A star-studded group that includes billionaire developer Barry Sternlicht, architect Bjarke Ingels and hospitality CEO Miguel Isla Esteve secured approval to expand and renovate the Standard Spa, Miami Beach.
Sternlicht, Ingles, Isla Esteve, Anthonio de la Rúa and Sebastian Sas are leading the redevelopment of the waterfront Venetian Islands hotel at 40 Island Avenue in Miami Beach. On Tuesday, the Miami Beach Design Review Board unanimously granted variances and a waiver that will allow the project to move forward.
The property will remain a Standard-branded hotel and will continue offering memberships, Isla Esteve told The Real Deal. The Miami Beach hotel has between 650 and 700 members who use the property’s amenities, including the pool and spa.
The partners plan to replace the east wing of the hotel with a five-story building with six luxury condos and 50 hotel rooms; renovate the three-story west wing; and reduce the room count to 50 from 67, according to plans filed with the city. The project also calls for on-site parking, and includes expanding the hotel property with the adjacent properties at 1 and 2 Farrey Lane. That will allow for better back-of-house operations, including loading and unloading, and create an entrance for the residential component, according to the project application.
Ingels of BIG is designing the project, and Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design is the architect of record.
Smaller minority investors include tech billionaire and activist Peter Thiel and his husband Matt Danzeisen, biotech investor Jeff Aronin, businessman Martin Franklin and former CEO of Softbank Group International Marcelo Claure.
Isla Esteve, CEO of Miami Beach-based Nomade People and managing partner of the Standard Miami Beach, said he and his four main partners teamed up in 2021 to acquire the property. All have backgrounds in hospitality, including Sternlicht, who sold Starwood Hotels and Resorts to Marriott International in 2016 for $12.2 billion and who created the 1 Hotels brand.
Sternlicht owns about 15.4 percent of the company that acquired the Standard for $62 million. De la Rúa, a lawyer and ex-boyfriend of Shakira, and Sebastian Sas, an architect, each own about 14 percent. Ingels and Isla Esteve each own 10 percent, according to an ownership chart included in the filings.
The group, called Nomade Lido LLC, is partnering with Integra Investments, which will handle the development but has no ownership stake in the property. Hyatt Hotels is acquiring the Standard Hotels brand in a deal valued at up to $335 million. Hyatt will take over the Standard’s management, franchise and license contracts, including that of the Miami Beach property.
The condos at the planned development will not carry the Standard name.
Isla Esteve said he and his partners spent two and a half years working on the design and working with the neighborhood association. The hotel’s waterfront pool deck, for example, will remain in the same place.
“We love the neighbors and we need to respect the neighbors,” he said earlier this week. “We never want to make this a billionaires’ club.”
The developer secured support from the Belle Isle Residents Association and other neighbors, including the owners at 6 and 7 Farrey Lane, their attorney Michael Larkin said. Belle Isle Residents Association received monetary and non-monetary consideration.
The Miami Beach Design Review Board on Tuesday granted variances tied to a side yard setback; aggregating three lots versus the two the city allows; and permitting a minimum height for the first floor slab.
The new east wing would include a parking garage on the first floor, hotel rooms on the second and third floors, and condos on the top two floors with rooftop decks.
Board members praised the design and the addition of parking, which will reduce traffic on the Venetian Causeway created by valets driving back and forth from Sunset Harbour, where the hotel parks cars.
The property was developed in 1953 as the Monterrey Motel and Yacht Club, designed by architect Norman Giller, according to the Miami Design Preservation League. It reopened as the Lido Spa in 1960. It’s on Belle Isle, the western-most island on the Venetian Islands.
Standard Hotels founder André Balazs, who stepped down from his role as company chair in 2017, opened the property as the Standard Spa in 2005 following a renovation.