MIAMI BEACH -- The wave of new hotel towers rising on Miami Beach
poses no threat to the area's famed art deco-style boutique hotels,
according to Terry Abril, director of sales for Rubell Hotels here.
Two Rubell properties, the 43-room Greenview South Beach and
96-room Albion South Beach, were built in 1939 by two of the
period's foremost architects -- Henry Hohauser and Igor Polevitsky,
respectively.
Neither property has been affected adversely by the new Loews
and Marriott towers, the first of the major new resort hotels to
open in South Beach, Abril said.
"In
fact, the big hotels are working to our favor," she said. "We're
not only getting a lot of overflow from those properties, but
they're bringing a lot more interest to South Beach."
In 1999, Rubell opened its third area property, the 165-room
Beach House Bal Harbour, in Surfside.
Rubell Hotels was launched here in 1994 by Donald Rubell, the
brother of Steve Rubell, co-founder of New York's Studio 54 disco
and the first three New York hotels in the Schrager chain: Morgans,
the Royalton and the Paramount.
When Steve Rubell died in 1989, he left his brother's family his
stake in the businesses.
Donald, who recently retired as head of gynecology at New York's
Cabrini Medical Center, operates Rubell Hotels with his wife, Mera,
and their two children, Jennifer and Jason.
In addition to the three hotel properties here, the Rubells
operate Miami Beach's landmark Sony Music Building on Lincoln
Road.
The family also operates an office and retail complex adjacent
to the Albion.
The Albion and Greenview cater to many media, entertainment and
fashion industry visitors here, noted Abril.
"The Albion, in particular, is an address for many professionals
from those industries who come here throughout the year," she
said.
Located on St. James Avenue at Lincoln Road, the Albion is two
blocks from the ocean and near the open-air Lincoln Road mall and
its cafes.
In 1996, Rubell Hotels purchased the Albion, described by
Polevitzky as a "luxury ocean liner on dry land," and spent $10
million on a renovation by avant-garde Ecuadorian architect Carlos
Zapata. It reopened in 1997.
The chic property features a 600-square-foot pond in the lobby;
a 60-foot-long swimming pool with portholes and an elevated sun
deck; conference facilities, and suites with a solarium.
Nightly rates range from $180 to $1,500 per room.
The more intimate Greenview was renovated in 1994 by Parisian
designer Chahan Minassian, who designed Ralph Lauren's Polo stores
in Europe.
Winter rates range from $100 to $300 per night. The property is
on Washington Avenue, just north of Lincoln Road.
The Beach House, which opened in late 1999 near the Bal Harbour
Shops, was purchased by the Rubells in 1998 and renovated by Ralph
Lauren designer Scott Sanders, who was said to be inspired by
beachfront homes in Nantucket, the Hamptons and coastal Maine.
The property's Atlantic Restaurant was created by cookbook
author Sheila Lukins.
Winter rates are $180 to $800 per night.
Abril said that most of the hotels' agent business comes from
the Northeast. Bookings are commissionable at 10%.
For more information, call (877) RUBELLS, or visit the Web site
at www.rubellhotels.com.