The Miami Beach City Commission has given Terra and Deauville Associates the go-ahead to bring back the city’s iconic Deauville Hotel as part of a wider redevelopment project that may include branded residences.
The city commission voted 6-0 to approve the development team’s plans to reconstruct the historic hotel alongside a new condominium tower at 6701 Collins Ave., for a maximum of 140 hotel rooms and 200 residential units. As part of the agreement, the developers must provide infrastructure improvements in and around the property, 150 parking spaces and $7.5 million toward the Byron Carlyle Cultural Center.
The final approval is a “significant reduction in density,” said David Martin, CEO of Terra, in a statement. The group had originally planned for three towers and a maximum height of 350 feet, which has since been reduced to two towers with a maximum height of 300 feet.
Despite reducing the project's size, Martin added that the approval “marks a pivotal moment for North Beach and a major step forward in restoring the site’s historic and cultural significance.”
Originally designed by Melvin Grossman, the Deauville Hotel opened in 1957 and hosted a variety of celebrities and major names throughout the decades, including Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Joan Rivers and Jerry Lewis. President John F. Kennedy addressed the Inter-American Press Association at the hotel only a week before his assassination. A year later, the Beatles played their second U.S. show at the hotel.
It wouldn't be until 50 years later, after an electrical fire, that the hotel was forced to close in 2017. A lack of maintenance on the property forced Miami Beach to order its demolition, and in 2022, the original hotel came down. The lot has since sat empty.
While a timeline for the project’s development was not provided by a representative for the developers when reached via email by CoStar News, an earlier statement said construction could begin sometime in 2026.
Sales have yet to launch for the condominium portion, with the spokesperson telling CoStar News that more details would come soon as the developers pursue a review by the city's Historic Preservation Board to evaluate the project's design and preservation components.
When completed, the reimagined hotel is expected to generate more than $16 million annually for the North Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, said Martin. The neighborhood agency roughly encompasses the area between 67th Street north along Collins Avenue to 87th Street, and as far east as Normandy Isle’s Rue Notre Dame.
Miami Beach officials have been hoping to steer development toward the relatively quiet North Beach neighborhood as other areas, such as South Beach, about five miles south, are increasingly built out and congested.