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Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-623
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Better Management of Interdependencies between Programs Supporting 2020 Census Is Needed
Note: The Bureau continues to refine its assumptions as it conducts further research and testing leading up to the 2020 Census.
a) The 30 area census offices for identifying addresses where people could live are included in the 250 area census offices planned for the 2020 Census.
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Ray Business Technologies is a CMMI Level-3, ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company. Raybiztech has years of experience and expertise in providing CRM Solutions on diversified technology platforms including but not limited to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, PeopleSoft, Siebel, vTiger and Salesforce CRM. Added to this that Raybiztech offers comprehensive end-to-end IT Services for Business Enterprise Solutions, Enterprise Collaboration Services, Big Data, Embedded Systems, Cloud Computing, Application Development, IT Infrastructure Management, Testing and Quality Assurance Services to organizations in the Retail, Media & Entertainment, Healthcare, Leisure & Travel, Manufacturing, Insurance, Banking & Finance, Telecom and Energy & Utilities verticals as well as Independent Software Vendors.
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
False-colored SEM image of the surface of a kidney stone. Urolithiasis is a common condition, with a prevalence of about 10%. Various types of urinary calculi have been described upon their mineral content and/or their morphology. The depicted stone is made of calcium phosphate crystals.
François Jouret, Romy Gadisseur, Marjorie Vermeersch, David Pérez-Morga. Université de Liège-CHU ; Université Libre de Bruxelles-CMMI.
Courtesy of Prof. David Pérez-Morga
Image Details
Instrument used: Quanta SEM
Magnification: 4601x
Horizontal Field Width: 58.77 µm
Voltage: 30 kV
Spot: 3.0
Working Distance: 2.3
Detector: ETD
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-623
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Better Management of Interdependencies between Programs Supporting 2020 Census Is Needed
Note: The percentages in figure 1 do not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.
False-colored SEM image of a cilium (red; 3.5 x 0.16 µm) projecting from the surface of an epithelial cell (green, blue) at a transient cavity in the mouse embryo known as the node. Their sophisticated movement generates a flow of the extra-embryonic fluid that determines the left-right axis of the embryo and ultimately the asymmetric disposition of visceral organs in the adult. Dysfunction of these elusive organelles, hard to image in space and time, is at the base of several human diseases known as ciliopathies.
Courtesy of Irene Franco, Emilio Hirsch, Daniel Monteyne and David Pérez-Morga. University of Torino and Université Libre de Bruxelles-CMMI.
Courtesy of Prof. David Pérez-Morga
Image Details
Instrument used: Quanta SEM
Magnification: 19,031 X
Horizontal Field Width: 10.07 µm
Voltage: 30 kV
Spot: 3.0
Working Distance: 9.4
Detector: ETD
Prerequisites for CMMI High Maturity- 2. For more details visit us @ www.cunixinfotech.com/cmmi-consulting-and-appraisal/
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
The captions shows the dramatic encounter, in the liver, of our unsung heroes, the immune cells, and an invading parasite, the trypanosome. Each side bears an impressive arsenal of chemical weapons that will define at the end the unset, or not, of the Sleeping Sickness. Courtesy of Daniel Monteyne, Gilles Vanwalleghem, Etienne Pays, David Pérez-Morga and CMMI at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Courtesy of David Pérez-Morga
Image Details
Instrument used: Quanta Family
Magnification: 8658.29x
Horizontal Field Width: 3062.5 μm
Voltage: 20 kV
Spot: 3.00
Working Distance: 6.85
Detector: Etd SE
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Lionstone is a family-owned company run by Diego Lowenstein, who serves as CEO, and his father, Alfredo Lowenstein. The company name comes from "lowen" which means lion in German and "stein" means stone. In 1966, the Lowenstein family purchased The White House Hotel, on the Ocean at Fifteenth Street, Miami Beach, which was their first Miami Beach investment. Lionstone’s interests include three hotels and two casinos in Curaçao, a hotel in Aruba, and a future development in Puerto Rico. Lionstone also has partnered with Sir Richard Brandon’s Virgin Group to establish Virgin Hotels in Chicago.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
Bal Harbour Ritz Carlton (previously known as Regent Hotel Bal Harbour and One Bal Harbour hotel)
