Can Pharrell and Grutman’s (very pink) hotel restart good times on Washington Ave?
With more than a dozen shades of pink incorporated into everything from the tiles lining the twin terrace pools to the telephones hanging on the suite walls, the new Goodtime Hotel in South Beach is a “love letter to this town,” in the words of designer Ken Fulk.
Details like the bold, patterned wallpaper lining the lobby walls and golden elevators recall nostalgia for Miami’s vibrant days of yore.
Outside the seven-story, 266-room Washington Avenue hotel, vacant storefronts persist, as they have for the past decade. But the hotel’s creators, including local hospitality entrepreneur David Grutman — perhaps best known for his nightclub LIV — and artist Pharrell Williams, hope its opening Friday will help jump-start positive transformation of the once bustling avenue.
“Why can’t Washington Avenue be that destination just as much as Ocean, or just as much as 20 blocks going north? Why not?” said Williams in an interview. “We believe that it can. This is our contribution to the neighborhood.”
Not so long ago, this very neighborhood was the place to be for a good time. The Strand restaurant opened in 1987, instantly ushering in a chic new vibe in the then-gritty burg; celebrity haunts like Mickey’s (as in actor Rourke) and WPA, and live-music clubs like Chili Pepper and the Cameo soon followed. Prince jammed at Glam Slam. Rock bands rotated the stages of Washington Square and Rose’s Bar and Music Lounge. Madonna partied at Liquid.
But in the decades since, investment has largely flowed to the streets to the north and east, as businesses on Washington shuttered. Now there seem to be as many cellphone repair shops and vacant storefronts as functioning shops.
Three years after Miami Beach city hall designated the stretch of Washington Avenue from 5th to 17th streets as a Business Improvement District (BID), owners are hopeful things are finally turning around.
“I feel blessed to be here for this transformation,” said Chapel Tattoos owner Rogerio Araujo, 43. He’s confident the Goodtime and other new hotels will bring more business to his shop — especially on rainy days, when he traditionally sees passersby more inspired for new ink. “Transformations can go for the bad, but here it’s going for the best.”
A hospitality comeback
Washington Avenue’s comeback has been years in the making. In 2015, a city panel recommended zoning changes to allow for taller buildings, easier access to sidewalk cafe permits, and elimination of hotel parking requirements. The BID formed in 2018, creating a tax fund paid by business owners in the area for upgrades, like adding lighting to the middle of the avenue.
All are signs that Goodtime Hotel developers, Michael Fascitelli and Eric Birnbaum of New York-based Imperial Properties, were on to something when they purchased the entire east side Washington Ave. block between 6th Street and 7th Street for $32.75 million in 2015.
One year later, New York developer Lightstone purchased three properties at 917, 945 and 955 Washington Avenue for $29 million. There in February, the 202-room hotel Moxy South Beach debuted as the first resort-style property under Marriott International’s Moxy brand, donning two pools and six restaurants and bars.
In 2018, Kimpton’s Angler’s Hotel South Beach at 660 Washington Avenue opened a five-story addition.
And more hotels are on the way.
Under its hospitality brand Urbin, Coral Gables-based Location Ventures plans to invest $60 million to construct a six-story co-living and hotel building at 1260 Washington Avenue and turn an adjacent office building into a co-working space. The 181-room Washington Park Hotel at 1050 Washington Avenue received a record level of interest, according to the Real Deal, before selling to California-based WPH Properties LLC last month.
“The hotels are going to help lead us into the future,” said Troy Wright, executive director of the Washington Avenue Business Improvement District. “The pendulum always changes; you go up and you go down. Now that Washington Avenue hit the bottom...we’re headed back up.”
The Washington Ave. hospitality boom is a natural evolution westward from the beach, said Scott Berman, a principal at PwC’s hospitality and leisure group.
“When we look at the evolution of tourism on the beach, it’s going to be a westward movement. It’s about time,” he said. “There are more opportunities on Washington and even further west than there are on Ocean or Collins.”
Skeptically optimistic
It’s not just hotels. Last year voters gave the green light to the expansion of the Wolfsonian-FIU history and art museum at 1001 Washington Avenue. Last month, the business improvement district unveiled a mural honoring Prince, Jackie Gleason, Muhammad Ali, Gianni Versace and Jayne Mansfield by Uruguayan Miami-based artist Ignacio Mariño Larrique at 1543 Washington Ave.
Despite all the buzz, some business owners remain skeptical. Though popular with cyclists, the elimination of one lane of traffic each direction last year to make room for a parking lane and a bike lane has some irked.
John Morgado, 51, who has worked at the South Beach Dive and Surf shop for 25 years, called the traffic situation a “nightmare” and said gridlock has increased. And he’s concerned that South Beach isn’t as safe as it once was, citing a triple shooting outside The Licking restaurant at 754 Washington Avenue in January.
“I remember walking in South Beach — it doesn’t matter if it’s 1 a.m. or 1 p.m., I felt safe,” he said. “I don’t feel safe anymore.”
Morgado said he hopes the hotels bring more customers to his and neighboring businesses.
The Goodtime Hotel delayed its opening from March to April when the city responded to rowdy and sometimes violent spring break crowds with a curfew and road closures.
“To open up in the middle of a pandemic and a curfew is one too much,” said Fascitelli.
With the Goodtime’s doors now open, Grutman said he hopes to build on the avenue’s recent momentum and spur more investment. He and Williams have a track record: in 2018, they partnered to open the restaurant Swan in the Design District, before the neighborhood was completely “activated,” as he calls it. He’s hoping to see similar buzz around the Goodtime Hotel, starting with soon-to-be-announced tenants for the property’s 18 retail spaces.
“We want to set our own trends,” Grutman said. “We either want to be the first ones in there or after everyone has left...It’s good to be a part of something that’s coming.”
Whether it’s the cartoon alligator wallpaper inside the elevators, or the wet footprint marks on the green carpet, the hotel has a playful spirit meant to make guests leave their worries outside. Rooms for an upcoming May weekend start around $400 a night.
At the third-floor pool deck, pink cabanas are for rent by the day, though visitors will be able to spot hotel guests by the pastel pink-and-green leopard robes that come with each room. Guests will be welcomed at the poolside Mediterranean restaurant and bar, dubbed Strawberry Moon.
As a young person who first looked for work going club to club on Washington Avenue in the late 1990s, then Miami’s “hottest block,” Grutman said it’s bittersweet to be a part of its revival.
“Washington Avenue is having a renaissance now,” he said.
This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 12:54 PM.
