Lenny Kravitz has made his mark on Miami Beach and maybe it’s his time to move on. What we mean is, Kravitz just put his Miami home up for sale but lets go back. Lenny Kravitz was behind the Delano Hotel’s chic piano lounge, Florida Room. The Florida Room was opened in Decemeber 2007 and has remained popular on the South Beach social circuit. In 2008, Kravitz designed a full recording studio in the luxurious Setai Hotel. The Setai Recording Studio is a 2,500 square foot, two-story penthouse featuring the latest music equipment and Atlantic Ocean views.
Kravitz purchased a Sunset Island 2 property in 2001, for a reported $8.9 million. In 2005 the Sunset Island 2 property was sold to developer Steve Muss for $14.5 million. Kravitz the retreated to his Biscayne Point property which he had purchased in 1997 for $725,000. The 5,717 square foot Biscayne Point home has three bedrooms and three baths. Plus, a personal recording studio and a rockstar white fur and mirrored lounge. Lenny Kravitz just listed the property on the market for $2.85 million. Biscayne Point is a guard-gated neighborhood that is just 10 minutes north of South Beach. For those of you channeling your inner-rockstar, buy Lenny Kravitz’s house. Then add alcohol, loud music, topless girls and voile, a rockstar is born. Where will Kravitz go next?
Donald Trump claims “now” is the time to buy property, if only it were that easy. Many who still have the money to buy “now” can’t find financing. If financing isn’t stopping you, consider yourself lucky and look to South Beach. Right now in South Beach properties are being sold for way less than asking price. Take, for instance, luxury building Murano at Portofino, located at 1000 S Pointe Drive in the South Beach area of Miami Beach. Where a penthouse unit with an asking price of $12,000,000 just sold for $7,600,000. The spacious three bedrooms, five and a half bath unit is just one example of what’s going on in South Beach, there are lots more just like this. The question is, when will the real estate market finally hit bottom? The question is tough to answer but it seems like buyers are moving towards the beach. Activity is gradually picking up, more inquiries, and more viewings, will sooner or later translate into more sales.
What’s new in New York? The Smyth TriBeCa Hotel at 85 West Broadway is on the radar. Famous bachelor and hip hotelier Jason Pomeranc is behind the edgy-luxe New York hotel. For the deaf, dumb and blind, Pomeranc, 37, is co-owner Thomson Hotels. He has a knack for capturing the essence of a neighborhood in his upscale hotels and has become something of a cultural barometer.
For those flying into the city for the annual April Robert de Niro-founded TriBeCa Film Festival keep the Smyth Hotel in mind. The Smyth features loft-style rooms with flats screens, iPod dockting stations, and Kiehl’s bod products. What’s more, restaurateur Frederick Lesort is in on the project. The industrial district turned celebrity homing ground of TriBeCa borders SoHo and Lower Manhattan. If you’re not transient then look to the Smyth residencies. There are a few units for sale on the top of the fourteen-story building. Buying into the contemporary aesthetic would also buy you into the rooftop bar and ultimately a hip scene.
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As the song lyrics go, "I got 99 problems but a b**** ain’t one" and it’s still true. Hip hop mogul Jay-Z is still married and crazy in love with pop star Beyonce Knowles but his hotel dreams seem done for now. About a year ago Jay-Z told the World he would be opening his own branded J Hotel on New York’s West side. Many things, though, have changed in a year and as economic woes continue, the J Hotel is no longer. The NY Times reported that developer Charles Blaichman, behind the famed Soho House, cannot raise enough money for a new hotel. Blaichman who has built two dozen projects in Manhattan over the last two decades needed $370 million for his new hotel venture with Jay-Z. Blaichman struggling to get that money said, "Even the banks who want to give us money can’t." He is now trying to rent out the former Time Warner Cable warehouse where he was to build. As for Jay-Z we figure he isn’t hurting too bad, still "Big Pimpin up in NYC." He has the money, the girl and other successful real estate ventures in New York. In better times someday, somewhere, we are sure a J Hotel or two will pop-up.
We have found a new book for your coffee table. The book is the latest edition in teNeues’ Luxury series called Luxury Houses : Top of the World. The very, very best houses from around the world have been photographed in the hard cover. The houses are stunning, the real deal creme de la creme of the real estate world. They all have "stunning settings, sumptuous materials, and sophisticated architectural detailing and interiors." Plus, each house "offers a unique perspective on what’s possible if both money and taste abound." These houses have been built with serious money in serious locations. Architects and the affluent aren’t the only who will appreciate this book by John Smith. Check it out!
