Miami Beach is getting closer to having more dazzling meeting space for business or leisure.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s new convention center is expected to be completed in November and it is already taking reservations for corporate and social events well into 2026, Phil Goldfarb, chief operating officer of Fontainebleau Development, said in an interview with the Herald. The building was topped out in April, completing the structural framework.
The new space next to the iconic hotel, called the Coastal Convention Center, will seat about 1,000 people. The five-story building, located at 4441 Collins Ave., spans 45,000 square feet, or about 10 NBA courts. It also features underground parking. All in all, it’s a $100 million investment.
The design pays tribute to Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s original architect, Morris Lapidus, with a luxurious interior and extensive art and murals curated by Kevin Barry Art Advisory and Jean-Paul Phillippe. The building will be connected to the hotel via a sky bridge.
The goal of the expansion is to create a modern meeting space, Goldfarb said.
This addition “changes the whole dynamic in Fontainebleau,” he said. “It’s looked more or less the same since 1954.”
The Fontainebleau was built on the former estate of tire magnate Harvey Firestone and opened in 1954.
In 2005, South Florida-based Turnberry Associates, the development company founded in 1969 by Donald Soffer, acquired the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort. By 2008, it had completed a $1 billion dollar renovation, including the addition of two new towers, the Trésor and Sorrento Towers.
By then, Jeffrey Soffer and Jackie Soffer, Donald’s son and daughter respectively, were running Turnberry.
In 2019, the siblings decided to go their own business path. Jeffrey Soffer would keep the hotels and create a new company, Fontainebleau Development, which would own his hospitality assets. That company currently owns the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.
New facility for a new era
The hotel sits on 22 oceanfront acres and is one and a half miles from South Beach and the Art Deco district. It has long been one of South Florida’s most popular luxury resorts. Frank Sinatra and Lucile Ball were regular guests. It has 1,504 guest rooms and suites.
The property has an existing conference center of approximately 100,000 square meters with a capacity for up to 5,000 people. But this new facility will allow Fontainebleau to hold multiple events at the same time.
Goldfarb sees the new conference space as ideal for weddings, bar mitzvahs, charity galas or smaller corporate functions or events such as business breakout sessions.
The expansion is also a signal that Miami is increasingly becoming a destination for major events and the recognition that Miami is attracting more professionals. Goldfarb says this has been an important market segment for the hotel and while the year started strong, it typically slows down in the summer.
“We wanted to be able to host more social and business events than our current facilities allow,” said Goldfarb. “These are things we need to be able to handle new business.”
The Coastal Convention Center was designed by Miami-based Nichols Architects. Jeffrey Beers International provided the interior design. It will also feature a grand staircase that pays tribute to Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s Stairway to Nowhere.
And while the hotel’s owner, Fontainebleau Development, has expressed interest in opening a casino in Miami Beach and Governor Ron DeSantis has indicated support, there is currently no indication that the new convention space would be used for that purpose.
Fontainebleau Miami Beach has had recent problems. In April 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, a $975 million commercial mortgage-backed securities loan was placed in special services. In July of that year, the hotel announced more than 1,300 layoffs.
Yet they appear to have recovered from the pandemic slump. In the coming months they plan to announce several vacancies.
What can you expect in the new conference center?
These are the amenities you will find in the new conference center:
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Total area is 45,000 square feet
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Five floors
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Underground parking garage in building
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Grand Ballroom, approximately 16,500 square feet
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A 7,000 square foot rooftop deck with views of Biscayne Bay and downtown
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Junior ballroom, approximately 9,500 square feet
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15 meeting rooms in total (e.g. for breakout sessions)
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15,000 square feet of pre-event space
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Connected by a sky bridge to the main hotel building
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Floor-to-ceiling windows provide natural light to the meeting rooms
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LED walls and wayfinders
