An unforeseen construction defect will significantly delay the planned Bulgari hotel project in Miami Beach.
On Tuesday, the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board approved modifications to the planned redevelopment of the Seagull Hotel at 100 21st Street that entails tearing down most of the historic 145-room building to put in a new foundation.
Carter McDowell, a lawyer representing Bulgari and partner Blue Horizon Group, told board members the changes could push back completion by almost a year.
“It does slow us down,” McDowell said during the hearing. “It’s certainly not where the owners and any of us wanted to be.”
The construction delay is the latest setback for Italian luxury house Bulgari, led by CEO Jean-Christophe Babin, and its partner, London-based Blue Horizon Group. Shortly after purchasing the Seagull Hotel for $120 million in 2020, Blue Horizon teamed up with Bulgari to unveil plans to renovate the building into the brand’s first U.S. hotel with 100 rooms. Italian architectural firm Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel is overseeing the restoration and design.
Completed in 1948, the seven-story Seagull combines Art Deco and Miami Modern architectural styles. The hotel has been vacant for several years.
The joint venture had aimed to open the Bulgari Hotel Miami Beach last year, but a 2022 lawsuit by the owners of the neighboring Setai Miami Beach challenging city approvals stalled the project. A year later, a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge dismissed the Setai lawsuit, and the pre-demolition work to the interiors of the Seagull began, according to a March 9 letter of intent filed with the city.
Engineers hired by the developer then determined that the existing foundation was not structurally sound to withstand the renovation, which includes the addition of two new top floors, the letter states.
To bring in the equipment to pour the new foundation and install steel structures to hold up the Seagull’s north facade that will remain intact, a majority of the building’s shell has to be demolished, according to the letter.
“It was a complete surprise to our structural engineer, our owner and the design team,” McDowell told board members. “It was a gut punch. It completely changed what we have to do with the building.”
The matter was also a life safety issue for the project’s construction workers if the developer did not put in a new foundation, McDowell explained. “Because of the weakness of the existing structure, we can’t do it without risking collapse and potentially killing construction workers on site,” he said.
After the hearing, McDowell told The Real Deal he could not comment on how much more money construction of the Bulgari hotel will cost, but said that the project is fully funded even with the anticipated additional work.
“It’s a work in progress,” he said. “The completion date is also a work in progress. It would take a pretty major effort to get everything done and permitted in less than six months.”
