Luxury is a relative term. And German developer Thomas Kramer-who owns a big chunk of South Miami Beach-believes there’s no hotel in the region truly deserving of the word’s highest meaning.
So he’s building one. It would be a true luxury hotel, according to his company.
Estimates for an average room rate hover around $1,000. Grander suites might rent for much, much more. The average room would be 2,000 square feet-the size of a midsized three-bedroom, two-bath home in suburban South Florida.
The structure, a 47-unit, 19-story tower on Ocean Drive has won approval from the Miami Beach Design Review Board. Construction is expected to start sometime in 1995.
“There are hotels like this in destinations like St. Tropez where people pay as much as $10,000 a night,” said Stuart Reich, managing director of Portofino Group, owned by Kramer. “We would cater to people with that kind of wherewithal.”
Yet the palatial project is causing quite a stir. When Kramer’s proposal went for approval before the Miami Beach Design Review Board, several board members voiced concerns that Kramer’s new building was actually a condominium in disguise.
According to Miami Beach codes, by calling his building a “hotel,” Kramer can build a structure of 149,010 square feet. If the structure were labeled a condo, however, a much smaller structure of only 96,284 square feet would be allowed, said Harry Mavrogenes, Miami Beach assistant city manager.
Saul Gross, president of the Streamline Properties and chairman of the Design Review Board, said suspicions led the board to impose a restriction on the property.
It absolutely must be used as a hotel-with a front desk, maid service, and communal telephone and mail service. The city will inspect the property to ensure its use as a temporary, rather than permanent, stopover for the rich and famous, Gross said.
Although Kramer needed board approval for the architectural design of the project, he does not need other city approvals to start construction. The small waterfront parcel, already owned by Kramer, is zoned for commercial use, which includes a hotel.
The perception of a masquerade was heightened by the oddness of such an upper-crust hotel in Dade County. Such a hotel is rare by the standards of even the world’s grandest cities.
In Los Angeles, the most expensive suites are maintained by the Regent Beverly Wilshire on Rodeo Drive, with prices ranging from $425 to $4,000 per night, said Susan Ferrull, spokeswoman for Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau.
In Dallas, suites at the elegant Mansion on Turtle Creek top out around $1,370.
In South Florida, suites at the Grand Bay Hotel in Coconut Grove-the only Mobil-rated five-star hotel in Dade and Broward counties-max out at $1,100, with average suites renting for $350 to $480 per night.
Yet Reich believes the parade of stars sauntering through Dade these days-from Madonna to Prince to Sly Stallone-demand that such a posh property be built.
“We have people of those means becoming part of South Florida society, ” Reich said. “If there are even 47 of them in town, there won’t be a problem.”
At this point, details of Portofino’s plans are vague. The company places construction costs somewhere between $25 million and $50 million. No financing is in place. And the interior design of the building-the style of the rooms, the general inside decor-is still up in the air, Reich said.
Some, however, are questioning the project’s potential success.
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“It’s bizarre, just bizarre,” said Scott Berman, managing associate for Coopers & Lybrand’s hospitality consulting group in Miami. “It defies every principle of basic development in lodging. I just can’t figure out the economics of how such a hotel would work.”
The project isn’t the first hotel proposal to come from Kramer. He also signed a deal to codevelop a massive 1,000-room Mirage casino on South Pointe. However, that deal is contingent on the legalization of casinos in Florida.