10295 Collins Ave, Bal Harbour, FL 33154
*** Some Bal Harbour history...
The Ritz Carlton address - 10295 Collins Ave - Collins Avenue is also known as State Route A1A. SR A1A is a north-south Florida State Road that runs along the Atlantic Ocean, from Key West at the southern tip of Florida, to Fernandina Beach, just south of Georgia on Amelia Island. Jimmy Buffett's 1974 album title "A1A" makes sense - as the road is a beach lover's paradise. Locally 1A means the road by the beaches running from South Beach of Miami to Fort Lauderdale. 10295 Collins Ave. was previously the address for the Harbour House North which was demolished in 2004. The adjacent address 10275 Collins Ave was previously the address for the Harbour House Hotel now a condominium known as the New Harbour House. Collins Avenue leaves Bal Harbour via the Baker's Haulover Bridge. Before the channel was deepened and the bridge was built, a certain Mr. Baker used to haul-over fishing boats from the bay to ocean across the spit of land. The inlet was carved in 1925 to connect Biscayne Bay with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1949 a new bridge was built over Baker Haulover as earlier versions were damaged in hurricanes.
In 1929 a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased 245 acres of Bay Harbour raw land. Miami Beach Heights, Inc. was headed by Graham Paige automobile manufacturer Robert C. Graham, with associates Carl Fisher (Fisher's firm made nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the U.S) and Walter O. Briggs (Briggs Manufacturing Company and owner of Detroit Tigers). The task of crafting a new community began.
The dream village that was envisioned over 70 years ago started with a name. Bay Harbour was not good enough, it did not represent the city's location on the Atlantic Ocean. The "b" was taken from the word “bay” and the "al" from “Atlantic” to create "Bal," signifying a city running from the bay to the Atlantic Ocean.
They hired urban planning firm Harland Bartholomew & Associates, to design the Bal Harbour Village. From the beginning, the Village was envisioned as a modern community that would maintain exceptionally high standards, provide superior services and foster civic pride. The west side was zoned for hotels and the east side zoned for residential. The development was halted during World War II, when the land was leased to the US Military for $1 a year. The Air Corps used the land to train soldiers and established a Prisoner of War camp. Bal Harbour was the first planned community in Florida to have its utilities placed underground. Following the war the first home was built in 1945 at 160 Bal Cross Drive. It was built by Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr., who was the son of Bal Harbour Developer Robert C. Graham.
In December 1946, the first hotel, Kenilworth-by-the-Sea, opened Oceanfront at 102nd Street for business. The the 160-room ten-story Kenilworth promoted the concept of “luxurious leisure.” Thomas E. Raffington was the Owner/Managing Director. The Kenilworth was made famous in the U.S. because Arthur Godfrey broadcast his tv show from a hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic. Raffington sold the Kenilworth to associates of Arthur Godfrey and in 1953 re-opened the Golden Strand Hotel & Villas at 179th and Collins. In 1953 Raffington swapped the Golden Strand for the Copa Cabana later named the Ivanhoe Hotel (101st and Collins). In 1958, Raffington who lived at 148 Bal Bay Drive, sold the Ivanhoe to actress Gloria Vanderbilt and Herman Phillips. Phillips. Phillips was a majority owner of the Sherry Netherlands in NYC.
