Ritz Carlton Residences Miami Beach Drops New Renderings of Its Lobby & Where That Staircase Goes

The Ritz Carlton Residences Miami Beach, designed by Piero Lissoni, has dropped a series of new renderings of its lobby and library to accompany the already released money shot with that fabulously suspended staircase. (see the last image, below) “Its library will be comprised of collectibles, artifacts, modern design pieces, art and design books, and a canoe artifact paying tribute to Seminole Tribe of Florida.” says Curbed Miami. The renderings look gorgeous, and the canoe is admittedly very cool. It’s a beautiful piece of (authentic?) Native American craftsmanship on display, but a tribute? Well, first maybe someone can explain why there are two of them in the renderings..
The development’s 111 condos and 15 villas make up one of Miami’s most unique and interesting projects, although at times it’s probably a rather tough sell. (it was an old hospital, after all) The Ritz Carlton Residences Miami Beach is currently about 65% sold out.
Checking in on Construction at the Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach

Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach construction. Photos via Ritz-Carlton.
The Ritz-Carlton Residences Miami Beach is probably one of the more complicated residential construction projects in Miami today. Sure, it’s not exactly Zaha’s exoskeletal tower, and definitely not an elaborate behemoth like Brickell City Centre, but the Ritz is the adaptive reuse of frankly what was an ugly old hospital building into very luxurious condos. Turning a heart hospital (it was the Miami Heart Institute) into a Ritz-Carlton is no simple task.
Updated construction photos released by the Ritz on April 21st show the project to be relatively far along. The structure was saved because any new construction on the site could not be nearly as large, due to zoning restrictions. Gutting and concrete pouring appear significantly complete, with lots of new glazing coming in, and work underway on the roof. About a month ago the building was over 65% sold according to the developer, although to make those sales targets they’ve certainly had lots of parties (Not that parties are such a bad thing. The stone crabs during South Beach Wine and Food Fest were superb) and recently listed a couple units in Canadian currency for one night, so there’s that.