Ian Schrager has got form in Miami. In the early 1990s, the American hotelier and entrepreneur behind Studio 54 sensed the city was ready for a revival and set about building the luxury Art Deco hotel the Delano. It was the first new build in the Miami Beach area for 40 years, and with its blend of period styling, modern amenities and lavish luxury, it can rightly boast of being a game-changer. Yeah, Schrager kinda invented the South Beach you know today. Bearing that in mind, when the big guy and the Marriot group talk about their new complex — the Miami Beach EDITION — as giving Miami “a new status on the world stage…propelling the city to a whole new place” — I’m inclined to silence the PR bullshit klaxon and hear them out.
The concept revolves around a growing trend towards out-of-office working, which is gathering pace in the tech heartlands of the Pacific Northwest but has yet to reach the Atlantic coast. Mobile computing and communications means execs are no longer chained to the desk of crummy office blocks, and are instead heading out in search of comfort, and even luxury, as they integrate their work lives with their leisure time more fluidly. Time and Tripadvisor will tell if the Miami Beach EDITION is as revolutionary as it’s being billed, but we can certainly say that the place is tremendously glamorous. The central building on the 3.5 acre complex is a renovation of the Seville Hotel, designed in 1955 by Melvin Grossman as a “tower on a pedestal” that would become a hallmark of the Miami Modern architectural style.
The plot is ocean-front, and the sense of relaxation carried in on the breeze means the suits worn in the lobby are as likely to be of the bathing variety as they are tailored linen. The boutique rooms are cool, crisp and inviting, and EDITION has plenty going on outside as well as in, with a landscaped outdoor resort called the Tropicale in homage to the legendary ’50s Cuba resort Tropicana. I can’t decide which bit of this place I like more, but if I win the lottery I’m going to spend a couple of months there finding out.
Like this? Find out what we thought of Schrager’s second coming, when his EDITION arrived in London.
