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Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Compiled by Dick Johnson
richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com
Dec. 2023
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died rich at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died rich at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
David Grutman, entrepreneur in nightclubs, opened LIV in 2008, Capacity is 900. Bottle service starts at $400. Reserved tables start at $1,000. The 18,000 sq ft space was opened in 1954 as the La Ronde Supper Club. LIV is one of the highest grossing night clubs in the United States. LIV selected its name in part because the roman numeral LIV harkens back to the days of Studio 54. In 2023 Grutman's company is opposing the Saudi Arabian golf tour LIV attempts to register the trademark.
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Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Simberg ( a leaf of alder tree and chalk)
Katso video - Look the video:
vimeo.com/manage/videos/574357061
Suomen kuvataiteilijoista yksi minulle rakkaimmista on Hugo Simberg. Aikana, jolloin mahtipontista kansallisromantiikkaa suosittiin, ja teosten koot olivat suuria ja näyttäviä, Hugo Simberg maalasi vesivärein pieniä postikortin kokoisia akvarelleja. Aiheetkin olivat kovin kaukana mahtipontisista ja ylevöittävistä. Simbergin teoksissa arkinen piru tulee ja noutaa vastasyntyneen, Halla henkii kuolemaa keskellä suopeltoa ja luurangot hoivaavat lääkeyrttejä Kuoleman puutarhassa.
Suurin yllätys minulle kuitenkin koitti, kun näin luonnossa Simbergin kuvaaman notkolatvaisen kuusen. Olin pitänyt sitä kuvittajan omana keksintönä, joka alleviivaa melankolisten tapahtumien sielunmaisemaa. Mutta ei! Kuusi on tosiaan olemassa. Sen nimi on surukuusi, latinaksi picea abies pendula. Surukuusella on ympäri maailman paljon sukulaisia, joilla kaikilla on sama alaspäin notkuva latva sekä masentuneen ihmisen ryhti.
Lepänlehteen ilmiintynyt hahmo on sekin simbergiläisittäin pieni, outo ja käsittämätön. Niille, joita kiinnostaa kokeilla lehdelle maalaamista, suosittelen kärsivällisyyttä. Puiden lehdet ovat alituisessa liikkeessä ja tarkan kuvan saaminen on työn ja tuskan takana.
Mutta kauniinpaa valoa kuin lehvästössä on, saa hakemalla hakea.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died rich at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died rich at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died rich at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died a millionaire at age 93.
Garlic Sauce (Toum) - a popular Lebanese condiment made with 4 ingredients: garlic, oil, lemon and salt.
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Fontainebleau Miami Beach
4441 Collins Ave, Miami Beach, FL
In the beginning -
One of Miami barrier island’s millionaire pioneers was James H. Snowden. He made his fortune in the oil industry in Oklahoma and Texas. He also understood beach-side opportunities. In 1916 Snowden began clearing property about a mile and a half north of Miami's Collins wooden span bridge for his new winter home, Snowden Place. It was known as one of the handsomest mansions in early Miami Beach. Snowden spent about $250,000 to landscape and build his palatial home.
In 1923 Akron tire magnate Harvey Firestone bought Snowden Place for about $250,000 and renamed the 15-bedroom mansion at 44st and Collins Ave., Harbel Villa - derived from Harvey and Idabelle, his wife's name. After Firestone's death the house served as officer's quarters" during World War II.
Novack Years - 1954 - 1978
The Firestone estate was sold in 1952 for $2,300,000 to a group led by Ben Novack who planned a 15-story resort to cost upwards of 14 million dollars with 554 rooms. Novack was the proprietor at the Sans Souci Hotel, now the Hotel Riu Plaza Miami Beach.
The Fontainebleau was named after the Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France, in Fontainebleau, France.
