<\/p>\n
The Savoy Hotel is at 455 Ocean Drive in Miami Beach. The building might be demolished and replaced by a 38-story condo tower.<\/p>\n
Al Diaz<\/p>\n
adiaz@miamiherald.com | June 28, 2007<\/p>\n
The Savoy Hotel on Miami Beach\u2019s iconic Ocean Drive is an emblem of the historic style that\u2019s long characterized the island city: a low-rise footprint with Art Deco design that has stood since the 1930s.<\/p>\n
But that historic property is set for potential demolition to make way for a 38-story condo building<\/a> \u2014 and while residents are up in arms about the plan, the city says it can\u2019t do anything to stop it thanks to preemption laws passed in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n If the demolition of the Savoy moves forward, it\u2019ll be thanks to The Resiliency and Safe Structures Act<\/a>, a state law passed in 2024. The law is meant to preserve safety in areas prone to floods, and allows recognized historic properties to be demolished if they do not meet certain flood criteria set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).<\/p>\n Almost the entirety of Miami Beach is in a flood zone, according to FEMA flood maps<\/a>.<\/p>\n And thanks to another recent state law \u2014 the Live Local Act \u2014 developers would be able to sidestep local zoning regulations, allowing for a project that would smash height restrictions to tower above all surrounding buildings.<\/p>\n The bill<\/p>\n The bill was sponsored by Republican state Sen. Bryan<\/a> \u00c1vila, who was recently selected by Republican gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds to be his lieutenant governor<\/a>. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law.<\/p>\n During a 2024 committee hearing, after Miami Beach residents and groups spoke in strong opposition to his bill, \u00c1vila quipped: \u201cIt\u2019s safe to say I might not be able to have coffee at Miami Beach anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The Miami Design Preservation League, a Miami Beach-based nonprofit, published a blog post in 2024 specifically warning<\/a> that \u00c1vila\u2019s bill could lead to the demolition of the Savoy Hotel and other historic properties.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is something that was not only predictable, but was predicted, in fact, by the Miami Design Preservation League,\u201d Meg Lousteau, the executive director of the League, told WLRN.<\/p>\n READ MORE: New \u2018bulldozing\u2019 bill threatens South Beach\u2019s Art Deco soul, city leaders say<\/a><\/p>\n The hotel is made up of two structures, both impacted by the potential demolition: the Savoy, built in 1937, will be partly preserved under the new plans; and the Arlington, built in 1941, would be completely demolished.<\/p>\n \u00c1vila\u2019s law bans local governments in coastal communities from preventing the demolition of many historic structures if they are \u201cnonconforming\u201d to modern flood standards, or if the buildings have been deemed unsafe. The measure also prevents local governments from requiring the \u201cpreservation of any elements of a demolished structure.\u201d<\/p>\n Residents and local elected officials warned that the bill could severely impact Miami Beach and other coastal communities when the bill was first introduced in 2023. Buildings that are only a few decades old do not meet current flood standards, and the entire city of Miami Beach falls under the purview of the law.<\/p>\n \u00c1vila, who represented Hialeah in the Florida Senate, drew widespread criticism for introducing the bill in 2023 when his district was nowhere near the water and nowhere near the impacts of the proposed law.<\/p>\n \u201cI love Hialeah, but Hialeah isn\u2019t known for its architecture except for the race track,\u201d Ileana Oroza, a Miami Beach resident told WLRN<\/a> during a street protest in 2023. \u201cAnd it\u2019s a Hialeah senator that wants to take all this away? It\u2019s just wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez also took part in that 2023 protest, and took a jab at \u00c1vila during a speech that drew applause from the crowd: \u201cHistory is rich and alive in Miami Beach. So the message is clear today to Tallahassee: Stick to your district. Stick to Hialeah. Stick to Miami Springs. Leave Miami Beach alone!\u201d<\/p>\n The community activism succeeded in blocking the passage of the bill in 2023. But the following year, \u00c1vila filed it again and it was passed.