Bulgari hotel, known for Italian luxury, coming to Miami Beach in 2024

Taylor Dolven
·2 min read

Bulgari Hotels & Resorts is coming to Miami Beach.

The luxury Italian hospitality company best known for its jewelry, said its first U.S. hotel will debut in Miami Beach in 2024 at 100 21st St., near Collins Park and The Bass museum. The site used to be the Seagull Hotel Miami Beach.

The hotel will have around 100 rooms, a company statement said. Italian architecture firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel will design the hotel, which will include an outdoor pool, spa, and restaurant and bar from Italian chef Niko Romito, famed for his Reale restaurant in Italy’s Abruzzo region. Antonio Citterio has designed all 10 current and upcoming Bulgari hotels.

Silvio Ursini, Bulgari Executive Vice President, said the company turned down several U.S. sites before landing on the Miami Beach property. The waterfront location next to a parking lot of the W South Beach with Collins Park behind it allows for more suites to have water views.

“This is a fantastic opportunity, it will allow most rooms to have sea views which is very rare,” he said. “This is a major plus for us.”

Bulgari launched a joint venture with Marriott International in 2001 forming Bulgari Hotels & Resorts. Since then the brand has opened hotels in Milan, London, Dubai, Bali, Beijing, and Shanghai with upcoming openings planned for Paris, Rome, Moscow and Tokyo.

The 21st Street hotel, originally built in 1948, sold for $120 million in January to BHI Miami Limited, a Delaware entity directed by Nabil Kobeissi, CEO of London-based Blue Horizon Advisors, a private investment firm. Kobeissi did not immediately return a request for comment.

Ursini said the company has submitted initial plans to the city of Miami Beach and will work with local officials over the next several years to iron out design specifics. Those preliminary plans describe a nine-story hotel with 110 rooms to be considered by the historic preservation board on March 8, 2021.

Ursini said he is confident the Miami Beach market will bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic downturn.

“It’s a fascinating process we need to navigate to bring our Italian contemporary vision to Miami and adjust it to the local environment,” he said. “Because we are a very old company, we have sort of seen many ups and downs. We like to take the long view. Hotels in particular are designed to last over 100 years.”