Reuben Brothers is looking to upgrade its W South Beach.
The London-based investment firm, led by billionaire brothers Simon and David Reuben, is going before the Miami Beach Preservation Board for approval on Tuesday. The planned changes include a members-only social club, a French bakery and a new beachfront restaurant.
Reuben Brothers paid more than $400 million in 2024 for the oceanfront condo-hotel at 2201 Collins Avenue, acquiring the hotel component and a chunk of the condo-hotel units from Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty and David Edelstein’s Tricap. Completed in 2009, the 19-story, twin-tower property has 407 units.
Now, the firm is seeking a certificate of appropriateness for partial demolition and renovation of portions of the hotel, as well as major changes to the rear pool deck and valet drop-off areas.
Plans call for carving out part of the lobby for a French bakery that will have 85 indoor seats and 88 outdoor seats, according to documents filed with the city. The bakery will be an all-day café offering casual breakfast and coffee service, activating the W South Beach’s Collins Avenue frontage, according to a Jan. 11 letter of intent.
The interior lobby work also includes removing existing stone cladding and planters, refinishing corridor columns with Venetian plaster and stone bands, and introducing movable terrace furniture that links directly to the bakery.
On the ocean side, Reuben Brothers wants to demolish the existing pool, pool bar and cabanas to make way for a 237-seat, open-air beach club restaurant at the northeast corner of the site, adjacent to the city’s public boardwalk. The redesign adds a new food and beverage bar, outdoor deck and a freestanding aluminum pergola with a retractable fabric awning, side shades and a clear glass roof element, the letter of intent states.
The centerpiece of the overhaul is a private members-only club that will have 307 indoor and outdoor seats, as well as a dedicated members-only drop-off and future porte-cochere on the north side of the property along 22nd Street.
Reuben Brothers has ramped up its investment in South Florida hospitality in recent years. In 2020, Reuben Brothers acquired a 25 percent stake in JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa, a 685-key hotel in Aventura that is majority owned by Jeffrey Soffer’s Fontainebleau Development. The same year, Soffer completed a $300 million renovation of the Turnberry resort.
In 2022, the firm dropped $42 million for the 53-room Chesterfield Hotel in Palm Beach, which Reuben Brothers recently renovated. The property is reopening this year under a new name, The Vineta Hotel by the Oetker Collection, a German luxury hotel brand.
