Lounge in a Pop-Up ‘Neon Jungle’ During Maison & Objet This Year
Neon Jungle by Rafael de Cardenas. Photos by Kris Tamburello.
Designer Rafael de Cardenas, who was honored yesterday as Maison & Objet Americas fair Designer of the Year, created a pop-up lounge in an empty storefront in the Design District with Creative Director Alexandra Cunningham Cameron that sets the mood of an exotic, futuristic, pixelated jungle while serving complimentary happy hours and gourmet popsicles every night of the fair ending Friday.
“Escape into the prismatic oasis: lounge on a pixelated landscape of RDC/AAL modular furniture or dance in the dappled shadow of neon lights and jungle foliage.” says the press release, with each night bringing in a cool young Miami person or people (Think Jacuzzi Boys, Nektar De Stagni, or Emmett Moore) as host, to entertain you for the evening. Or just recover your sobriety in the soothingly low lighting before ringing up an Uber home.
Will Brickell’s Most Expensive Condo Ever Get Any Action?
1425 BRICKELL AV # PH1EFA
Ladies and gentlemen, here for your ogling pleasure is PH1EFA, at the top of Brickell’s Four Seasons Tower; approximately 8,000 square feet of plush, restrained, and (dare we say) slightly lobby-like luxury at the top of Miami’s current tallest building, priced at a whopping $27 million. It comes with a wine room currently containing a giant bottle of Veuve Cliquot, a media room, five bedrooms, and a master closet straight out of a Louis Vuitton boutique, or maybe a forgotten corner of Neiman’s. As of tomorrow however the unit will have been on the market for one complete, 365 day year. Is it the price?
Miami Condo Investments’ Lucas Lechuga says “There’s no doubt that this penthouse is one of the finest properties in all of South Florida, but, at the end of the day, the Brickell market isn’t there yet. It first needs to hit $2,000 per square foot before it will be able to tackle $3,000+ per square foot.” So, yes Virginia, it is the price. We’ll see what happens in another year.
Paramount Miami Worldcenter Going Vertical In August
Miami Worldcenter Overview.
Daniel Kodsi, developer of Miami Worldcenter, gave the Real Deal a quick update on the progress of the megaproject. Having formally broken ground a few months ago with a lavish groundbreaking to-do (and physically broken ground months before that), the Worldcenter’s marquee tower, Paramount Miami Worldcenter, along with the attached retail and entertainment street at its base, is on schedule to begin vertical construction in August. Check out the video to see Ina Cordle rapid fire questions at Kodsi, for updates on sales, who’s buying, completion, etc.
https://youtu.be/aNTCkl0OHXw
Maison & Objet Does Miami, Again: Inside the French Interior Design Fair
Martone Bicycles on display at Maison & Objet.
Maison & Objet, the preeminent French interior design, decor, decoration, and architectural fair is back in Miami for the second annual incarnation of Maison & Objet Americas, its American edition based in Miami. This time around, the fair has begun to settle in to its permanent American home and grow, taking up double the hall space in the Miami Beach Convention Center, sustaining more satellite exhibitions, events, and parties, and and letting embracing Miami and Miami Beach more than ever. (Last year I explored the fair for Curbed Miami) The fair began today and runs through Friday, with the center of activity being the convention center, but plenty to see in the Design District, Wynwood, and around South Beach. But before all that, here’s a first look at some of the design and decor inside the main show.
The Viceroy is (Most Likely) Becoming a W Hotel
Viceroy Elevator Lobby. Photo via Flickr/ 準建築人手札網站 Forgemind ArchiMedia
According to two independent sources connected to the property, the Viceroy Miami Hotel in Brickell has been purchased by Starwood Capital and will soon be turned into a W Hotel. Some employees (including one of our sources) who are being kept on after the rebranding have already been notified and are preparing for the switch, while the hotel’s residents and guests have yet to officially be told, but have probably heard anyways. “Yes, I’ve heard it as a rumor — but a strong one” says one occupant (our second source) of a leased unit. This is apparently happening while the hotel’s main pool gets its big rebuild, adding yet more intrigue to that otherwise dramatic situation.
The Design District’s Jeanne Gang Condo Tower Likely to be Replaced With Shops by Oslo Firm
Sweetbird South design by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter.