The original ownership syndicate put together by Ben Novack included his father Hyman and brother Joe. Dozens of other investors included Sam Friedland, president of the nation-wide chain of Food Fair Markets, Sam Giancana, Joseph Fischetti, Joe Cherner, Herbert Glassman, Jules M. Gorlitz, Ben Jaffe, Sam Lane, Abe M. Parker and Abe Rosenberg. It was rumored big money Mafia boss Sam Giancana had taken control of the Fontainebleau for a while and was paying Novack $2 million a year to be the frontman. Noted mobster Joseph Fischetti was actually on Novack's payroll in charge of leasing gift shop space.
Ben Novack ran the Fontainebleau for 24 years from the time it was built until it was bankrupt and sold in 1978. He and his wife, Bernice, resided in a palatial 14th floor apartment in the Hotel’s Chateau building, called the Governor’s Suite, where they raised their son, Ben Jr.
Ben Novack wanted to build the biggest, most luxurious hotel in Miami Beach. Novack contracted Morris Lapidus for a very small fee and by1954 Lapidus had moved his drafting office into the living room of the Firestone mansion and work on the dream hotel commenced. Novack and Lapidus set out to create the Fontainebleau under the concept of the "hotel as a show". Not surprising a couple of features of the Novack family-owned Laurel Hotel and Country Club in the Catskills were made prominent in the Fontainebleau - an extra-large swimming pool and multiple bars. Lapidus was quoted as saying he was not looking for a profit - just the opportunity to design a great hotel that would be comparable to the Waldorf Astoria.
After the Fontainebleau Morris Lapidus was the lead architect for the Eden Roc Hotel (1955), The Summit Hotel, now Doubletree Metropolitan Hotel, New York, (1960), The Americana of New York Hotel, now Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York, (1961), The Americana of San Juan Hotel, now InterContinental San Juan, San Juan, (1961) and the El Conquistador Resort, Fajardo, Puerto Rico, (1965).
A Fontainebleau architecture feature is the 'Staircase to Nowhere' (formally called the "floating staircase"), which merely led to a mezzanine-level coat check and ladies' powder-room, but offered the opportunity to make a glittering descent into the hotel lobby. The Fontainebleau wanted to become more than just a hotel fronting a beach. Its immense pool abutted a four‐acre copy of the formal French gardens at Fontainebleau, France. There was the La Ronde Room, the showroom where famous entertainers appeared each night and the winter home to Frank Sinatra. There was the Poodle Lounge, where quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the Boom-Boom Room, where not-so-quiet cocktails could be enjoyed. There was the mammoth coffee shop--except it wasn`t called a coffee shop, it was called Chez Bon-Bon - open all night.
On Dec 20, 1954 the Fontainebleau hotel officially opened with a grand ball for 1,600 invited guests. The guest of honor was the mayor of Fontainebleau, France, Homer Pajot. Duke Stewart, the former manager of the Roney Plaza Hotel was the Fontainebleau's opening general manager. The hotel opened with 45 PBX operators, 8 kitchens with over 160 chefs, butchers and cooks. Opening room rates were $33.00.
For nearly 25 years, the Fontainebleau Hotel was so well-known that no outdoor signage was necessary to identify it. Celebrities and entertainers, ranging from Elvis Presley and Bob Hope to Lucille Ball and Judy Garland, made the hotel so popular that Novack was once forced to post armed guards to bar non-guests from entering. Through the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel reigned as Miami’s leading resort and some called it the most famous hotel in the world.
One of the most iconic moments in the history of popular music occurred at the Fontainebleau when Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presly shared the same stage for a televised special for ABC, filmed in March 1960 It was Elvis’ comeback after a stint in the army and as a result netted him $125,000.
By the early 1970's the Fontainebleau started to turn shabby and common. The former Sorrento Hotel, was purchased and added to the Fontainebleau complex in 1970. Novack was politically well-known in Miami. His many efforts to enhance the beach and his desperation efforts to receive a gambling license all were met with resistance. By the mid 70's co-ed nude sunbathing was promoted on a restricted top floor solarium. The Fontainebleau even considered going time-share. Hawaii, Disney World and cruise ships were new competitors. Ben Novack filed for bankruptcy in 1977 after falling behind on $1.6 million in back taxes and $16 million in bank debts.