In 1965, the Bal Harbour Shops was built by Stanley Whitman at a cost of $7 million, excluding the land. Stanley Finch Whitman was born into South Florida's ruling class. His father, William Francis Whitman, was a millionaire businessman from Chicago who built a successful business largely by printing the Sears Roebuck catalogue. He retired in 1915 with his wife, Leona, to a sparsely inhabited stretch of swampland named Miami Beach. Stanley grew up in an oceanfront mansion on 32nd Street and Collins Avenue with two brothers William Jr and Dudley. His father, who died in 1936, was the developer of Espanoia Way and builder of the Indian Creek apartments and the Whitman by-the-Sea Hotel (later named the Robert Richter Hotel). The Whitman family mansion was sold in 1948 to Chicago banker George D. Sax (he introduced drive-in banking) and in its place is the Saxony Hotel. The Saxony was the first luxury hotel built in Miami Beach and was the first hotel to have central air-conditioning. The profits from Mrs. whitman's property sales were largely used by Stanley Whitman to buy the land which became the Bar Harbour Shops.
In the 50's Stanley Whitman sensed that Lincoln Road to the south of Bal Harbour, which had long been the Fifth Avenue of Miami, was floundering. He teamed up with Robert Graham, the original Bal Harbour developer and later bought 16 acres of land from Mr. Graham which were originally planned for a gas station and grocery store. Whitman bought the land in 1957 for $2 per sq ft. or approximately $1.3 million for the 15 acres. Designed by Mark Hampton of the firm Herbert H. Johnson & Associates (Welton Becket & Associates started the design but were fired) the center would have 107,000 of lease space, 70 shops, restaurants and 1,000 parking spaces. Hampton's design tapped into the natural beauty of the area - using greenery and the outdoor light.
At opening in 1966 the high fashion stores in Bal Harbour Shops were paying Whitman an average of $5 a square foot or 5-6 per cent of gross sales, which ever was larger. A disappointment at opening was Whitman's inability to attract a specialty department store such as a Saks or a Bergdorf Goodman. One of the original restaurants was 257-seat Schraffts fountain, bar-lounge & restaurant. Schraffts was booted out following its purchase by Pet, Inc. and a decline in quality. Whitman got Stanley Marcus to open a 60,000 sq ft Neiman-Marcus department store in 1971, the first Neiman-Marcus outside the state of Texas. The longest lasting original tenant was FAO Schwarz which departed in 2006. Dining occupies 10 percent of the center’s square footage. Stanley Whitman hired a scientist to study wind flow through the walkways - and the walkways were changed to allow cooling sea breezes flow through the center. Bal Harbour Shop's security guards were uniformed like traditional Bahamian police, or gendarmes, in military-style black trousers, red tops, and white helmets. The official logo of the Shops is a silk-screened silhouette of a helmeted gendarme. Bal Harbour Shops are considered the world’s most productive shopping center. Bal Harbour in 2011 lost Louis Vuitton, Dior, Cartier and Hermes. Bal Harbour's leases prohibit tenants from opening a second store within 20 miles unless the center received a percentage of sales from the addditional store.
Stanley Whitman was very influential in the Bal Harbour community, helping to acquire a new zip code, traffic plans, landscaping and beach restoration, an improved water main and a resort tax. Stanley Whitman died in 2017 at age of 98. The Whitman family continues today to operate and own Bal Harbour Shops.
*** The Hotel Development...
In the 1950s, Bal Harbour and Miami Beach were considered America’s Riviera, a magnet for the era’s top musicians and entertainers. During the 50's and 60's a total of nine resorts would line the Village’s Atlantic Ocean beachfront — the Sea View Hotel, the Bal Harbour, the Balmoral, the Ivanhoe, the Colony, the Singapore, the Beau Rivage and the Americana. These resorts attracted an upscale clientele. By 2004 all hotels had been demolished in favor of high rise condominiums except the 220-room Sea View Hotel located directly across from the Bal Harbour Shops at 9909 Collins Avenue.
