1615-19 Various Miami Beach DATE: Tuesday, October 3, 2000 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Business PAGE: 1C LENGTH: 101 lines
ILLUSTRATION: color photo: Gil Dezer (a) ; color map: Major High-Rise Projects
in Sunny Isles Beach
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY BARBARA De LOLLIS, bdelollis@herald.com
HIGH RISES FOR HIGH ROLLERS SUNNY ISLES ' VINTAGE MOTELS LIKELY TO BE JUST A
MEMORY
The $35 oceanfront motel room is fast becoming a distant memory in Sunny
Isles Beach.
The Thunderbird, Golden Nugget, Driftwood, Blue Seas and other vintage
motels lining Collins Avenue are all slated for demolition over the next few
years to make room for what could become South Florida' s next condo canyon.
These days, oceanfront land is simply too valuable to house cheap motel rooms.
" It ' s the classic real estate story, " said Tom Daley, marketing director
for the Related Group of Florida, which is building pricey condominium units
in Sunny Isles Beach. "The more land becomes worth, the more you recycle. "
Not everyone ' s thrilled about recycling. Some motel operators who have
spent their lives running these places say that, despite the millions coming
their way, they would have preferred to stay.
"We were forced to sell out. We don' t want to, " said F.W. "Bob" Lucas,
who has owned the Suez Oceanfront Resort for 33 years and has run it with his
son Robert for 20 . "But the powers that be downtown do not want this to be a
resort-motel destination for the regular middle class anymore. They' re trying
to get just the high-rollers. "
The transformation is more about economics than anything else. As
waterfront land evaporated along Miami-Dade ' s southern coastline, developers
sought new opportunities closer to the Broward border. Property values soared.
Sunny Isles Beach boosters like Mayor Dave Samson, who helped lead the
drive to incorporate the 2 .5-mile-long, three-block-wide city three years ago,
speak fervently about upscale potential.
" I 'm very proud of what ' s happening here, " said the 84-year-old mayor.
"This is going to be a beautiful place. "
He and others have complained for years about the dated Motel Row, where
two-story motels still feature life-size camels, a mummy, a rooftop lighthouse
and other campy ' 50s relics. Now Samson rattles off more than a dozen
high-rise projects he hopes will take their place, if the economy continues
chugging along.
"Fifteen years from now, there won't be any of the old motels left, "
Samson said at City Hall, which is housed in a strip mall. "They were all rat
traps. That ' s what they were. "
Rightly or wrongly, city leaders yearn to overcome their inferiority
complex. Sunny Isles Beach is surrounded by Aventura to the west, Golden Beach
to the north and Bal Harbour to the south - three of the most prosperous
communities in Miami-Dade County.
Frankly, we were tired of being the orphan, " said Bill Lone, executive
director of the Sunny Isles Beach Resort Association. "We' re a peninsula 2 .5
miles long between the Atlantic and the Intracoastal. We should be the
oasis. "
In the past few years, developers like Daley have staked their claim in
Sunny Isles Beach, encouraged by land availability, relatively low prices, no
height restrictions and a government that encourages Pdevelopment - factors
missing in Miami Beach.
Last year, in fact, new construction added $166 million to the tax roll in
Sunny Isles Beach. Most of the increase came from three new condo projects:
Daley' s Ocean One, the Millennium and Golden Bay Club.
The Dezer family, a commercial landlord in New York, plans to add millions
more to the tax roll. Today, the Dezers have one of the biggest voices in
determining Sunny Isles ' future.
"This is going to be the next Bal Harbour, " said Gil Dezer, who' s heading
the family' s Sunny Isles Beach development efforts with his father Michael.
"Right now there ' s nothing to buy in Bal Harbour other than resales. Everyone
wants a new building. "
Michael Dezer, an Israeli immigrant, came to Miami 15 years ago, buying a
Holiday Inn at 87th Street and Collins Avenue and converting it into a
1950s-themed hotel called the Dezerland Beach Resort.
Then, he discovered Sunny Isles Beach. Since 1997, Dezer and his son Gil
have invested $80 million to buy 10 motels and obtain a two-year option on an
11th, giving them nearly 30 acres of oceanfront land, the younger Dezer said.
When they started buying, land cost about $2 million an acre. With their most
recent deal - an option on the three-acre Suez property - Dezer said they
would pay almost $7 million an acre.
Dezer Properties' first project is the two-tower Ocean Grande development
at 18101 Collins Ave. , which Dezer said is about 70 percent sold. The first
tower - the 362-room Sonesta Ocean Grande Resort Hotel - is a condo-hotel,
allowing buyers to rent out their units when they' re not using them. A second,
40-story tower - to rise on the site of the Best Western and Colonial motels -
will house condos averaging $650, 000 apiece, he said.
The rest of their plans range from luxury loft apartments to a boutique
hotel to avoid overcrowding the market with any one product type, Dezer said.
The Dezers said international buyers have accounted for about two-thirds of
sales at the Ocean Grande project. But they expect more locals to buy in the
future.
"We have a lot of the Aventura people who are moving to the beach, " he
said. "Take for instance Williams Island. It has nice views, but the land
used to be swamp. We ' re here. The beach is the beach. "
Sunny Isles Beach also appealed to French developer Gilbert Benhamou, chief
executive of Apex Development Group, which is building the Grand Venetian
condo in South Beach. Apex already purchased two sites for two 25-story
condo-hotel towers it hopes to break ground on within one year.