The luxury market has become a hunting ground for the bargain savvy. Thanks to really bad financial times which the whole world seems to finally be feeling, luxury prices are dropping. From the cost of prime real estate, to new Aston Martins and even fine wine, has gone way down. The Liv-Ex 100 lists the prices of the top 100 most coveted luxury wines and since last October there has been a 12.4% drop. Bad news for the wineries but if you’re looking to fill your wine cellar with some luxe bottles of Dom. Romane Conti 1997, $1,540, Petrus Pomerol 1998, $1,459, or Chteau Le Pin Pomerol 1999, $908 now would be a good time. The wine market is a buyers market so let your collection begin. […]
If you can’t build the World’s tallest building then how do you get into the record books? You pick another less contested category just as the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) have done in Abu Dhabi, Dubai. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and the country’s largest emirate with over 1.6 million residents, an abundance of wealth and prestige. ADNEC is working on a building project called Capital Gate, this building will enter the Guiness Book of World Records as the "World’s most inclined tower."
Capital Gate will put the naturally inclined Tower of Pisa to shame by leaning four times as far, at an 18 degree angle. The intentional lean will require extra steel reinforcements to counteract the gravitational, wind and seismic pressures. The top of the building will be a dense mesh of reinforced steel, which will sit on top of 490 piles, drilled about 32 yards deep into the ground. Plus, Capital Gate will feature 728 custom-made diamond-shaped glass panels, each one fitted in a slightly different angle to adjust with the lean. "Capital Gate will be one of a kind," added David Pringle, CEO, RMJM Asia and the Middle East. "Its graceful, asymmetric diagonal structure, known as a ‘diagrid’, supports the tilting external load of the building and we believe that this is the first building in the world to use a pre-cambered core."
The leaning Capital Gate Tower is part of a $2.2 billion business and residential project that will be part of an entire micro city. Capital Gate will be host to a five-star Hyatt Hotel fittingly named, "Hyatt at Capital Centre." Plus, some of the most coveted office space in all of Abu Dhabi. The concept is kind of stellar and the engineering ingenious but, honestly, staying in a building that leans 18 degrees would probably make us vomit. Vulgar but true, check it out for yourself, though, if that sort of record breaking excites you.
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Haven’t heard of the Yamu yet? Shame on you. The Yamu is a five-star hotel being built and designed by the General Hotel Management (GHM) company. If you aren’t familiar with GHM projects then we don’t know what rock you live under, this company has some of the most outrageous hotels and resorts around the globe. The Setai Hotel on Miami Beach, Florida is the first in America and may give you some bearing on just how insane their establishments are. The Yamu Hotel is on a private peninsula of Phuket’s east coast and will raise the bar on previously held notions of privacy, tranquility and luxury.
There is always some anticipation when hotels of this calibre are set to open but the Yamu is highly anticipated. Hopefully the names Zecha, Gathy and Starck mean something to you. The world renown trio went into collaboration on this project in Phuket. Industry guru Adrian Zecha chairman and director of GHM Hotels and Aman Resorts, acclaimed architect Jean-Michel Gathy and French interior designer Philippe Starck are creating a hotel that is magnificent, we don’t have words.
The Yamu Hotel will not encroach on surrounding natural beauty, thanks to the architectural genius of Jena-Michel Gathy. In keeping true to Thai spirit, Gathy constructed large outdoor living rooms, interconnected open rooms, and functionality between indoor and outdoor spaces. He accomplished his goal of intensifying natural beauty without disrupting existing nature.
The interior 63 rooms overlook the limestone islands of the Andaman Sea. Interior designer Philippe Starck has also taken design cues from surrounding nature. Again he has created stunning accents and opulence that are of another world. Best known for being startling and sumptuous, the Yamu will still be inviting in an elegant yet casual fashion as only Starck can do. We are convinced that the Yamu Hotel, graceful, sophisticated and timeless will breathe new meaning into the word vacation.
Not to mention featured facilities galore. The Yamu has a stunning 160-person restaurant that will serve Thai, Western, and Chinese influenced cuisine. A to die for spa and 100 metre swimming pool. Oh and, five glass cubes within the estate that will serve as a wine room with wine cave below, a cigar lounge, a chocolate room, a private kitchen and a designer boutique.
