Bye-bye Sheraton

South Florida CEO, May, 2005

The Sheraton Bal Harbour, long a favorite hotel for groups, small conventions and luxury leisure travelers, will soon be vacating its prime position on the waterfront, across the street from the Bal Harbour Shops. Miami-based developer The Related Group of Florida and hotel owner Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide say they will demolish the Morris Lapidus-designed hotel to build a St. Regis Resort & Residences, the second in the region. (A St. Regis in Fort Lauderdale is set to open later this year). The St. Regis will have 340 condominiums and 285 condo-hotel rooms--far fewer than the Sheraton's 645 rooms. There will be no hotel during construction, which Related officials say will begin in June 2006 and finish sometime in late 2008. "In the short-term it will probably hurt the tourism industry a little bit in that area," says Raul Leon, president of Miami consulting company Tecton Hospitality Inc. Convention overflow, Leon predicts, will spill to hotels being built in Sunny Isles Beach. Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO William Talbert says the Loews Miami Beach and the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza in South Beach, near the Miami Beach Convention Center, and a new tower at the Fontainebleau Hilton Resort in Miami Beach will also pick up the slack.

--RB