"You can not build any more on Miami Beach, " Benhamou said. "There are
no sites or properties for a price that makes sense to build. The only place
left was Sunny Isles. "
CAPTION: JARED LAZARUS/Herald Staff WATERFRONT LAND: Developer Gil Dezer has
one of the biggest voices in determining the future of Sunny Isles Beach.
KEYWORDS:
TAG: 0010040467
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mh00 CARILLON HOTEL ALTERATIONS IN DOUBT 08/06/2000
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 2000, The Miami Herald
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 2000 EDITION: Final
SECTION: Neighbors BC PAGE: 3MB LENGTH: 106 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Randall Robinson (A)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: By SONJI JACOBS, sajacobs@herald.com
MEMO: MIAMI BEACH
CARILLON HOTEL ALTERATIONS IN DOUBT
The Carillon Hotel may soon share the fate of several other Miami Beach
hotels built in the post-World War II era.
For four years, it has been slated to be partially demolished and
transformed into an ultramodern, high-rise hotel and condominium complex - but
preservationists are once again rallying to save the hotel.
Why? Because approval from the city' s Design Review Board - which enables
the developer to obtain a building permit and move forward with construction -
was set to expire in July.
Randall Robinson, a preservationist and planner with the Miami Beach
Community Development Corp. , wants the project ' s architects to go back to the
drawing board and submit different designs.
He points to the hotel ' s glass facade on Collins Avenue and the
accordion" wall of its ballroom building as two of its most unique and
noteworthy architectural features.
" It would be like a beacon to the area, " said Robinson, pointing to the
hotel ' s glass wall high above Collins Avenue. " Imagine it at night, with all
the windows lit up from inside. "
' 57 CLASSIC
The Carillon, 6801 Collins Ave. , was designed by Miami Beach architect
Norman Giller and built in 1957 . The Miami Beach Resort and Hotel Association
awarded it "Hotel of the Year 1957 " - in a tie with the Radisson Deauville.
Both hotels are examples of Miami Modern architecture - large, lavish
buildings built in the post-World War II boom time of the 1950s and ' 60s.
Famous "MiMo" hotels on the Beach also include the Eden Roc and
Fontainebleau.
The Carillon has been empty nine years. Now, its glass panes reveal only
dark, vacant hotel rooms . In the main lobby, strips of paint peel from the
walls, dripping water echoes off the cavernous walls and mosquitoes swarm in
the dank air.
A giant chandelier, dusty coral pink draperies and an ocean vista behind
the large windows facing east are the only reminders of the hotel ' s
jet-setting days when it attracted headliners including Dean Martin and Frank
Sinatra.
" I think something needs to be done, " said architect Giller. ' It ' s a
crime the way it ' s just sitting there. It ' s an eyesore. "
The architect, who is especially proud of the building' s flat-slab
construction (he says it was the first building south of Washington, D.C. , to
be built without beams between the floors) , would like to see the hotel
renovated or developed in a way that retains some of its architectural
highlights, such as the accordion wall.
He may not get his wish.
FREEZING
In 1991, Transnational Properties, a group of South American and European
investors, bought the property for $12 .2 million. It announced plans in 1996
to transform the empty hotel into a condominium/hotel complex, designed by the
firm Arquitectonica.
But the project has been delayed over the years by several disputes and
appeals. Recently, Transnational filed a lawsuit against the city of Miami
Beach. In effect, the suit put a stay on the July expiration of its Design
Review approval and gave Transnational extra time to pull permits and arrange
its financing.
Now, the owners plan to finally move forward with the $200 million
construction project and pull a building permit in the next few weeks, said
Transnational consultant Paul Murphy.
The current design plans call for renovation of the existing 16-story hotel
building, construction of a 20-story condo/hotel with a 20, 000-square-foot spa
and a seven-story parking garage with a 30-story condo on top of it.
Preservationists like Robinson say they are upset because the accordion
wall will be torn down under those plans and the 37-story condo/parking garage
mmmmmmmmmmmm
was approved by the city prior to the passing of an ordinance limiting
structures in the area to 22 stories.
The condo tower was originally intended to be 52 stories, Murphy said. The
city' s continued height restrictions have caused delays to the project - and
created financial problems, he said.
Transnational had intended to bring in Swissotel as the hotel operator;
that deal has since fallen through.
"Financing is a big issue because no one trusts Miami Beach, " Murphy
said. "We ' re in a situation where we've been downsized three times and have
been in a contest with the city over design review approvals. "
Murphy acknowledges Transnational filed several lawsuits and appeals to
extend the expiration of their design review approvals, but said his clients
had no choice in order to prevent their approvals from expiring.
He also contends the owners have made several concessions to the
preservationists, such as agreeing to incorporate the original hotel tower,
awning, bell structure and signature "Carillon" plaque.
Last year, the city' s MiMo preservationists rallied unsuccessfully to save
two other hotels: The Bel-Aire, 6515 Collins Ave. , and the Royal York, 5875
Collins Ave. Other MiMo hotels that have been demolished over the years
include the Lombardi at 63rd Street and Collins Avenue, and The Algiers,
designed by Morris Lapidus, at 26th Street and Collins Avenue.
CAPTION: DAVID BERGMAN/HERALD STAFF MIAMI MODERN: Randall Robinson is among
those trying to save The Carillon Hotel, 6801 Collins Ave. , with its accordion
wall.
KEYWORDS:
TAG: 0008090394
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