Miami Beach’s historic Savoy Hotel could be demolished for 38-story tower
Developers plan to demolish the historic 1937 Savoy Hotel in Miami Beach to construct a 38-story tower, utilizing state laws that bypass local zoning and historic preservation rules. The proposal has sparked significant backlash from preservationists concerned about the loss of the city's Art Deco heritage.
Why it matters
The conflict illustrates the tension between urban development/housing density and the preservation of historic landmarks in vulnerable coastal regions.
The Savoy Hotel has stood on Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive since 1937, a low-rise Art Deco landmark in a neighbourhood defined by that style. Now, a plan filed by Allied Partners would demolish most of the Savoy and the neighbouring Arlington Hotel to make way for a 38-story, 480-foot tower designed by Arquitectonica. The project relies on Florida’s Live Local Act to bypass local zoning limits and on the Resiliency and Safe Structures Act to allow demolition of flood-vulnerable historic buildings, according to WLRN and project filings. Read on to know more details here:A landmark from the 1930sThe Savoy Hotel was built in 1937, during the era when Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive was taking shape as a showcase for Art Deco architecture. Its low-rise footprint and distinctive facade have made it a familiar sight in the South of Fifth neighbourhood for nearly a century.
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