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 2017. These new and renovated Miami/South Florida venues suit groups large or small for private and corporate events, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
The Diplomat Beach Resort, the 1,000-room oceanfront resort in Hollywood, unveiled a slate of new food and beverage spots in the spring as part of a $100 million renovation. New to the property are: Point Royal, a coastal American concept from chef Geoffrey Zakarian; Monkitail, an izakaya eatery from chef Michael Schulson; Diplomat Prime, a 1950s-inspired steak house; Playa, a beachfront restaurant and bar with Latin cuisine; Portico Beer & Wine Garden, with views of the Intercoastal Waterway; and five other concepts offering casual fare, desserts, cocktails, and more. Diplomat Prime, Monkitail, and Point Royal all offer private dining. The property, part of Curio Collection by Hilton, has redesigned its guest rooms and added other upgrades, including new poolside cabanas designed by fashion designer Trina Turk. Overall, the resort has 209,000 square feet of meeting and function space.
More than five years after its groundbreaking, the $305 million Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science opened in May in Downtown Miami’s Museum Park. The new 250,000-square-foot location, which is seeking LEED certification, can hold events in several of its indoor and outdoor spaces. The centerpiece is a three-level aquarium with a dramatic 30-foot oculus lens. Each level of the aquarium can be rented separately or used together. Other spaces include a 250-seat planetarium, a “living roof” with two terraces planted with native vegetation and urban gardens, a conference suite, an outdoor plaza, and multiple galleries. Entire museum buyouts also are available.
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami debuted its new permanent home in the Design District on December 1, just before Art Basel. Designed by Madrid-based Aranguren & Gallegos Arquitectos, the building features a dramatic southern facade of interlocking metal triangles and lighted panels and while its northern facade allows in abundant natural light. The footprint includes features more than 20,000 square feet of exhibition galleries as well as a public sculpture garden that’s part of 15,000 square feet of outdoor space.
The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach’s contemporary art museum reopened in October following a two-year, $12 million renovation that added four new galleries, a museum store and café, and an education facility. Arata Isozaki, who was the architect of the first museum expansion in 2001, was the design consultant, and David Gauld was the principal architect. The museum offers several spaces for event rental—from classrooms to galleries to a conference room—many of which feature artist installations. The largest space is the Lindemann Family Courtyard, which holds 280 for a reception.
Hilton debuted the state’s second Conrad hotel—the 290-suite Conrad Fort Lauderdale Beach—in October. Located on North Beach, the combined condo-resort was designed by the celebrated late architect Michael Graves and features nautical decor. It provides 20,000 square feet of oceanfront, elevated function space, along with 10,000 square feet of indoor space for events. The largest space is the Ocean Ballroom, which holds 400 for receptions or seats 340 theater-style. The property includes four food and beverage outlets, a spa, a pool, and wellness activities such as daily sunrise yoga on the beach.
Following a renovation of the historic Surf Club, the Four Seasons Hotel at the Surf Club, opened in March in the North Beaches area of Miami Beach. Originally designed by Russell T. Pancoast, the new iteration features three additional buildings from architect Richard Meier and interiors from Parisian architect Joseph Dirand. The luxury property has 77 guest rooms and three pools, a 15,000-square-foot spa, and Le Sirenuse Restaurant and Champagne Bar, which is the first location of the restaurant to open outside of its home in Positano, Italy. The property also includes a 900-foot stretch of beach and nine acres of landscaped seaside gardens.
A new $7 million waterpark debuted at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort & Spa near Naples. The waterpark has three waterslides and a heated lazy river pool—welcome amenities for families accompanying meeting delegates to conferences at the resort. The waterpark was designed by EDSA architects—whose projects include the pools at Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas—and comes in addition to the resort’s three existing pools. Overall, the 454-room resort offers 85,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting space as well as an 18-hole golf course, a 19,000-square-foot spa, and access to the resort’s private island.
Liv at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, a nightclub available for private events, will finish a $10 million renovation in September. The 22,000-square-foot space is being refreshed with more than 400 digitally controlled LED panels for choreographed light shows that correspond with music throughout the space, as well as new banquettes, flooring, bars, and wall coverings, and a projection-mapped stage area that creates customizable backdrops. Experiential design firm Icrave is overseeing the transformation.
Tatel Miami, a new restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton, South Beach, comes with a celebrity pedigree with partners including the singer Enrique Iglesias, tennis champion Rafael Nadal, and N.B.A. star Pau Gasol. It’s the second location of the restaurant following the concept’s debut in Madrid. Executive chef Nicolas Mazier, formerly of Nobu Miami, oversees a menu of Spanish fare combining dishes from the Madrid location as well as those new for Miami. The space seats 200 diners across its dining room, lounge, bar, and private dining room located behind the DJ booth. There are two semiprivate dining areas as well.
The upscale move theater CMX opened in Brickell City Centre in April and is available for corporate event rental. The first U.S. location from parent company Cinemex offers oversize upholstered reclining seats with personal storage compartments and an LED light. The complex includes 10 theaters covering a total of 35,759 square feet, along with a lounge and bar. Its theaters tout audiovisual technology from Meyer Sound Laboratories, and one of the rooms is equipped with Dolby Atmos technology. There is in-seat dining from servers it calls “ninjas” for their stealth service. Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises helped develop the menu, which includes items such as Cuban egg rolls, fresh tuna crudo, and margherita pizza.