WCI Communities would build the first hotel in Bal Harbour in 47 years. The 2004 original plans were for 185 condominium units (with some priced as high as $12 million) and 126 hotel units. WCI was the homegrown building and development company built by Florida developer Al Hoffman Jr. In the 1990s, Hoffman engineered the union of his own company, Florida Design Communities, with Westinghouse Communities, taking the combined company public in 2002. Hoffman was once the Republican National Committee's finance chair. WCI's specialty was leisure-oriented, amenity-rich master-planned communities and condo-hotels targeting affluent homebuyers. In 2000 revenue reached $1.1 billion. Profits reach $186 million in 2005 and plummet to $9 million in 2006. WCI filed for bankruptcy in 2008.
Smith Property had owned two apartment rental houses known as Harbour House North (10295 Collins Avenue) and Harbour House South (10275 Collins Avenue). Smith Property's intention was to sell-off Harbour House North and its 5 acres to a condo developer and have the building torn down (reducing the rentals market) and with the cash help with the renovation of Harbour House South. WCI acquired the 5 acre site from Smith Property Holdings. In 2004 WCI Communities signed an agreement for Regent International Hotels to manage WCI's 124 unit condo/hotel at One Bal Harbour tower. The new hotel will be known as The Regent Bal Harbour. Regent Hotels is a subsidiary of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Radisson hotel chain. The residential condominium component was named The Regent Residences at One Bal Harbour.
Culpepper, McAuliffe and Meaders, Inc., (CMMI), an Atlanta-based international design firm, provided planning and interior design services for the condominium hotel, and interior design for public amenity spaces in the condominiums. The Coral Gables architectural firm of Nichols, Brosch, Sandoval & Associates designed the hotel structure's curvilinear façade with glass exteriors. Two side wings of the building dramatically intersect a 26-story tower. Pricing for the condos was $600,000 for 511 sq ft studio and $975,000 for 1,075 sq ft one bedroom. Each guestroom suite has a custom-designed private elevator featuring wood floors and a foyer with leather walls and custom artwork. All guestrooms have six-fixture bathrooms (sink, sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, bidet) either overlooking the ocean or Intracoastal Waterway. The glass-enclosed showers feature a signature Regent touch: the “toe-tap” groove for testing water temperature before entering.
In May 2006 three construction workers were killed at WCI's One Bal Harbour construction site. The workers were on the 27th level of the building, pouring its concrete roof, when the supporting frame structure below them gave way, dropping them to the 26th floor. Despite efforts by co-workers to save the men, a 3-foot layer of hardening concrete encased one worker and partly buried the others. The construction contractor was Boran Craig Barber Engel.
In March 2008, and over a year late, the $225 million Regent Bal Harbour celebrated its grand opening with opening room rates starting at $750 per night. The signature Mediterranean-influenced restaurant was known as 1 Bleu. Helmed by chef Gerdy Rodriguez (followed by Mark Militello in 2009) the restaurant was partnered with Le Cordon Bleu. The country’s first Guerlain spa was at the Regent. Later names of the restaurant were One Kitchen, Bistro Bal Harbour and currently known as the Artisan Beach House with Chef Paula DaSilva is at the helm.
The opening general manager was Guenter H. Richter. In the 1970s, Richter held General Manager and Managing Director posts at The Washington Hilton, Washington DC; The Palmer House, Chicago; and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. During the 1980s, he was Vice President/Managing Director of the St. Regis Hotel, in New York, before becoming Vice President of Operations for Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, with posts including The Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas and The Bel Air Hotel in Beverly Hills. Prior to joining The Regent Bal Harbour, Richter was the Managing Director of The St. Regis in New York. Since 2015 The current general manager is Sase "Sasha" Gjorsovski. Previously he was general manager at Turnberry Ocean Colony from January 2014 thru April 2015 and General Manager The Acqualina Resort and Spa from 2008 thru 2014.
