Fontainebleau hotel quits hospitality association

Fontainebleau Miami Beach
Fontainebleau Miami Beach

The Fontainebleau hotel has parted ways with the Greater Miami & The Beaches Hotel Association amid a disagreement over redeveloping the convention center district, the Miami Herald reported.

The famed 1,500-room Miami Beach resort was the largest hotel member of the association before it opted not to renew its membership. But the city’s billion-dollar plan soured the relationship.

“The Fontainebleau Miami Beach has always advocated an immediate renovation, expansion and upgrade to the Miami Beach Convention Center and we are not opposed to a hotel project, provided no public monies, taxes or subsidies are used in its development,” a Fontainebleau spokesman told the Herald in an email.

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Miami Beach is close to picking a team to overhaul the outdated convention center, as well as add a ballroom, apartments, a shopping area and an affordable hotel. The Fontainebleau owners bid on the project, but lost, the newspaper said.

Last month, the hotel owners claimed a now-jailed city official cost them a $1 billion contract to redevelop the center. The Herald had reported Gus Lopez, the city’s former procurement director, was arrested and charged with 63 felony counts of public corruption charges. He has pleaded not guilty. [Miami Herald]Mark Maurer