luxurious European resort, " Pomeranc says. ' All it needs now is to be
brought up to date. "
Among the changes afoot: transforming the library into a low-key nighttime
lounge; landscaping embellishments, maybe a lap pool; a restaurant, likely run
by a known restaurateur; and design and lighting touches that temper the
hotel's Spartan feel.
The vibe Pomeranc is going for is casual, knowing, arty, cool, an image he
and his associates work to cultivate. He does business in jeans and an
open-necked shirt. His publicist read Joan Didion's Miami to familiarize
herself with the team's new neighborhood. Last week, during a photo shoot, his
assistant wandered the hotel barefoot, artfully unshaven, a lit cigarette
dangling from his lips.
"The feel should be organic, " Pomeranc says. "The guest shouldn't feel
like they're walking into a preprogrammed environment. "
Speaking of guests, Pomeranc has drummed up a wish list: creative,
intelligent, artistic sophisticates equally at home in London, Prague, New
York, Berlin, with enough pocket change to fork out $400 to $900 for a hotel
room.
He plans to tap the Taplins ' art connections, along with his own. To foster
a following for 60 Thompson, he sent out zippered, hooded sweat shirts to 500
favorite clients, among them shock artist Damien Hirst, actors Jake Gyllenhaal
and Russell Crowe, and Wes Anderson, who directed the films Bottle Rocket and
Rushmore.
These hipsters, he says, rarely alight on Miami Beach now, but he believes
he has the means to draw them in.
"The people who stay at 60 Thompson are tribal in that sense, " he says.
"They're part of the new American Bohemia. "
Sagamore's 'hood, Collins Avenue near 17th Street, has become quite the New
York boys club. Along with Schrager's Delano and the Shore Club, which
Schrager now manages, Andre Balazs, who owns Soho's trendy Mercer hotel, just
bought the Raleigh up the block.
Pomeranc says he is unfazed by the competition. The more hip hotels that
Miami Beach has, he says, the more that Miami Beach will become a must-go-to
destination along the lines of Capri or St. Tropez.
The expansion to the Sagamore also broadened the Pomerancs' vision.
Thompson Hotels is about to open a small hotel in New York's Columbus Circle,
by the entrance to Central Park, and is looking to partner again with Taplin
on one in L.A.
KEYWORDS:
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mhcur SAGAMORE LOOKS INTO ICEBOX 01/08/2004
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 2004, The Miami Herald
DATE: Thursday, January 8, 2004 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Tropical Life PAGE: 10E LENGTH: 62 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Robert Siegmann (n)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY VICTORIA PESCE ELLIOTT, vpe@aol.com
MEMO: HOT DISH
SAGAMORE LOOKS INTO ICEBOX
Robert Siegmann of South Beach's popular Icebox Cafe is ready to ink a
deal to open next month in the newly trendified Sagamore Hotel.
Everybody is eager for it to happen, " says Siegmann, who has begun
planning menus for the hotel's pool bar, patio and room service that would be
similar to the Icebox's, with simple and hearty offerings such as Australian
lamb chops with warm roasted shallot vinaigrette and sesame-crusted snapper.
The neighborhood favorite off Lincoln Road is renowned for its decadent,
home-style desserts.
The space at the Sagamore is being designed by Patrick Kennedy, who has
done such hot spots as the Astor Hotel and The National. Sagamore owner Martin
Taplin confirmed that talks continue with New York's Lotus restaurant to take
over the main dining venue.
Also expect word of an Icebox opening in Fort Lauderdale later this year.
(Icebox, 1657 Michigan Ave. , Miami Beach; 305-538-8448. )
FOOD FEST
To kick off the much-anticipated South Beach Wine & Food Festival, which
takes place the first weekend of March, local organizers Lee Brian Schrager
and Terry Zarikian are co-hosting a media bash in Manhattan with Food & Wine
magazine at the hot new Marcus Samuelsson restaurant, Riingo, on Wednesday.
The event will feature food by the famed Ethiopian-born, Swedish-reared chef
as well as specialties from Miamians Robbin Haas (Chispa) , Michelle Bernstein
(Azul) and Phillippe Ruiz (Palm d'Or) .
Other festival participants expected are David Bouley, Rose Levy Beranbaum,
Anthony Bourdain, Tom Colicchio, Alain Ducasse, Todd English, Bobby Flay,
Andrea Immer, Drew Nieporent, Francois Payard, Eric Ripert, Douglas Rodriguez
and Aaron Sanchez. (sobewineandfoodfest.com or 305-348-9463. )
ARGENTINE CHOCOLATE'
A new eatery called Chocolate has taken over the space of the once-popular
Mexican El Fogon on Coral Way. Argentine owner Luis Vidal features plenty of
favorites from the pampa including parillada, blood sausages and sweetbreads
plus unusual specials such as elk, ostrich, quail and buffalo.
Then why the name? "All the other Argentine places have names like 'pampa'
and 'vacas' and 'tango' and we wanted something different, " says Vidal, a
veteran of Giacosa and Celeste.
The treat does make cameo appearances in such savory dishes as risotto with
prosciutto and chocolate and a salad with radicchio, endive, arugula, almonds,
strawberries and shaved chocolate in a citrus dressing. (2091 Coral Way,
Coral Gables; 305-858-9088)
GALLERIA GROWS
Hungry Broward shoppers will be glad to know a major renovation is underway
at the Galleria on Sunrise that will bring four restaurants to the area:
Capital Grille, a popular high-end steakhouse chain; Blue Martini, a
contemporary nightclub and lounge featuring live music; Seasons 52, a casually
sophisticated grill and wine bar with seasonally inspired cuisine, and Red
Star Tavern, an old-fashioned bar with comfort food and a large selection of
beers. All will offer outdoor cafe seating.
Victoria Pesce Elliott edits the Zagat Survey's South Florida edition. Tips
welcome at vpe@aol.com.