The Next Miami noticed a recent submittal to the Urban Development Review Board for a new row of shops and retail at 99 NE 39th Street in the Design District, replacing the planned condominium tower designed by starchitect Jeanne Gang. The new design, by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter of Oslo, is a two-story retail structure with just under 30,000 square feet of commercial space, and is going before the UDRB because the design will encroach into public space. Just like the old Gang project, which sadly appears to be no more, the Design District Associates (the developer) is calling the project Sweetbird South.
In Miami Transit Debate, BRT Gets The Bum Rap
BRT in Cleveland. Photo via Flickr/Wyliepoon
Trying to unsnarl hellish traffic in South Miami-Dade, as well as the rest of the county, almost nobody wants buses, reports the Miami Herald. Yet, according to its advocates Bus Rapid Transit is a viable and much less expensive alternative if done right. And the South Dade Busway, which is the closest Dade County gets to Bus Rapid Transit, is seriously not done right. The New Tropic has a nice summary of what constitutes good BRT, but think of things like dedicated bus lanes, right of way for buses so they don’t have to stop at traffic lights, raised ‘stations’ for quicker embarking and debarking, prepaid fares, and other ways to make the bus experience more efficient, and well, more ‘rail-like.’
County transit planners are trying to upgrade the South Dade Busway to true BRT, but encountering major opposition from practically everyone down there, a population that feels burned by broken promises for rail. “Unless you’re talking about light rail, don’t bother coming to South Dade talking about bigger buses,” said Kionne McGhee, the state representative who led the charge against the county bus improvements. “There’s not a single pastor, a single mayor, a single city council member who is asking for bus. They’re all asking for rail.” And they don’t want a single thing built for BRT that cannot be reused for light rail in the future.
Have you taken true BRT somewhere? What did you think of it? Would it work for Miami? Leave your replies in the comments below.
The Betsy Unveils is Renovation Plans by Shulman + Associates
The Carlton Hotel expansion to the Betsy.Art
Just in time for Curbed Miami’s ‘renovation week’ (Did you know it was their ‘renovation week?’ We didn’t) the Betsy Hotel has debuted renderings of its expansion into the neighboring Carlton Hotel, along with a new addition, and rooftop pool that connects the buildings. Designed by Miami-based architecture firm Shulman + Associates, a modernist firm that specializes in creative and sensitive historic preservation, the renovation began months ago. Diamante Pedersoli and Carmelina Santoro, interior designers of the original Betsy renovation, are doing the interiors of the expansion as well. Naturalficial did the landscape design. So, it’s great to finally see what they’re doing.
The “new” Betsy will comprise the original Betsy Ross hotel, a Florida Georgian structure designed by L. Murray Dixon on Ocean Drive, which now will be known as the Colonial wing, and the Carlton Hotel, a classic Art Deco structure originally designed by Henry Hohauser, to be known as the Art Deco wing. Finally, along with the new Art Deco wing, the alley between the two structures will be revitalized, and two four-story wings are being added with suites and special event spaces that will also support the new rooftop alley-spanning pool.
Alton Road Strip Sells For Record $2,011 Per Square Foot
1600 Alton
The Alton Road construction boom is continuing with the latest property to trade hands, the retail strip at 1600 Alton Road, home of Dunkin’ Donuts, Pizza Hut, and Lyon Freres, for a whopping $2,011 per square foot. Marcus & Millichap’s Scott Sandelin told the Real Deal that this is a record price for the area (total price: $12.25 million) The buyer, who is undisclosed but could logically be Russell Galbut’s Crescent Heights (they own and are redevelopment a lot of other similar land on Alton, have deep pockets, etc.) is apparently already eyeing redevelopment plans, in keeping with the redevelopment happening up and down Alton in the area. As this is one of the very few underdeveloped parts of all of Miami Beach, well, it’s about darn time.
Biscayne Beach Topped Off Today, All 51 Stories of It
Biscayne Beach topped off today. Photo via Biscayne Beach.
Over in Edgewater today, the under-construction Biscayne Beach condo tower topped off 51 stories, celebrating the milestone today with a traditional lunch for the construction workers and topping off ceremony for the swells. (We assume this is what they did. We didn’t actually attend) Built as a joint venture between Eastview Development and GTIS Partners, designed by WHLC Architects, and interior designed by Thom Felicia of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (seriously) the building is almost completely sold out.
