River Yacht Club — restaurant and boat marina — to open soon

River Yacht Club, a restaurant and boat marina venture in the Miami River district, is set to open Feb. 17, as the neighborhood transforms with new developments.

Owned and developed by the Chetrit Group and Dupoux Partners, River Yacht Club, at 401 Southwest 3rd Avenue will feature an indoor-outdoor restaurant, with a garden that will accommodate up to 250 people, along with 100-seat indoor dining. It is not far from the site where the New York-based Chetrit Group plans a nearly $1 billion mixed-use project.

An entity tied to Chetrit purchased River Yacht Club’s 39,495-square foot site in June 2014. CG Miami River LLC, whose manager is Meyer Chetrit, paid $11.5 million for the property, which includes a 10,871-square-foot building built in 1940, Miami-Dade property records show.

Rendering of exterior of River Yacht Club

The focal point of River Yacht Club will be its restaurant, headed by Executive Chef Michael Lewis, who has been the executive chef at Zuma for the past seven years and was previously chef de cuisine at Jean Georges restaurants in Miami, New York and Dubai, according to a release.

Nearby, the Island Garden Marina will have 1,000 feet of linear capacity against the seawall and another 700 feet in the water to accommodate an average of 15 40-50 foot yachts, with special accommodations for up to 150-foot yachts.

River Yacht Club plans to offer membership packages with unlimited docking privileges and discounts and reciprocities with other yacht clubs around the world, according to the release. Dupoux Design spearheaded the architecture and interior design, with landscape design by landscape architect Raymond Jungles. 

Rendering of exterior of River Yacht Club

Dupoux Partners and Dupoux Design are led by Stephane Dupoux, who is also a partner and designer of the Vagabond Group, which developed the Vagabond Hotel and restaurant, according to his LinkedIn page.

River Yacht Club said it is also partnering with VanDutch Yachts for the brand’s first VanDutch Lounge, located on the rooftop terrace.

During the past year, the Miami River has attracted an influx of new projects, including new restaurants, retail, offices and residential developments, in addition to River Yacht Club.

Among them, Chetrit Group and local developer Ari Pearl are planning to build a mixed-used project that includes four towers, a hotel, shops, restaurants, and a public river walk with boat slips. In October, the Miami City Commission approved a development agreement and rezoning of the project’s 10-acre site, located between Southwest Second Avenue and Southwest Third Avenue, the Miami River and Southwest Seventh Street.

And not far away, Shahab Karmely’s Kar Properties is planning One River Point, a 60-story condominium with a sky club, to be built on a park on the Miami River at 24 Southwest Fourth Street.