Just as the Chetrit Group finally gained control of the Versailles Hotel a couple days ago, after spending two mother-fricken years buying out every single unit owner, they've flipped it to Alan Faena and Len Blavatnik, developers of the neighboring Faena District Miami Beach, according to a press release from the Faena people. (Alan's the brilliant, creative, Argentinian hotelier. Len's the money) The historic hotel, a fabulous art deco specimen with a MiMo south wing added in the postwar period, will become part of the Faena District.
This means, of course, that Chetrit's plans for a King & Grove hotel on the site are no longer happening, Alan Faena will have yet another block of Miami Beach named after him, and we can expect something architecturally spectacular (and historically sensitive) to happen on the site. No word yet on whether or not they'll use the old King & Grove expansion designs already prepared by architect Kobi Karp. No word either on the price, which one can safely assume to be far higher than the $50 million Chetrit blew piecing the place together.
· Faena District Miami Beach coverage [Curbed Miami]
· Versailles Hotel coverage [Curbed Miami]
[Photo via State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory]