Billionaire Jeffrey Soffer’s plan to add cabanas and waterslides at his iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort could be swept away next month.
Two city elected officials, including Mayor Steven Meiner, joined a grassroots coalition of residents, activists and preservationists in opposing Soffer’s controversial proposal to add a towering water park-style amenity to the historic 1,593-room hotel’s pool deck, ratcheting up pressure on the city’s Historic Preservation Board days before a crucial vote on Feb. 10.
The 22-acre landmark is at 4441 Collins Avenue.
Meiner posted an image of the planned pool renovations on his Instagram account along with a long caption on why he’s against it, following a Zoom meeting of the MidBeach Neighborhood Association this week.
“The resident outcry against this project over traffic, noise, and neighborhood impacts has been understandably loud, and I share these concerns,” Meiner wrote.
In a phone interview with The Real Deal, Meiner said the Fontainebleau proposal triggered one of the largest waves of constituent outreach he’s experienced, and that the feedback has been overwhelmingly negative.
“It is hard to find a resident who is supportive of the project,” Meiner said.
Meiner and his city commission colleagues won’t get to decide the fate of Soffer’s plan, however. That duty falls on the historic preservation board, which in November delayed voting on the planned renovation to give Soffer’s Aventura-based Fontainebleau Development time to tweak the height and size of a cabana structure and a concrete tower connected to a network of waterslides.
Meiner said that his and residents’ objections center on traffic, safety and environmental impacts, and that nothing he heard during the MidBeach Neighborhood Association meeting changed his mind.
Fontainebleau Development reduced the height of the cabana structure to two stories from three stories and slashed the waterslide tower from 12 stories to 10 stories, updated renderings and plans show.
Fontainebleau Development defended its revisions in a statement, saying the revised project incorporates community input and feedback from the first Historic Preservation Board meeting. Fontainebleau Development senior vice president Anthony Stahl said in the Zoom meeting that the poolside upgrades will help boost nightly room rates and fund upkeep of the property’s main historic building designed by the late Miami Beach architect, Morris Lapidus.
Stahl repeatedly downplayed opponents’ assertions that Fontainebleau Development is creating a destination water park that will be open to the general public. He insisted that the slides and amenities are meant for hotel guests rather than day visitors. However, Stahl acknowledged that day passes to use the resort’s amenities would include access to the waterslides.
He framed the overhaul as a pivot away from the “spring breaker party scene” toward a more family-friendly, high-end environment.
“We don’t want to have adults popping bottles, partying, loud music,” Stahl said. “The intent is for all that to go away.”
Neighborhood leaders questioned Fontainebleau’s assurances.
Marc Weiss, an attorney who lives in the city, called the plan “the greatest threat facing Miami Beach today.”
Weiss claimed he was able to place an online day pass order for 90 adults and 90 children for the existing pool, arguing that the new amenity will inevitably function as an attraction open to the public.
“Theme parks bring a ratchet crowd,” Weiss said. “It’s tacky.”
Alicia Casanova, a board member for the MidBeach Neighborhood Association, derided the pool renovations.
“Morris Lapidus would be turning in his grave,” Casanova said. “We are united, we are angry, we are going to fight this…This is unthinkable.”