Plans are underway for an iconic Miami Beach hotel and bar to be replaced with a high-end restaurant and affordable housing units, the building's owner announced.
The changes being submitted soon to the city of Miami Beach include a development with 40% of the units designated as affordable and a maximum of height of 30 stories, the Jesta Group, which owns the Clevelander Hotel and Bar on Ocean Drive, said in a press release Thursday. The group also owns the adjoining Essex Hotel.
The plan is allowed under Florida's Live Local Act, which is designed to incentivize affordable housing, said Anthony O'Brien, the group's senior managing director. Rent has skyrocketed in the last several years along Miami Beach and across much of Florida.
“Since purchasing the Clevelander Hotel and Bar a few years ago, we have been proud to operate this legendary and iconic establishment in South Beach. Although we are happy to continue operating as we have, some have expressed a desire that we change our business model at the property,” O'Brien said in the statement.
The statement said the new development would maintain the historic Art Deco facades.
Can you spot the difference? In the rendering of the Clevelander provided by its foreign investors, the proposed development is 5-6 floors. Pretty telling that they conveniently left out of their rendering the 30 stories they seek to build. 30 stories on Ocean Drive! Take a look… pic.twitter.com/8i6cePFcXx
— Dan Gelber (@MayorDanGelber) September 8, 2023
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber slammed the developer’s proposal.
“This is the worst idea ever. The Jesta Group should be ashamed,” he said in a statement. “Thirty-story buildings would simply destroy what is known throughout the world as the iconic postcard of our city.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Gelber said the developers' earlier rendering of the project had between five and six floors — not 30.
“Pretty telling that they conveniently left out of their rendering the 30 stories they seek to build,” Gelber wrote.
WLRN staff contributed to this story