In August 2008, six months after opening the Regent Bal Harbour, owner WCI Communities, Inc. filed for bankruptcy. WCI had $1.9 billion in debt of which $758 million was in default. The former trophy development of WCI Communities was sold in 2009 for $14.6 million to Bogota, Columbia natives 34 year-old Jorge Arevalo and 29 year-old Juan Arevalo and their company Elcom Hotels. Arevalo's money partner was Thomas Sullivan the owner of Lumber Liquidators. The sell to Elcom (elevation community) included the hotel's common areas, now named One Bal Harbour Resort & Spa, and 51 units. The land remained with the condo owners association. Regent Hotels departed upon date of the sale.
Gary Daniels, the president of 10295 Collins Avenue Hotel Condominium Association, was uneasy about the 2009 sale to Jorge and Juan Arevalo. The Arevalo's had no experience in managing a 5-star hotel, let alone the financial aspects of a condo-hotel. During the period 2009 through 2013 the Arvvalos were sued by condo-hotel owners for misappropriation of $1.1 million from the FF&E escrow account, for failure to pay $11.8 million in assessment fees for the 51 condos owned by Elcom and the siphoning of $2.6 million from hotel operations for sports cars and lavish entertaining. Elcom's former finance director said she was asked to doctor financial records. For a short while Benchmark Hospitality managed the hotel for the court appointed receiver. On October 2, 2014, Elcom Hotel & Spa, LLC went out of business.
On Oct 2, 2014 the condo owners association One Bal Harbour Hotel Facilities, LLC and its affiliates sold the Hotel for $12 million to LK Hotel LLC and LK Units LLC, affiliates of Miami's Lionstone Development. Lionstone paid $12 million at the bankruptcy-auction to the buildings condominium assocation to gain control of the One Bal Harbour Hotel, which included 9 hotel rooms and certain hotel operating areas. Ritz-Carlton assumed management of ONE Bal Harbour Resort & Spa on October 2, 2014. The luxury resort was named The Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour, Miami. Headed by Alfredo Lowenstein and Diego Lowenstein, Lionstone Development also owns the Ritz-Carlton South Beach, the Epic Hotel & Residences in Miami and other hotels.
Compiled by Dick Johnson, March 2018
richardlloydJohnson@hotmail.com
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-282
DEFENSE MAJOR AUTOMATED INFORMATION SYSTEMS: Cost and Schedule Commitments Need to Be Established Earlier
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2020 CENSUS: Key Challenges Need to Be Addressed to Successfully Enable Internet Response
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-225
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cmo que amo mi cara :$ sale cmo aw *o* xd
ya bueno.. em.. lo que voy a escribir ahora es tan cul cmo qe me dejo pa la cagà cuando lo lei u.u, pero es muy sierto & me pasa muchas veces ...
Bien... Ahí me tienes en uno de esos días en los que nadie te coge el teléfono y las paredes se te echan encima. yo sé que siempre hay salida,
pero saber que todo irá mejor no quita que me sienta hecho una porquería. pasan los años, los proyectos, los sueños... ¿Recuerdas cómo querías ser cuando eras pequeño? crecer es darse cuenta de que la vida no es como quisieras que fuera. todo es mucho más complejo. responsabilidades, luchas, deberes...sonreír cuando no te apetece...mentir para no hacer daño a la gente que quieres. fingir cuando perfectamente sabes que te mienten. ¿Merece la pena hacer lo que se supone que debes más veces de lo que realmente quieres? ¿Por qué terminé haciendo lo que todos hacen si se supone que siempre me sentí diferente? He sido un cobarde disfrazado de valiente. siempre pendiente del qué dirá la gente. escondo mis miedos para parecer fuerte. pero ya no más, es hora de ser consecuente porque...porque creo que lo he visto, amigo, y...quizá la clave para ser realmente libre sea: reír cuando puedas y llorar cuando lo necesites. ser honesto con uno mismo, centrarse en lo importante y olvidarse del ruido. quizá la clave para ser realmente libre sea: reír cuando puedas y llorar cuando lo necesites no obcecarse con los objetivos, tratar de relajarse y vivir algo más tranquilo. con este tema me hago una promesa: & es hacer lo