In 1978, Hotelerama, owned by Stephen Muss and Joel Friedland and Gerald Robins dba Roland International, a $4 million lienholder, purchased the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy for $27 million. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company had a 12.2 million mortgage.
Stephen Muss Years - 1978-2005
In the late 1970's Stephen Muss was the largest property owner on Miami Beach and was the head of Miami's Redevelopment Agency. Hotelerama Associates, Ltd was formed and controlled by Stephen Muss, to own and operate the Fontainebleau. At the time Muss was the president of Alexander Muss and Sons, which owned the five Seacoast Towers. Muss, in partnership with his father, Alexander, developed some 20,000 houses in New York from 1952 to 1968. The Muss family moved to Florida, where his father built the Seacoast Towers in Miami Beach. Stephen took over the Florida business, now named the Muss Organization, becoming Miami Beach's single largest landlord. Stephen and Sandra Muss are among the most prominent philanthropists in Miami. They are pillars of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He sold the Seacoast Towers for $94 million. Stephen Muss pioneered a vision for the renaissance of Miami Beach as the owner of the Fontainebleau from 1978 until 2005.
So, it was in 1978 Stephen Muss bought the ageing Fontainebleau for $27 million rescuing it from bankruptcy. Muss signed a multi-year contract with the Hilton company to operate and market the hotel. By 1982 Muss had put $45 million in improvements to the Fontainebleau. By 1988 news accounts put the Muss renovation total to $70 million.
Some say that Muss saved the Miami Beach hotel industry by buying the Fontainebleau. Muss was prominent in getting Miami Beach to implement a 3% "bed" tax to rebuild the city's aging infrastructure which included refurbishing and expanding the convention center.
In 1985, Stephen Muss chose the muralist Richard Haas to give the property’s Sorrento building a face-lift with a grand visual statement. A six-story trompe l'oeil on Collins Avenue tricked viewers into thinking they could see the property’s iconic Château building through an enormous arch in a wall flanked by columns. From 1985 until 2002 drivers traveling northbound on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from South Beach got the impression that they could walk through the Sorrento building to the Fontainebleau Hotel's Chateau building. The mural was destroyed when the Sorrento building was torn down in 2002 to make room for the new Fontainebleau II (Tresor) condominium/hotel.
In 1948 the Sorrento Hotel was built by Harry Simberg who at the time also owned the Miami Colonial Hotel and the Mayflower Hotel and Shore Club in Plymouth, Mass. The location was 4391 Collins Ave. just south of the Firestone Estate. This art-deco hotel was set right on the ocean. Named after the coastal Italian town, the Sorrento was later acquired by Fontainebleau.
Muss turned to his daughter, Melanie Muss, to head up the partnership with Turnberry Associates to build two condo-hotel towers on the Fontainebleau's 18-acre oceanfront compound. The new buildings were financed as condominium projects, with each unit ranging in size from 500 to 1,000 square feet selling for $350,000 to $1 million.
The partnership brought together two of South Florida's prominent developers, Fontainebleau owner, Stephen Muss and Turnberry Associates Managing Partner, Don Soffer. Directing the project was the Fontainebleau Vice President of Development, Melanie Muss and Turnberry Associates Principal, Jeffrey Soffer, the daughter of Stephen Muss and son of Don Soffer, respectively. Turnberry Associates had created Turnberry Isle Resort and Golf Club, Porto Vita and the 3rd largest mall in the United States - the Aventura Mall.
To build the first condo-hotel, the Fontainebleau II (Tresor), 44th Street was moved 130 feet to the south. Fontainebleau II (Tresor) with 36 stories and 462 designer-furnished suites, was completed in 2005. Condo owners could add their unit to the Fontainebleau Hilton guest room inventory.
Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) opened in 2008 with 18 floors and 311 condo/suites. Fontainebleau III (Sorrento) brings the hotel complex back to its original room count at about 1,200 rooms, The 300-room Sorrento was closed when construction on Fontainebleau II began.
Turnberry Associates - 2005 to Now
In 2005, Turnberry Associates purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel from Stephen Muss for $165 million. Turnberry was expected to launch an estimated two-year, $150 million campaign to include new signature restaurants, a world-class spa, Las Vegas-style entertainment amenities and a complete refurbishment of the hotel's expansive meeting/banquet and public space. The renovation (which grew to $1 billion dollars) was conceived, in part, to lure back fashionable crowds, which have drifted down to South Beach. The renovation included stripping away ’70s-era lobby carpeting to expose the original marble floor with its signature bow tie design.
Turnberry and the Muss family have been involved in a joint-venture, steered by Turnberry's Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau's Melanie Muss to develop the two condominium-hotel towers on the south end of the resort's 18-acre property.
Stephen Muss is quoted as saying "It's been an incredibly wonderful ride and selling the Fontainebleau is bittersweet, The Muss and Soffer families share the same vision for this property and I am confident it will continue as one of the strongest and most exciting convention resort hotels in the country." Soffer added that Melanie Muss will remain in her current position and play an active role in bringing Turnberry's plans to fruition.
Founded in 1967, Turnberry Associates has developed more than $5 billion in commercial and residential real estate, including approximately 20 million square feet of retail development, in excess of 5,000 luxury condominium and condominium-hotel residences, 1.5 million square feet of Class A office space and more than 1,640 hotel and luxury resort rooms.
Some background - In the early 60's Don Soffer's father Harry turned a store into a shopping center in Pittsburgh and those shopping centers led to malls. The Soffer family would visit the Fontainebleau often in the winters. It occurred to Harry Soffer that renting an apartment on the beach was more ideal and less costly than a suite at the Fontainebleau. In 1967 the Sofer's bought some 785 acres of swamp land in Dade County which they developed in to the Aventura. Harry Soffer died in 1972 at the age of 63.
Today the site has the Aventura Mall, Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and Turnberry Isle - a complex of high-rise condos, waterfront villas and a marina. Don Sofer’s kids are Jackie, Marsha and Jeff. Jeff Soffer headed up the development of Fontainebleau II and Fontainebleau III and led the renovation and the 2008 grand re-opening of the Fontainebleau Hotel at a cost of a billion dollars. To help pay for the renovations in 2008 Nakheel Hotels purchased 50% of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach for $375 million. In 2013 the Jeffrey Soffer-led ownership of Fontainebleau Miami Beach bought out Nakheel;s partnership interest in the resort. Soffer claims the Fontaineleau Miami is one of the most profitable non-casino hotels in the country.
And finally -
After selling the Fontainebleau Novack kept himself busy by creating a restaurant with franchise possibilities called Alacatraz. The Boynton Beach restaurant was short lived. The booths were jail cells. He lost upwards of a million dollars on the venture. Ben Novack died of a heart attack in 1985 at age 78.
In 2009, Ben Novack's only son Benjamin Jr. and former wife Bernice Novack (16 yr marriage ended in 1968) were both murdered. Convicted was Ben Jr's estranged wife, Narcy Novack, who was disinherited from the Novack estate.
Melanie Muss has been selling real estate in Aspen, CO since 2010.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, has now taken the Fontainebleau brand to Las Vegas. The 67-story, 3,600 room, $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino/resort opens in Dec, 2023. Fontainebleau Las Vegas will be the sister property of Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
In 1985, when critics still did not appreciate his work, Morris Lapidus burned the designs of his life’s work, including the drawings and plans of the Fontainebleau. He died rich at age 93.