The Miami Design District has found its hotel partner: Fouquet’s.
The luxury hotel chain, which hails from Paris, will operate a 12-story, 85-room establishment within the expansion of the shopping district, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect David Chipperfield.
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The hotel will be connected to a 25-story, 143-unit condo tower at 39 NE 39th Street. Fouquet’s, owned by Groupe Barrière, will manage the residences and its amenities, including five dining concepts.
Founded in 1899 on Paris’ famed Champs-Élysées, Fouquet’s made its U.S. debut in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood, opening a 97-room hotel in 2022. Its other resorts are in Saint-Barth and Courchevel.
Groupe Barrière, founded in 1912, owns 12 hotels and 32 casinos. The Parisian firm remains under the control of the fourth generation of the Barrière family and is currently led by Alexandre Barrière and Joy Desseigne-Barrière.
The hotel is part of the Miami Design District’s largest expansion since launching as an open-air luxury mall, which now includes Chanel, Hermès and Prada stores. The owners of the shopping mall, Craig Robins’s Dacra and LVMH-backed L Catterton private equity firm, purchased a 15-building portfolio on the west side of the district for nearly $165 million in 2022.
The joint venture made the purchase with new partners, including Qatari firm Constellation Hotels Holding, New York-based private equity firm Raycliff Capital, and the developer and owner of South Florida’s Four Seasons properties, Fort Partners.
In January, the developers filed a proposal to create a special area plan to expand the master-planned district. Besides condos and the hotel, the expansion would include 55,089 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and 171-spot parking garage.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.