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

Other districts have been created, most recently the North Beach Resort Historic District along the east side of Collins, from 60th to 72nd streets. Its Miami Modern (MiMo) architecture, says North Beach Development Corporation director Jeannie Tidy, "is the most enthusiastic, whimsical architecture that happened after World War I. Sweeping arches, grandiose lobbies--everything is bigger."

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The preservation movement does make building on the Beach challenging. Kenneth Fields, owner of The Creek South Beach hotel at 23rd and Collins, has found himself tangled in "redesign" with the historic preservation board. Fields purchased The Creek in 2002, planning to build condominiums there. He's on his fourth plan revision. "There are some buildings worth preserving," Fields says, but his just isn't one of them.

Other developers have had better experiences. "You have to have a good stomach for historic preservation," says developer Gregg Covin, whose current projects include the 41-unit Montclair and 17-unit Domicile. "But if a building has an Art Deco character and you do a nice renovation to it, you can get a premium."

--RB