Hotelier to revamp Miami Ritz Plaza

Sam Nazarian, the U.S. hotelier who played himself on HBO’s “Entourage,” plans to renovate the Ritz Plaza Hotel in south Miami Beach, and is also property-hunting in New York. Nazarian, 35, expects to spend $65 million in cash improving the Florida property and may strike a deal for his SLS Hotel brand in New York City within a year as the travel industry rebounds, he told Bloomberg news in an Aug. 12 interview. The Ritz Plaza Hotel in Miami will be the second SLS location after the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills. Plans for the Florida renovation include adding 10 pool-side bungalow suites along with a Hyde Lounge and Katsuya sushi restaurant to the 132-room hotel. The property is being redesigned by Philippe Starck, with reopening planned for the first quarter of 2012 under the name SLS Hotel South Beach, according to Nazarian’s company. [Bloomberg]