Private Key, which opened in June, is a 14,000-square-foot warehouse venue for meetings and events. There are two event spaces; an enclosed patio area; and four private lounge suites, and when used together the space holds 1,500 guests for reception-style events. The indoor event rooms each measure 5,000 square feet and each hold 700 for receptions or seated events for 445. The Gallery space has white walls and minimalist decor while the Club features a 270-degree projection mapping system. There is also a 4,000-square-foot-garden with cabanas, bench seating, and mobile bars for receptions of 400 guests. The venue also has state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment for concerts or other live performances.
South Beach nightlife veterans Dana Dwyer, Ryan Van Milligen, and Greg See (the team behind the venues SET and Mynt) conceptualized the nightclub Ora, which is scheduled to open in August. Designed by Francois Frossard, the venue has touches of old European charm, such as classic coupé champagne glasses and boiserie paneling. At more than 10,000 square feet, it will accommodate 680 for cocktails or seat about 250 guests. The Social Room at Ora, a separate 1,500-square-foot space on the club’s top floor, holds about 150 for receptions or seats 75.
ME by Meliá opened its first U.S. hotel in July in downtown Miami. The property has 129 guest rooms and more than 14,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space. On the 14th floor, the Sun Deck with pools and a bar and lounge are slated to open in late summer. The hotel will also be home to STK restaurant, the steak house concept from the One Group, which will seat 278 or hold 450 for receptions.Â
The Deck at Island Gardens, an outdoor lounge that plans to officially open in October, is the latest addition to Island Gardens Deep Harbour, an expansive yacht marina that debuted in January on Miami’s Watson Island. Guests can arrive by land or by boat. Nightlife entrepreneurs Michael Capponi and Eric Milon were tasked with overseeing the venue, which has panoramic views of Biscayne Bay and downtown Miami. It accommodates 600 guests spread across tables and cabanas, with flexible furniture arrangements. Buyouts are available for private events, even ahead of the official opening.
Cinemex, the Mexico City-based movie-theater chain that offers restaurant-style dining, is opening its first U.S. location in November at Brickell City Centre. The 35,677-square-foot cineplex will have oversize leather chairs in its 11 screening rooms, which have theater-style seating for as many as 622 people. Mexico-based culinary experts Mikel Alonso (chef of the Biko restaurant) and mixologist Mica Rousseau will oversee the venue’s dining experience, while Miami-based Loguer Design handled the architecture. The theater's exterior has a giant LED screen with animated content that simulates a theater curtain, also known as a telón. The telón also serves as part of Brickell City Centre's Climate Ribbon that will span 150,000 square feet of the development and will represent sustainability and climate management by capturing sea breezes and collecting rainwater for re-use.
LT Steak & Seafood, an American restaurant located inside the Betsy South Beach, opened in June as a replacement for the hotel's BLT Steak restaurant. The 1,998 square-foot eatery, which has more sophisticated decor than its predecessor, is overseen by former BLT Steak chef Laurent Tourondel, and seats 120 guests. A private dining room seats as many 40 people. The restaurant is available for buyouts.
Pisco y Nazca Ceviche Gastrobar opened in June at the Shops at Downtown Doral. The Peruvian restaurant, which also has a location in Miami's Kendall neighborhood, is a 5,500-square-foot venue with a 1,500-square-foot patio. It provides a casual atmosphere with decor inspired by the textures and colors of Peru’s landscape. The main dining space, which has an open view of the kitchen, seats 160, while an open outdoor dining area seats 90. The restaurant has two private dining rooms, each with seating for 20 people. They can be combined to seat 40 or hold 80 for receptions.
W Miami, formerly the Viceroy Miami hotel, opened in June in downtown Miami as the centerpiece of the 10-acre bayfront Icon Brickell mixed-use development. Located across the street from Brickell City Centre, the 148-room hotel will undergo a renovation to create the W Living Room overlooking Biscayne Bay on the hotel's 15th floor. In addition, the rooftop on the 50th floor will be transformed into a cocktail lounge and WET deck, the brand's signature pool space. There are six meeting spaces; the largest space totals 2,666 square feet with flexible seating capacity of 150 people.
In May, Bulla Gastrobar opened its second Florida location at the Shops at Downtown Doral. The Spanish concept, which also has a location in Coral Gables, is a 5,500 square-foot restaurant and bar that seats 150 guests, including a balcony that can seat 30 and a wraparound patio that can seat 54. There are two private rooms that can each seat 24 people or can be combined for 50 seated guests. The venue offers a modern take on Spanish tapas, a selection of wines, and cuisine served with options of small or large dishes.
