Raleigh condo project approved at 175 feet. The developer originally wanted 200.
A key Miami Beach board approved on Tuesday a glassy condo near the Art Deco-style Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach after the New York developer agreed to trim the height from 200 feet to 175 feet.
The Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board voted to approve plans to restore and renovate the Raleigh and neighboring Richmond and South Seas hotels, in the 1700 block of Collins Avenue. The project is expected to cost $750 million, according to a spokesperson for developer Michael Shvo. Miami-based Kobi Karp Architecture has been hired for the project.
The plan drew opposition from some neighbors. But at Tuesday’s meeting, preservation board member Nancy Liebman spoke in support of the compromise. “How do you find somebody that is going to preserve the existing historic buildings? There is no impact on the Raleigh hotel. The purpose of having this [condo] building is to save the Raleigh,” she said.
The proposal passed by a vote of five to one after the reduction in height. One member of the board did not attend.
The Raleigh is eight stories tall.
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While the facades of the 92-room Richmond and 117-room South Seas hotels will be preserved, 84% of the current space will be demolished and repurposed as part of the condo project. The only operating hotel on site will be the Raleigh Hotel, which has 105 rooms.
All three were designed by architect L. Murray Dixon, and are part of the Ocean Drive-Collins Avenue Historic District. Both the Richmond and South Seas were renovated during the 1950s, with significant change to the original designs, according to submitted plans.
Deutsche Finance America, Bilgili Holding, and Shvo’s firm SHVO bought The Raleigh in 2019 from its prior owner, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, for $103 million in 2019. Hilfiger bought the hotel in 2014 for $56.5 million from developer David Edelstein and hotelier Sam Nazarian. The hotel has been closed since 2017, after it suffered damage from Hurricane Irma.
SHVO acquired the Richmond Hotel and South Seas in 2019 for $139.85 million.
The developer reopened a slice of The Raleigh — the temporary Raleigh Garden — in 2019 during Art Basel.
This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 2:30 PM.