que sea para encontrar soluciones, no problemas. sé que no soy perfecto. bien, no me castigaré más por no serlo. voy a aprender a decir que no, a aceptarme como soy, a medir el valor. porque a veces fui valiente por miedo. sé que suena extraño, pero ¿sabes qué? lo peor de todo es que es cierto. hoy busco dormir a gusto. no suena muy ambicioso, pero créeme, es mucho. llevo treinta años estudiando la vida. ¿Que no hay mal que por bien no venga? eso es mentira. me centraré en lo importante: en mi familia, mis amigos, mi pasión por el arte... aceptaré que tengo derecho a estar de bajón de vez en cuando, porque estar de bajón es humano. No pienso rendirme ante ningún problema. confío en mí y soy capaz de vencer lo que sea. volveré a caer millones de veces, pero siempre volveré a erguirme, porque me di cuenta de que, oh...Oh sí, amigo, me di cuenta de que...quizá la clave para ser realmente libre sea: reír cuando puedas y llorar cuando lo necesites. ser honesto con uno mismo, centrarse en lo importante y olvidarse del ruido. quizá la clave para ser realmente libre sea: reír cuando puedas y llorar cuando lo necesites.No obcecarse con los objetivos, tratar de relajarse y vivir algo más tranquilo. (8)
ISU is a Unified Biz-IT Management System comprised of all the major elements required by the on-going ever-changing Digital Landscape in ONE Database (Not to be confused with Integrated, desperate, point-to-point offerings that are nearly cost prohibitive, poor cultural adaptability, forever to implement, and by the time the organization begins to use it they have to upgrade.)
Our focus is simple… Give the organization both Business and IT a common platform uniting Strategy, Clients, Products & Services, and all Resources. This promotes security, accountability,visibility, adaptability, continuity, availability, flexibility, agility, Total Governance and Control of everything and everyone in the enterprise.
Reduce administrative redundancies and you can increase Staff-focus on the tactical. “Minimum input with maximum output” – David Mansilla CEO of Waterloo Software Inc.
Today, Enterprise organizations have to innovate in shorter time iterations in order to keep up with Client Supply and Demand. These iterations will happen even at a quicker rate in the next 5-10 years.
“The organizations of the future will increasingly depend on the creativity of their members to survive. Great Groups offer a new model in which the leader is an equal among Titans. In a truly creative collaboration, work is pleasure, and the only rules and procedures are those that advance the common cause.”
— Warren Bennis
www.librosyeditores.com/tiendalemoine/3359-proceso-de-des...
Presento con agrado a la comunidad académica, el libro Proceso de Desarrollo de Software Basado en la Articulación de RUP y CMMI priorizando su calidad, el cual es resultado de la experiencia docente e investigativa de las ingenieras Carmen Inés Báez Pérez Directora del programa de Ingeniería de Sistemas y Martha Isabel Suárez Zarabanda Directora de la División de Informática, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones, pertenecientes al grupo de investigación Giprocasde la Facultad de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Universidad de Boyacá.
Esta publicación comprende inicialmente la explicación en términos generales de la calidad en un proceso de ingeniería de software, aborda una revisión del RUP (Rational Unified Process), como marco de proceso de desarrollo de software y CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration), como modelo de métricas de calidad y madurez de dicho proceso.
Las investigadoras proponen una estrategia que integra a RUP y CMMI aplicado a productos de un proceso de desarrollo de software, con el fin de priorizar en la calidad, orientada al cumplimiento de estándares y normas tal como lo estable CMMI, esta consideración permite en el momento del desarrollo, contemplar lineamientos de calidad, construcción de artefactos definidos por el proceso propuesto, cumpliendo metas en cada fase y actividades, optimizándolo y garantizando sus productos, orientados a la solución de necesidades y requerimientos organizacionales y aportando al cumplimiento de sus objetivos misionales.
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