Prime Cigar & Whiskey Bar, which opened its first location in Boca Raton, expanded to Miami in May with the launch of Casa De Montecristo. Located inside Brickell's newly built 1100 Millecento residential tower, the 4,700-square-foot bar/lounge has a state-of-the-art air control system that provides 80 tons of constant air conditioning. The venue has a walk-in humidor, a bar featuring rare whiskeys, members' lounge, private boardroom, and a "vintage collector's room" for cigars. For buyouts, the venue seats 75 guests or holds 116 for reception-style events. The bar's two private spaces are the members' lounge, which seats 10 or holds 25 for receptions) and the boardroom, which seats six or holds 20 for receptions. The lounge does not serve food but allows outside catering.
The seventh annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic took place October 15 at Will Rogers State Historic Park in Los Angeles. New to the event this year was a 3-D floral photo booth that was designed and produced by A-1 Array.
The 11th annual New York Comic Con took place October 6 to 9 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Jack Morton Worldwide in New York produced the Audible Recall activation, which featured seven game stations that invited convention attendees to guess Audible audio book titles from listening to 15-second clips. Players who guessed the most correct titles in the least amount of time won prizes. The booth was built by Jack Morton's office in Princeton and the game was developed by Genuine.
The inaugural Future of Storytelling Festival took place October 7 to 9 at the Africa Center in New York. The event featured more than 70 interactive exhibits that showcased different types of immersive storytelling. The festival's visuals and props included nods to storytelling history, including typewriters, instruments, and even Melcher’s own Macintosh collection.
Cloud computing company Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference took place October 4 to 7 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This year, the event incorporated Salesforce's outdoorsy online learning tool Trailhead as a theme. The Farmers Insurance activation in the Customer Campground linked to the Trailhead theme: The display was based on a real Farmers Insurance customer’s claim about a bear that broke into a home. It was one of eight activations in the Campground produced by Sparks.
Salesforce C.E.O. Marc Benioff was one of dozens of keynote speakers at the event. To tie into the theme, wood logs lined the keynote stage and background decor evoked a forest setting.
To bring its fall advertising campaign to life, online shopping brand Gilt took over a downtown New York townhouse from September 30 to October 8 to host a series of consumer-focused events tied to the brand's various lifestyle offerings. A culinary event took place September 30 and featured a signage wall that had the phrase "In Good Taste" created with various kitchen knives.
A kid-friendly family event took place on October 2. Brand signage for the event was created with Crayola crayons. Kids and parents were encouraged to color in the rest of the wall.
The fourth annual III Points Music Art & Technology Festival took place October 7 to 9 at Mana Wynwood in Miami, despite the bad weather caused by Hurricane Matthew. Festival sponsor Stoli had an al fresco lounge with a vintage, silver cocktail trailer and red, encased swings. Brand ambassadors distributed Stoli merchandise to guests.
Returning local innovator Aileen Quintana revealed "Sunset@Noon," which posed as a 6,000-square-foot indoor performance space, as well as a Vaporwave mall. The installation had Internet-inspired decor and multisensory elements, highlighting local art, musicians, and fashion.
Fusion network and NASA teamed up for "Mars 2030," a virtual-reality installation that debuted at the III Points Festival. Attendees were encouraged to enter the pod and dress in designated eyewear and headphones. The multisensory experience, from Fusion virtual-reality producer Julian Reyes, transported volunteers to Mars, where satellite imagery created a realistic world to explore.
During a circus-theme event in Palm Beach, Florida, for an insurance company in May, Koncept Events filled bathtubs with rubber ducks. Two of the creatures in each "pond" had a star on them, and the guests who found the marked items received prizes.
Providing an upscale environment for classic games like penny toss and ring toss, Koncept designed stripped tents that were built by Occasions by Shangri La.
A version of The Price is Right's fan-favorite game Plinko was also featured, with a stand full of prizes to choose from.
Last September in New York, the whiskey producer celebrated its 125th anniversary with a pop-up that became a speakeasy at night. Guests were given numbers to play bingo by brand ambassadors and mechanical chickens laid eggs on the boards.
At the Washington-area shopping mall's event earlier this summer, visitors were given three chances to throw Kendra Scott bracelets into boxes. Those who pulled it off, twice, won a bracelet.
Guests at a Stella McCartney fashion presentation in New York were invited to try their hand at the old-fashioned high striker game. The event featured a carnival theme.
Models tried their hands at tossing items to make balloons pop during the outdoor event.
In 2013, guests at a private mansion in Beverly Hills were invited to play Jenga in a giant, colorful version of the game. The vodka brand used the blocks as a place to display its name.
To celebrate the company's flavored vodkas, an oversize tic-tac-toe board featured images of citrus fruit as game pieces.
