Industry News

Luxury Hotel Brand Sets Sights on Miami

By Jenny Holland
(Reprinted from Brandweek, July 17, 2006)

NEW YORK -- Soho House, the exclusive club that even PR powerhouse Samantha Jones in Sex and the City couldn’t get into, is planning to open a 74-unit Miami property in 2008.

Soho Beach House, as it will be known, will be part hotel, part condominium development. Only members from the clubs’ New York and London locations will be able to buy units in the property, although non-members will be able to book rooms for regular hotel stays.

“You’re buying into a little piece of Soho House, the brand,” said North America general manager Mark Somen, who is overseeing the launch of the Miami property.

To reach out to the 3500 New York-based members, the club has done some “aggressive” direct marketing, Somen said, including presentations and question-and-answer sessions with Nick Jones, founder of the club, Somen and the developers working on the project.

“We’re looking for like-minded people in film, media, fashion, and television.”

Miami is the logical place for a Soho Club south, Somen said.

“It says music, it says fashion,” he said. “It’s a really fun place to be.”

The condos, ranging in size from 400 to 1000 square feet, will sell for between $550,000 and $1.9 million, Somen said Monday. For overnight visitors, room rates will be in the $500 range.

Condo hotels, in which people buy units in the property and can lease them back to the hotel when they are not using them, have become something of a trend in Miami, according to one real estate broker in the area.

“The benefits to the buyer are large,” said Sheldon Greene, CEO of Condo Hotel Center, a real estate firm in Miami that specializes in the sale of condo hotels.

Many of the area’s buyers are wealthy baby boomers who want the amenities of a 4 or 5 star hotel but also want to be able to sublet the property out through a rental program, he said.

“They can use their condo hotel unit when they want, then put it in the rental program with the comfort that a brand name like Starwood or Hilton will take good care of it,” Greene said.