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N MIAMI CONDO NEWS — All About Condo Living in the Magic City — Edited by Heinz Dinter, PhD |
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Boom over Miami (2006-12-17) It is “boom over Miami.” We arrive in the early part of November eager to hear Cuban music and instead discover a condo craze. Tall, colored glass buildings soar into the clear blue Miami sky. Aqua-tinted glass, navy blue, royal blue and pale purple appear everywhere you turn on the 6300 block of Collins Avenue. We are Chicagoans, where new buildings seem to rise each day, but this amount of development astounds us. Cranes reach out in every direction, and according to the manager of our hotel, it is now the largest real estate expansion in the nation. The world of Cristina Garcia’s novels is forever changing. We always stay in a boutique hotel on South Beach, where the Art Deco buildings were constructed in the early 1900s. Developers started the renaissance in the late 1970s and have fought to maintain integrity of design, color and charm. It’s these aesthetics that appeal to us. A symphony of flavors South Beach is music, merengue, marvelous meals and colorful architecture. But more important, South Beach is flavor. Flavor -- could it be the crispy skinned red snapper on top of jasmine rice, grilled shrimp and Chinese sausage with Vietnamese tea foam at the award-winning restaurant, Wish, located in our hotel? Or the warm chocolate cake sitting on chocolate sauce filled with four jams and a dollop of pistachio ice cream, each created by chef Michael Bloise? Even the hotels have spice. On the corner of Eighth and Collins, The Hotel of South Beach, where we stayed, is a charming 53-room Art Deco hotel renovated by designer Todd Oldham about eight years ago. Rows of frosted blue and green fixtures drop from the bar’s ceiling. Lively blue and green hand-painted bathroom floor tiles are a welcome departure from neutral bathrooms. The hotel’s architects designed the Spire Bar and Lounge for the rooftop, keeping the old Tiffany neon sign that rises from the bar. Hotel guests can look out across the city, visit and relax. Playful, colorful, arty and lighthearted, South Beach has come alive during this recent rebirth. Cuban music wafts in the air in front of Lario’s restaurant on Ocean Drive, a cruise ship begins its voyage and a German tour group follows its guide along the beach. Seven years ago we could not walk past Fifth Street, now a quiet residential area with condos rising in every direction. We pass the historic Jewish Museum, formerly the first orthodox Jewish congregation in Miami built in 1936. Once a playground to the world, Miami is returning to its old status. To attract the convention crowd, the new Loews Miami Beach Hotel was built on Collins Avenue, and the new Ritz-Carlton (formerly the Art Deco Del Lido Hotel) along with the Delano, the Sagamore and the National are all walking distance to Lincoln Road, redesigned into a lively promenade with shops, restaurants and the World Symphony Theatre. Viva South Beach! Ralph Lauren’s South Beach store is a departure from his leathery elegance in major cities. A “lofty Lauren” sports a whitewashed store at 740 Collins Ave., where white painted steel steps lead up to a second floor defined by glass amidst palm plants and nautical couches. Lauren’s lace and denim combinations and white beach pants and shirts are luscious choices for this playground. We recall the movie “Auntie Mame,” and rejoice in Auntie’s advice to her young nephew: “Live!” says Auntie Mame. We will always return to South Beach. “Vive!” Source: Chicago Sun-Times • Marlene Gelfond, mgelfond@suntimes.com
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