Miami can be a bit much for a first-timer: people walking around in fluorescent bikinis, music blasting from the bars that line the sprawling waterfront by day and a (pool) club party scene by night. But there’s another, more nuanced side to the city. It has a vibrant design district for one, comprising vast, ultra-cool warehouses (that are so spread out that the word ‘district’ becomes a misnomer) and an emerging art world that sits alongside its more-established Art Basel outpost, with walk-in open studios and ateliers, where you can simply watch creators at work - it makes places like Berlin look mainstream.
Welcome to Miami Beach. Twenty years have passed since the regeneration of the island’s Art Deco district and, as a consequence, the place feels happening again and no longer the neglected, poorer and seedier neighbour of the City of Miami. These days, there are also plenty of ambitious cultural commercialisation projects in the works, none larger than Faena Miami Beach, the brainchild of Syrian-Argentine developer Alan Faena (featured in Bespoke’s issue 34), who successfully art-branded a rundown section of Buenos Aires. But there are also less high profile additions to the historic district that can take you by surprise.
The new Metropolitan hotel by Como is just such a place. Housed in an eight-storey renovated Art Deco building, you’d be forgiven for not even identifying the Singapore-based group’s first US property, given that the listed building still has to bear its original neon signage from 1939 – Traymore – with its now-new name hung on a modest signpost near the entrance.
It’s amazing to think that in the 1970s, after years of neglect there were extensive calls for the wholesale demolition of such buildings. Barely 50 years old, they were not considered historic or even that special. But thanks to the dedicated activism of Barbara Baer Capitman and the Miami Design Preservation League, which she founded, approximately 800 buildings were granted protection on the National Register of Historic Places. In fact, her crusade resulted in Miami Beach now boasting the largest concentration of Art Deco buildings in the world (yes, more even than Art Deco’s mother country, France).
The original façade of the Metropolitan has been restored and retains the symmetrical geometry and wraparound ornamental flourishes of that period. Inside, there are soaring, stately columns as well as original, gleaming terrazzo floors. But beyond the general structure of the place, it looks like everything else has changed with the times.
The design is playfully quirky, peculiar even, with a classic-contemporary spin by Italian designer Paula Navone who uses a lot of cool, white marble, pastel embellishments and shiny chrome accents. In the airy, sunlit bedrooms, a contrasting palette of dusky greys and pistachio greens elegantly offsets the white-on-white leather sleigh beds. It’s calm and tranquil and ever so Miami. The 74 rooms boast views of either the Atlantic Ocean or the equally calming Intracoastal Waterway and Lake Pancoast. On the roof, you’ll find a hydrotherapy area with sweeping panoramic views cut only by white pillars and a billowing white canopy, as well as the fantastic spa. Across the road is a heated swimming pool in a beautifully landscaped garden from where you can access the full-service private beach.
During my first night at the hotel, I had the pleasure to meet up with Thibaut Asso, the Director of Sales and I complimented him on the staff, which I found to be good looking, young, smart and friendly in nature. “Here at Como, the aim is to have luxury without the pretension,” he told me as we sipped on cocktails at Traymore Bar’s Jazz-inspired Gin Club. “Lots of light is also important for us and a Metropolitan should always be a place for epicureans. I mean, we are talking about the same owners who brought Nobu to London with their Metropolitan property there.” Almost on cue, a waiter arrived with a plate of mouth-watering fluke crudo as well as some delicious East and West coast oysters served with a pomegranate mignonette.
The evening continued in Traymore restaurant, now one of South Florida’s most highly acclaimed spots and I savoured the wild striped bass with Spanish chorizo and lobster broth as well as the char-grilled steak bavette with bone marrow butter and red wine sauce. It’d be impossible to find fault with anything on Chef Jonathan Lane’s forward-thinking yet timeless menu and I particularly appreciated his farm-to-table approach and creative use of fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Low-key but luxe, the restaurant features spherical lamps suspended from the ceiling in addition to interesting constellation-like light fixtures on the corners. And as I bit into a supreme lemon pie deconstruction, innovatively presented, a bit of crust here, a tang of lemon there, served with a strawberry foam and piquillo pepper ice cream, I noticed the wall facing me was dotted with dozens of antique mirrors in different sizes and styles.
“Mrs. Ong handled the design,” Thibaut explained, evidently reacting to my curiosity. And he’s referring to Christina Ong, the wife of Malaysian businessman and property tycoon, Ong Beng Seng, both of whom manage Como Hotels and Resorts. She’s also a luxury fashion retailer in her own right, under the Club 21 umbrella of multi-brand boutiques such as Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan and Issey Miyake, with a franchise empire that spans the US, UK and Asia. But what Mrs. Ong is perhaps best known for is the new-age Como Shambhala brand of wellness centres and island resorts that she spearheaded, offering customised fitness and spa programmes that are inspired by her own pursuit of a balanced lifestyle.
Here in Miami, her spa is known as the Shambhala Urban Escape, and it follows the same holistic philosophy that has attracted the world’s leading yoga teachers and nutritionists – a wellness programme that includes a daily, complimentary yoga instruction on the ocean-facing spa terrace, extremely personalised treatments and a juice bar of wellness smoothies that are also part of the hotel’s in-house alternative menu.
I can tell you that the morning after our indulgent dinner, I was happy to have the option of such revitalising detox juices available at the breakfast buffet. They also laid the perfect foundation for the rejuvenating massage I had booked, a signature Shambala treatment blending various Asian-inspired therapies, after which I decided to go for a dip in the secluded pool before lounging on one of the hotel’s elegant, white cabanas by the bar.
In my serene patch of an almost-empty coastline, the light breeze flapping my white umbrella, the ocean and sand iridescent, the azure blue immediately enveloping me in a cocoon of calm and the staff catering to my every whim, I marvelled at how this hotel has managed to carve such a tranquil spot on a glittering beachfront that’s rocking to house beats just a little further down. It’s a true antidote to the hype of Miami’s hedonism and it gives enough respite for me to venture out into the city’s madness, once again.
