If you’re planning to be at Art Basel Miami Beach, which kicks off the madness of South Florida’s social scene on Dec. 6-9, you’ll likely want to spend lots of time at hotels, restaurants and party venues that didn’t even exist last Art Basel.
And, of course, this week is hardly just about Art Basel or Miami Beach. There are huge parties all over town, many that have little to do with the art world — but everything to do with the fact that high rollers from New York and all over the world will be in Miami.
On Dec. 6, the Miami Heat will host the New York Knicks, and the new 250-person-capacity Hyde lounge at the American Airlines Arena will host VIPs. The elite venue, which is open to courtside ticketholders and also available for limited reservations and private events, is just one way hospitality ace Sam Nazarian’s SBE Entertainment Group plans to leave its mark on Miami this year.
Nazarian’s new SLS South Beach hotel, with its Bazaar by Jose Andres, Katsuya and Hyde Beach, will have bashes hosted by Visionaire Magazine, Domingo Zapata and Rico Love. The SLS at 1701 Collins Ave. is part of a Collins Avenue resurgence of new, renovated and re-branded hotels that will make it easy to bounce back and forth between hot spots during Art Basel.
At 1545 Collins Ave., the re-branded James Royal Palm will feature the new Catch restaurant and SL nightclub from New York’s EMM Group, run by Eugene Remm, Mark Birnbaum and Michael Hirtenstein. Celebrated Miami chef Kris Wessel will also be holding court inside the James Royal Palm, at his new Florida Cookery eatery.
At last year’s Art Basel, Miami hotel mogul Keith Menin unveiled his newly renovated Shelborne hotel at 1801 Collins Ave. with events featuring everyone from musician Theophilus London to home-design mavens Bob and Cortney Novogratz. This year, Kim Kardashian BFF Jonathan Cheban will open the new Sushi Mikasa restaurant at the Shelborne in time for Art Basel. And over at 1690 Collins Ave., Menin will show off the updated Italian Riviera-influenced design of his Gale and Regent South Beach complex. That resort, which will reopen right before Art Basel, will feature new restaurants, an outpost of Chicago lounge Drumbar and a 5,000-square-foot rooftop pool deck.
Beyond hotels, South Beach has seen the opening of several high-profile eateries and hangouts in the last year. These include Cooper Avenue, a dining/drinking/shopping establishment that’s aiming to be something sort of like the Eataly of Miami in the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center; Macchialina, the popular Italian spot from the Pubbelly crew; an outpost of Michelle Bernstein’s Crumb on Parchment at the Webster; an outpost of New York’s Milos, which has become one of the most buzzed-about restaurants in Miami with its top-quality and ultra-expensive Greek seafood; and an outpost of Jelsomino, the karaoke bar known for its rich Russian crowd in New York.
But a new downtown event could make the loudest splash of all during Art Basel week. On Dec. 8-9, the UR1 music and art festival will take over Bayfront Park with a genre-bending lineup worthy of Coachella. Hip-hop, art rock, indie noise, house music and everything in between will be represented on five stages. Get ready for Kanye West (headlining on Dec. 8), Lou Reed, Jane’s Addiction, Keane, Animal Collective, Santigold, Dan Deacon, Pete Tong, Erick Morillo, Victor Calderone and dozens more, along with gigantic, interactive art installations. The good life indeed.