MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber announced Monday the Deauville Hotel’s demolition is “all but a certainty” and he wants Stephen M. Ross, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, to develop the property.
Gelber said Ross, who is behind the “transformative” projects at the New York’s Hudson Yards and the Deutsche Bank Center, retained Frank Gehry, a Canadian-American architect who designed the New World Symphony Center.
“I will be asking our City Commission to place on the November ballot for your consideration a measure that will give Steve the ability and flexibility to do something transformative,” Gelber said.
Five years ago, an electrical fire damaged the hotel on Collins Avenue and 67th Street in North Beach. In a statement, Gelber said the property owners allowed it to fall into substantial disrepair.
“It has only festered crime and blight in its shadow,” Gelber said.
The city sued the owners. Gelber said the Miami Design Preservation League’s appeal to stop demolition was rebuffed last week. Gelber said a re-creation of the original Deauville is “entirely unrealistic and impractical” to expect.