Around the hotel will be 12 privately owned Villa Estates, operated as part of the hotel when owners are away. Each villa will have master pavilion with a lounge, a master bedroom, kitchen and maids’ quarters. Plus, a 23.5-metre swimming pool, garden and outdoor showers. The Club Complex at the Yamu boasts personal butlers, unsurpassed privacy, and convenient access to facilities, achieving the ultimate luxurious vacation environment.
Plus, Yamu Hotel projects out into Phang Nga Bay and has a private marina with 39 berths. There are 84 islands sparkling across the bay, plus several small private beaches, hidden caves and quiet anchorages. The privileged few who can afford to own and vacation at the Yamu Hotel and Residencies in Phuket, will experience unrivalled tropical beauty and marvelous marine life in sever comfort.
The Hotel, the Villa Estates and Club Complex, are infused with the visionary intellect of Gathy and Starck to achieve an extremely rare synergy of style and than run by the best. The chic Yamu Hotel doors will open next Summer, 2009. Private investment opportunities are available for sale, we recommend you hustle to. We are booking like tomorrow!
If luxury is all you crave then the Continuum on South Beach is the place for you. The Continuum residencies, located in the chic South of Fifth (SOFI) neighborhood, are resort style living developments on some seriously desired beach front property. There are two towers built by the legendary Ian Bruce Eichner. The South which was completed in 2002 and the North which was first launched in 2004. The 37-story, 193-unit, North Tower was completed just last year and remains our love on the beach.
Floor plans range from 1,200 square-foot one-bedrooms to 4,000-square-foot four-bedroom residencies, to a 7,000 square foot penthouse with movie theatre. Unit ceilings are grand, notions of exclusivity are felt and the classiness, simplicity and space can’t be overlooked. The Sales for the North tower are projected beyond $355 million.
Besides the private white sand beach right outside your door, there is a full service beach club with furniture and cabanas. Swim in the enormous lagoon shaped pools, play tennis on one of three har-tru courts, or take lunch on The Patio with to die for tuna tartare. Outdoor amenities alone wouldn’t cut it, thank god the Continuum offers a 20,000 foot state of the art fitness center and spa. Get a private trainer, take a plethora of exercise classes, then hit up the ucalyptus steam room, redwood sauna, heated whirlpool, or coldplunge. Better yet, get a message or any spa treatment in the blink of an eye. Relax by the rooftop infinity pool and sundeck, and take in the unobstructed Miami Beach views.
In short the Continuum has some serious amenities and modern living quarters. To live as on constant vacation is the primary goal and the Continuuum Residencies surpass, every moron out should only be so lucky.
Imagine Lifestyles is here to give you the low down on wealth and Miami Beach. Listen up because at some point these little factoids will probably help you make money, make a trip to Miami or, at least, help you sound a bit more intellignent in an elitest world.
Facts:
•    25% of the World’s wealth is in Florida during the winter season Miami Beach receives a huge influx of Europeans, especially during the winter season, due to the falling dollar and rising Euro this demographic spends copious amounts of money.
•   South Florida is home to some of the richest communities in the world such as: La Gorce Island, Millionaires Row, Fisher Island, PineTree, Palm Island and Star Island, Naples, Palm Beach and Marcos Island, Coral Gables
•   Miami has the 2nd largest banking/finance industry after New York
•   South Florida has a massive international trade industry
•   Nearly 1,200 multinational companies, 41 of them billion-dollar companies, collectively manage over $200 billion in revenue from South Florida.
•   In Miami Beach alone, numerous celebrities and athletes like Jennifer Lopez, Billy Joel, Sean "P Diddy" Combs, Gloria Estefan, Kelly Rowland, Lenny Kravitz, Dwayne Wade, Alonzo Mourning and Enrique Iglesias have homes here.
Plus according to the USB 2008 survey of the Richest 70 cities in the World, 
Miami was ranked:
•   the world’s 29th-richest city(net earnings),Only 4 U.S. cities were listed Miami, NYC, LA and           Chicago.

•   4th-richest in the United States

•   22nd in the World’s richest cities by purchasing power
Bottom line, if you have money then spend the coming winter months in sunny Miami Beach. You can’t go wrong!
 
 
