This year saw the opening of many significant event and meeting venues in Miami/South Florida. Here's a look at the best restaurants, party rooms, hotels, corporate event venues, conference centers, and private rooms to open in 2013. These new and renovated Miami/South Florida venues can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
Cipriani opened its first outpost outside of New York and Los Angeles in May with a new 8,000-square-foot location on Brickell Avenue. With a private space for 55 people seated and 100 for receptions, the main level features 22-foot ceilings, glass chandeliers, and blue and white nautical-theme details throughout. The lower level, slated to open in July, will seat 160 and hold 250 people for receptions. A patio offers views of Biscayne Bay.
The Miami Art Museum is reopening this week as the PĂ©rez Art Museum Miami in a new downtown location. After nearly three years of construction and a $220 million capital campaign, the Herzog & de Meuron-designed building has 200,000 square feet of programmable space, including 80,000 square feet outdoors. Built with sustainability in mind, the museum is applying for LEED silver status from the U.S. Green Buildings Council. The museum has several indoor and outdoor areas for private events, including the lobby, which holds 150 for receptions or 70 for banquets, the Kirk Landon and Pamela Garrison Terrace, which overlooks Biscayne Bay and holds 1,000 for receptions or 600 for banquets, and a 231-seat auditorium.
New from Miami's celebrated chef Michael Schwartz and the Genuine Hospitality Group is the Cypress Room. The design district eatery opened in late March and has an American menu developed around a wood-burning grill and rotisserie and ingredients from small farmers, foragers, and fishermen.
A renovation to the Opium Group's SET nightclub, which debuted this spring, sought to turn the 500-person mega-club into a lounge focused on V.I.P. service. Mark Lehmkuhl of Ghosthouse Designs lined the 8,000-square-foot space with smoky mirrors, marble bars, and 16 V.I.P. tables and placed the DJ booth at the head of the room. Tables come with a dedicated "butler" for the evening who will service the table and provide other tasks such as lighting cigars or escorting guests to the bathroom. High-tech touches include iPads with programmed information about the cocktails and an overhead zip line called a "flight attendant" that delivers bottles to tables.
Hotel Victor South Beach finished an $8 million renovation in September that included new guest rooms and oceanfront suites, a refurbished outdoor pool and cabana area, and new boardrooms with full projector screens. Early next year, Sushi Mikasa plans to open a restaurant in the hotel. The boutique property sought a "beach house" vibe from designers Yabu Pushelberg, which also created a new modern lobby for the hotel. Another major change for the property has just started: The hotel's owners recently purchased the Versace Mansion next door with plans of relaunching it as a boutique hotel that would be an extension of Hotel Victor.
Las Vegas nightclub veterans Cy Waits and Cory McCormack are importing their high-end vision with Adoré Nightclub in Miami Beach. The Collins Avenue club, set to debut in December for Art Basel, is 12,000 square feet and can hold about 1,000 on its two levels. The interiors, described as a forgotten cathedral, will have a candle-bedecked bar, engraved antique mirrors, and booths encircling the dance floor. The audiovisual equipment will provide a modern contrast, with a floor-to-ceiling LED display and a 3-D LED sphere described as a 21st-century disco ball. The club will have a Funktion One sound system and lighting and video design from SJ Lighting.
Located at the former Graves Museum of Archeology and Natural History, the Gallery of Amazing Things combines art and collectibles with 19,000 square feet of event space for as many as 500 people for receptions or 250 for banquets. Opened in March, the venue has five galleries and a foyer that can be used for events, as well as a loading dock and an on-site kitchen.
Metropolitan by Como, Miami Beach, the first United States hotel from Como Hotels and Resorts, is slated to open in December. The 74-room hotel will have two restaurants: the seafood fine-dining concept the Traymore, plus a poolside restaurant. Other food and beverage outlets include Met Bar, with premium spirits and champagnes, and the rooftop Como Shambhala juice bar. The hotel will also have a four-room spa and rooftop hydrotherapy pool.
Catch Miami, a seafood restaurant from Top Chef winner Hung Huynh, opened within the James Royal Palm hotel in South Beach. The restaurant seats 190 guests on two floors and an outdoor patio includes a Sushi Lounge that holds as many as 50 seated guests for semiprivate dining. Some menu items have been brought over from the original Catch in New York's meatpacking district, but other items such as Kampachi Crudo and a Key Lime Donut reflect local influences.
The Flat, a Miami Beach lounge that opened in March, is designed as a bohemian-style loft with furniture arranged as a living room. The space offers 48 seats indoors with another 12 seats on a 425-square-foot patio.