<\/p>\n Commissioner Fernandez told WLRN he hates to say it, but he was right in his opposition to \u00c1vila\u2019s bill at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the fulfillment of the prophecy pretty much,\u201d said Fernandez. \u201cEverything that they said wouldn\u2019t happen is exactly what is happening with this extremely irresponsible preemption, yet again, of local government.\u201d<\/p>\n A request for comments from the Donalds-\u00c1vila campaign was not returned.<\/p>\n Miami Beach\u2019s Republican state Rep. Fabian Basabe joined the mostly Democratic opposition to the bill in the Florida House and voted against it. In the Florida Senate, Democratic state Senator Shevrin Jones, whose district included parts of Miami Beach, voted against it. Republican Senator Ileana Garcia, who represents South Beach, voted for the bill.<\/p>\n The condo<\/p>\n The proposed building, planned by Allied Partners and designed by Arquitectonica, would include a hotel co-existing with 90 condos and 60 so-called workforce rental units on Ocean Drive and Fourth Street.<\/p>\n While the potential demolition could happen due to \u00c1vila\u2019s bill, the plans to build the 38-story building, first reported by the Floridian Developer, are made possible by the Live Local Act, which was passed in 2023 and allows developers to sidestep many local zoning regulations when trying to build large structures.<\/p>\n The law allows large-scale construction in low-scale zones so long as at least 40% of units in the building are maintained as \u201cworkforce housing\u201d for at least 30 years. Workforce housing<\/a> is meant to cater to working-class households making a certain amount above the median income in their area, but has been criticized<\/a> for not actually being affordable for the average worker.<\/p>\n The Floridian Developer cited a letter of intent for the demolition of the Savoy Hotel sent to Miami Beach officials in April 2026. The letter said the hotel is \u201ccurrently cordoned off by construction fencing and stabilized through shoring, has been closed to the public since it was badly damaged in Hurricane Irma\u201d in 2017 and that \u201cdue to its current state, in accordance with the Resiliency and Safe Structures Act, and as allowed by the Live Local Act itself, the Arlington structure will not be preserved in the project.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00c1vila\u2019s demolition bill has an exception for historic properties that sit within a historic district recognized by the National Register of Historic Places before January 1, 2000. The Savoy Hotel sits in the South of Fifth neighborhood in Miami Beach, just outside the Miami Beach Architectural District, which was listed in the registry in 1979.<\/p>\n \u201c Really anything in the South of Fifth neighborhood of Miami Beach is a potential target, and we may lose any number of historic buildings for this reason alone,\u201d warned Lousteau, of the Design Preservation League.<\/p>\n She said the \u201ccombination\u201d of \u00c1vila\u2019s law and the Live Local Act, which passed unanimously in the Florida Senate, could lead to a wholesale change of how many parts of Miami Beach feel on the street level. Further, she said, because the city is banned from preventing the demolition, there is virtually nothing residents can do about it.<\/p>\n \u201c Not only would this be damaging to the iconic brand and image of our city all over the world, but it also removes local participation from these kinds of decisions, and that is an ongoing problem that doesn\u2019t just affect Miami Beach, but affects pretty much every coastal community,\u201d said Lousteau.<\/p>\n The communities of St. Augustine, Key West, Palm Beach, Tampa, Pensacola, West Palm Beach and Panama City have been largely exempted from the law<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"U.S.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MIA_2026-08-25AD2105ByronDonaldsannouncement.JPG\" "\\"MIA_2026-08-25AD2105ByronDonaldsannouncement.JPG\\"")
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, left, appears with Florida state Sen. Bryan \u00c1vila at the Freedom Tower in downtown Miami on Tuesday, August 25, 2026. Donalds announced \u00c1vila as his running mate in his campaign for governor. \u00c1vila sponsored the Resiliency and Safe Structures Act, which critics say could lead to the demolition of Art Deco buildings in Miami Beach.\u00a0 PHOTO BY AL DIAZ adiaz@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n