Miami Beach modern; Miami Beach has gone through a series of transformations over the decades, from glamour days in the 1950s to retirement enclave in the 1970s. Today it has become an affluent community, rich in the arts, appealing as much to businesses as it does to tourists

South Florida CEO, April, 2004 by Rochelle Broder-Singer

When the owners of The Treister Murry Agency picked Espanola way for the public relations firm's offices, they were looking for well-priced space in a fun place to work. They never thought a South Beach address would be a business advantage. "There's like this unspoken cache about a South Beach address," says co-owner Richard Murry. "Reporters in New York love to talk to us, clients love to come visit us, and every time we're in front of a new business prospect, they're impressed by this urban, gritty image that they get just from the address on our business card."

A South Beach address offering business credibility? That is one gauge of how much the city has changed over the years, from drug cowboy and bored retiree turf, to fashion industry playground, to home base for the dotcom boom and bust, to today's serious city. Another measure: 22,000-square-foot Club Maze, one of the city's largest nightclubs, is closing, its space to house an Office Depot. Other new businesses are moving in, as well. Among them are a few large corporations--most notably LNR Property Corp., with about 200 employees--which have moved headquarters or significant offices here. It is the small businesses, however, that are most enthusiastic.

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That is hardly what Scott Robins expected five years ago when his Miami Beach-based Scott Robins Companies began developing new Class A office space in South Beach. He anticipated large users would flock to The Lincoln and 555 Washington. "Five years later, now that the buildings have been completed, we've gone through the dotcom and stock market crash, we've gone through September 11, and a market that had half a million square feet of pent-up demand now had a negative absorption of about 200,000 square feet of space," Robins says. In fact, at the end of 2003, the Miami Beach submarket had the most vacant Class A space in Miami-Dade County, according to a report from CB Richard Ellis.

Robins, for one, says he feels he hit the bottom of leasing activity about six months ago. "We're focusing on entrepreneurial, professional type businesses, a little smaller, where the owner is the top executive and really wants the quality of life," he says. "They feel safe on Miami Beach, and really enjoy the culture."

One owner who moved her business to the Beach is furnishing and travel bags designer Joy Haizen of Joy & Jake. "It's an environment that embraces creativity," she says. Murry feels the same vibe. "More so than Coral Gables, more so than the City of Miami proper, the vibe on the Beach is very entrepreneurial," he says. It even attracts businesspeople who don't work on the beach, such as Brian Tannenbaum, managing partner of Miami law firm Tannenbaum, Planas & Weiss. He recently became president of a Miami Beach networking group. "It's vibrant--there's a lot of entrepreneurs on the Beach, a lot of small business," he says. "Businesspeople are looking to be a part of the city."

While entrepreneurs are changing the Beach's business climate, the two mainstays of its economy remain the obvious--tourism--and the nearly forgotten--health care.

Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute is the largest employer on the Beach, with 3,000 employees (plus 800 physicians on staff). Its economic impact in 2004 is expected to hit $244 million (up from $232 million in 2003). "That cannot be underestimated," says Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce president Bruce Singer. "Because that is a permanent go-to player that has been here for decades and will be here for decades." The teaching hospital sees more than 100,000 patients each year. "We're a regional medical center, and actually more than 50 percent of our patients come from areas beyond Miami Beach, everywhere from Key West and Martin County to Latin America and the Caribbean," says Mount Sinai CEO Steve Sonenreich.

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While the impact of health care is clearly seen in dollars, other industries have a less obvious effect. While still small in terms of direct spending, the entertainment industry's importance transcends the money it generates during the production of television shows, movies and photo shoots. "Tourism is helped by the visuals that are provided of Miami Beach," says Kevin Crowder, the city's economic development director. While the print advertising and catalogue industry has, for the moment, left Miami Beach, a small stream of film and television business remains. On the music side, companies such as MTV Networks Latin America and Sony Discos have helped make Miami Beach an entertainment gateway to Latin America.

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City government has another kind of music in mind for Miami Beach. It is providing land near the Lincoln Road pedestrian mall to build a state-of-the-art home for the New World Symphony. The performance and rehearsal venue--called Soundspace--is to be designed by architect Frank Gehry, known for his edgy Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain and Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The $40 million project, which won't be complete until at least 2010, will be funded entirely by private donations. Along with the hall, the space will include parking facilities and a large park.