The Historic Seville Hotel
The historic Miami Beaches Seville Hotel gets a rebirth. The Seville on Miami Beach was listed as one of the last remaining distressed properties in September 2009. As of August 2010, Ian Shrager’s taking it over through a recent partnership with Marriott turning the now-shuttered oceanfront hotel into a luxury boutique ‘Marriott Edition’ brand over these next 3 years.
The 278,000-square-foot Seville was built in 1955. With a previous attempt at a comeback in 2005, the developers announced plans to turn it into a condo and fractional ownership complex under the Ritz-Carlton brand. Part of the old property would have been knocked down to make room for two 21-story towers, but the project couldn’t get off the ground. Lenders balked in the unfriendly credit market of 05. Marriott acquired the property in July 2010 in a $57.5 million short sale from owner 2901 Beach Ventures, a partnership between Lionstone Group led by Alfredo Lowenstein and Fortune International Management. County records show, which is nearly $10 million less than a foreclosure lawsuit that had been filed on the property, which has since been dismissed.
Ian Schrager Revisits The Beach
Schrager left Miami Beach a few years ago with the sale of his interest in the Morgans Hotel Group, which started in 1984. Ian Schrager is well known for Delano’s “urban resort” style & success (along with Studio 54 and Palladium), introducing the concept of a “boutique hotel” to the world. In recent years, Schrager has focused on luxury residences and a hotel in New York City, along with creating the Edition brand aimed at sophisticated travelers.
Mr. Schrager’s latest venture, a partnership with Marriott International, intends to create a new brand of as many as 100 hotels that will combine the personal, intimate, individualized and unique lodging experience that he created with the operational expertise that Marriott is known for on a global scale.”
-IanSchragerCompany
Marriott’s Edition Brand in South Beach
Marriott’s portfolio includes the luxury brand Ritz-Carlton and the upscale JW Marriott. Other quality brands include Marriott and Renaissance, and moderate hotels Courtyard by Marriott and Fairfield Inn by Marriott. In addition to Edition Miami Beach, it also recently created the Autograph Collection, featuring 10 hotels with an individualistic ambiance. Edition seeks to set itself apart by creating individualized hotels in busy markets that reflect the cultures of their surroundings with an emphasis on sophistication and service. Other planned Edition locations include Mexico City, Bangkok, Istanbul, and Barcelona. Schrager and Marriott announced the partnership three years ago. Initially, plans called for the South Beach Marriott at 161 Ocean Dr. to become an Edition, but that failed to materialize as the recession hit.
South Florida’s historic hotel Seville, sits on nearly three acres of beachfront property at 2901 Collins Avenue. It is expected to open in three years after it undergoes significant renovations during a continued market upswing.
