By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-17 01:31:41 | Updated at 2025-03-17 08:13:58
6 hours ago
The historic Miami hotel that was featured in the 1996 film 'The Birdcage', and has been home to chic Chanel fashion shows, is in the midst of a $1 billion residential makeover.
The Raleigh, a landmark Art Deco hotel on the sands of South Beach, is known for its iconic coat-of-arms swimming pool and decades of celebrity guests.
These include Audrey Hepburn, Madonna, Sylvester Stallone, Anna Wintour, and the late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, who was often spotted sunning aside the hotel's pool.
The hotel was also featured in various scenes in 'The Birdcage', a remake of the classic French farce starring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Hank Azaria and Gene Hackman.
Before being revived, the world-famous hotel was down on its luck for over a decade, falling into neglect and shuttering after Hurricane Irma in 2017.
In 2019, real estate developer Michael Shvo stepped in with an off-market offer to buy it, along with three adjacent properties.
He's now turning them into luxury apartments and a boutique hotel called The Rosewood Hotel & Residences.
Prices for the residences range from $10 million to $150 million per unit. Most of them have already sold to all cash offers and there has been over $250 million total in pre-sales already. Buyers can move in late 2027.
The front rendering of the newly updated Raleigh in Miami Beach
'Its had a few different transformations over the years,' Shvo tells the Daily Mail.
'Now we're restoring all the historic aspects of the Raleigh, the martini bar, the Tiger Room restaurant, the pool, the cabanas.'
Before breaking down any walls at the hotel - which was built by L. Murray Dixon and opened in 1940 - Shvo worked for three years to oversee the design of every single aspect of the place, 'down to every door handle.'
He hired in-demand architect and interior designer Peter Marino, who formerly worked in fashion, to source materials from around the world.
When complete, The Rosewood Hotel & Residences will feature 40 residences and 60 hotel rooms, all with original furniture and detailing.
Some distinct features buyers will get in the two to five-bedroom spaces include 12-foot wide terraces, oiled blackened steel beams in living areas, hand-selected imported stone flooring for living areas, and sleek stone flooring for the bedrooms.
The laundry rooms have self-venting washers and all appliances are top-of-the-line.
The Molteni cabinetry throughout is custom, the countertops are made of marble and premium granite imported from Europe.
The countertop and backsplash tiles all have signature details and etchings, the bathrooms all have floor to ceiling windows, stone flooring and rain shower enclosures.
There are custom marble floating vanities and hidden storage in the bathrooms.
The bathrooms even have refrigerators made specifically to store beauty products.
The historic Raleigh hotel that was featured in the 1996 film 'The Birdcage' is in the midst of a $1 billion makeover
Developer Michael Shvo (right) and designer Peter Marino (left) collaborated on the space
Scenes from the 1996 film The Birdcage were filmed inside the hotel prior to its renovation
Residences have sweeping ocean views from the floor to ceiling windows
Outdoor terraces are designed to watch the waves
The building itself features a full spa, a double-height fitness center with state-of-the-art cardio and strength training equipment, and an enormous children's playroom.
Residents will have access to 24-hour hotel concierge services, including a private butler and valet.
The residential lobby is filled with collector art and meticulously curated furnishings by Marino.
There is a dedicated valet for residents and onsite parking, bicycle storage and refrigerated storage for medical and meal deliveries.
Buyers also get a membership to a private beach club and beach access.
Shvo says the property totals three acres on the beach, and while he's kept a lot of the original design, he's modernized the building for the future.
'We restored all that original design but at the same time it's mixed with contemporary details from Peter, down to the plants,' he says.
He'd been eyeing the property for years, calling it 'the number one property in Miami Beach.'
'I only wanted to do the Raleigh,' he says.
The hotel's iconic coat-of-arms swimming pool has been upgraded in the renovation
A Chanel fashion show was held at the hotel's distinctive pool
Every inch of the space was designed down to the finest details
The building is considered a prime property among developers
Residents will have access to a private entrance and their own valet
Shvo has had buyers snapping up the units. He says they are mostly an international group, with many from Europe looking to secure a spot in Miami.
The renovation and the residences' soaring prices come amid a housing crisis in nearby areas of Florida.
The list of houses for sale keeps growing as many people can't afford their skyrocketing Homeowners' Association fees, or HOAs, that have increased following the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Tower South in Surfside.
For many homeowners, that means their HOAs are now higher than their mortgage payments.
In January, there were 172,209 homes for sale in Florida, the highest inventory of any month on record.
