Grand Central Park

MDM Group announced yesterday it has a contract to build a tower with a 500,000-square-foot convention space below a 1,800-room hotel to be managed by Marriott, the Miami Herald reported.

The site at 700 North Miami Avenue is currently Grand Central Park and under the control of MDM Group, which intends to privately finance the project. Coral Gables-based Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates is designing the tower, the Herald said. Marriott at Miami Worldcenter will be connected to the next-door All Aboard Florida train station by a skybridge. MDM and Miami World Center principals have declined to provide the project’s estimated cost, the newspaper said. [more]

Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach

An appeals panel in New York City has ruled in favor of Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, following a lawsuit brought against the hotel owner last year by Marriott International, the South Florida Business Journal reported. [more]

Mark Gilbreath of LiquidSpace

Hotels looking to make a profit are increasingly renting out lobbies, business centers and other “nooks” to office workers looking to hold meetings outside the workplace, the New York Times reported. For example, Marriott is offering what it calls Workspace on Demand at about three dozen of its hotels. The workspaces include high-top tables, alcoves in the lobbies and small meeting spaces. Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ Westin chain has introduced a similar concept in two of its hotels in the U.S. [more]

Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach

Following months of legal battle, Marriott has won a case against Eden Roc, the owners of the Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Bloomberg News reported. In April, Eden Roc sued Marriott and its Renaissance Hotel Management unit, accusing the chain of mismanaging the property, following a $300 million investment, which including a $240 million renovation. Marriott then sued Eden Roc last month, alleging that the owners were attempting a hostile takeover of the 21-floor, 631-room art deco hotel. New York State Supreme Court Justice Melvin Schweitzer granted Marriott a temporary restraining order preventing the takeover. [more]

The Marriott Pompano Beach Oceanfront hotel will break ground Aug. 15, hotel operator Urgo Hotels announced. The property, which will feature 219 guest rooms, has been contracted by Boston-based Suffolk Construction. Kevin Urgo, principal and chief investment officer for Urgo, said there was “very little” in the way of beachfront product in Pompano Beach. The property is the first large-scale hotel in Pompano Beach in some time. It is slated to open in 2013. — Alexander Britell

Marriott is planning a 219-room hotel in Pompano Beach, the Sun Sentinel reported. The project, which would be the first large-scale hotel in the area in some time, could open in a year, according to developer Urgo Hotels. “They have a substantial enough balance sheet that banks are willing to talk to them,” said Scott Brush, a hotel analyst in Miami. The project is an overhaul of the former Ocean Point Hotel and includes the addition of an adjacent tower. [Sun Sentinel]

Ian Schrager

From the New York February issue: Ian Schrager is chairman and CEO of Ian Schrager Company, a hotel and real estate development firm established in 2005. Prior to establishing the company, Schrager was at Morgans Hotel Group, which he cofounded in 1984 with the late Steve Rubell, with whom he created the legendary nightclub, Studio 54, in 1977. Schrager’s more high-profile New York projects include the 2006 redesign of the Gramercy Park Hotel as well as residential properties such as 40 Bond and the Gramercy Park Hotel’s 50 Gramercy Park North condos. [more]

West Palm Beach’s Kolter Group is planning a new 134-room hotel for the vacant land near Delray Beach’s Old School Square Cultural Arts Center. The developer picked up the 1.8-acre site in December for $3.7 million and is currently in talks with Hyatt Place, Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn for the hotel’s branding. Hyatt is said to be a front-runner for the spot. According to Kolter executive Bob Vail, downtown Delray Beach is in need of a $100- to $200-a-night lodging option, and that’s what he intends to provide. But Vail isn’t the only one jockeying to break into the city’s hotel market, though. For the past year, New York’s Benita Goldstein and her husband, Jordan, have been working to renovate the historic Hartman House near the Intracoastal Waterway, which they bought for $400,000 last year. Next month, they’ll reopen the property as a bed and breakfast with a 1920s theme. [Palm Beach Post]

InformationWeek has released its annual list of the top 500 businesses nationwide for their innovative use of information technology, and a number of prominent real estate and hospitality firms have made the list. Among the top-ranked businesses was InterContinental Hotels Group, which was ranked No. 2 and owns a number of South Florida hotels under the Holiday Inn, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental brands. Marriott International was ranked 53rd; Hyatt Hotels was 128th. Also listed were Newmark Knight Frank and CB Richard Ellis. It was CBRE’s fourth year in a row being listed. For InformationWeek’s full list of businesses, click here. TRD

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The Seville Hotel, which was just purchased
in a short sale by an affiliate of Courtyard by Marriott, will be
getting the Ian Schrager treatment, Marriott announced yesterday. The
12-story hotel in Miami Beach will be the second “Edition” hotel by
Marriott, following the opening of an Edition hotel in Honolulu this
fall. The renovations are expected to take approximately three years,
according to John Wolf, a spokesperson for Marriott. Schrager helped
reinvigorate South Beach when he launched the Delano 15 years ago. [Miami
Herald]

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