It's that time again—time for the company holiday party. Here are new restaurants, bars, and other event spaces that can work for corporate holiday events, employee gatherings, and other end-of-year festivities.
1. One of the newer clubs on South Beach, Shock opened in November with a French owner and Chilean mixologist in the space formerly known as Snatch. Available for buyout, Shock has 5,000 square feet of space and can accommodate as many as 400 guests. Accents include red leather banquettes and a black-buttoned leather ceiling with red LED lights.
2. The indoor entertainment and lifestyle complex of the new downtown JW Marriott Marquis spans two floors and offers 50,000 square feet of flexible event space. Guests can play pool in the billiard room, sip cocktails in the lounge, or use the virtual bowling alley and golf simulators. The 10,000-square-foot arena on the 19th floor, which can be converted into a basketball or tennis court, can also serve as carpeted event space. For a formal affair, there’s the 20,000-square-foot grand ballroom.
3. Singer Jon Secada’s intimate bar and lounge, Secada’s, which opened in November, is on the mezzanine of the Magic City Casino. Enhanced with Secada’s personal memorabilia and equipped for a DJ or live musicians, the 3,000-square-foot space can accommodate 240 (or 160 seated). Steps away is a V.I.P. suite for about 75. The menu offers up Latin bites including empanadas, croquettes, and tortilla española. For a buffet-style dinner, specialty dishes such as grilled churrasco, ropa vieja, and paella are available.
4. Nestled against Biscayne Bay, new restaurant and club the Bay has 23,000 square feet of total event space and is available for buyout. Marketed but not limited to the gay demographic, the Bay has four bars and a waterfront terrace, and can accommodate 710 guests, between the indoor and outdoor areas. The kitchen serves up pulled pork sliders, stuffed dates, and lobster rolls. It opened in October.
5. In October, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and Bacardi USA officially opened the doors to their joint venture, the 2,800-square-foot Bombay Sapphire Lounge, on the ground level of the center’s Carnival Arts Tower. Lit up with the spirit’s signature blue, the space can accommodate 60 guests inside, and an additional 50 on the plaza. Buyouts are available.
6. Available for buyout, the 3,500-square-foot Wall nightclub inside the W South Beach hotel recently underwent renovations. Additions include two new gold couches that are lined up in rows and offer seating on either side—a layout that allows more room for dancing than the former X-shaped couch layout—a state-of-the-art DJ booth, and, from Dutch design house Moooi, a spherical chandelier containing hundreds of LED lights that have replaced the central disco ball.
7. Named after the arcade that occupied the same space in the ‘60s, Arkadia opened in October and is a 6,000-square-foot nightclub in the basement of the Fontainebleau resort that can accommodate 385 guests. Low ceilings, tentacle-like drapes, antique French furniture, and fashion installations serve as decor. A separate pool section with cabanas can accommodate an additional 300. Buyouts are available.
8. A casual South Beach venue with a rock 'n' roll theme, Vinyl & Kai has 2,000 square feet for private parties (out of its total 4,200 square footage). It can seat 40 for dinner or accommodate 120 with a hosted bar, passed hors d'oeuvres, or a buffet. The menu offers items such as flat-bread pizzas and jalapeño poppers. Optional extras include live music, a DJ, or karaoke. It opened in February.
9. The 4,300-square-foot South Beach nightspot Pinkroom opened in May and can accommodate 350. The room is an open layout with purple and magenta accents, interactive murals, mirrored walls, one giant LED screen, and a bedazzled DJ booth. There are also two highly perched, private mezzanine areas for groups of about 80 each.
10. Screen a classic holiday film for as many as 22 in the Screening Snug, the movie theater inside the Soho Beach House, which opened in October. Catering is available, courtesy of Cecconi’s, the in-house restaurant. Decorated like a private garden, Cecconi’s features a retractable roof in case of rain and can accommodate 150 guests. Other areas of the oceanfront property are also available for private events. The Soho House is a London-based private club/hotel chain with areas open to nonmembers.