by Jeanne Brei
Building New Conference Centers in Miami Beach & Charlottesville
Las Vegas isn’t the only convention city enjoying a building boom—two new conference centers are being planned and breaking ground—one attached to the iconic Fountainbleu Miami Beach in Florida and the other at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. And representatives from Calgary, Alberta, Canada told me at IMEX that they’re getting ready to open their convention center next year!
The iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach (pictured left) has started construction on a new 50,000-sq.ft. event center (rendering above) that’s scheduled to open in Q1 2025 to add to their current 107,000 sq.ft. of indoor meeting space and another almost 100,000 sq.ft. of outdoor meeting and event space. Hotel management is hoping to boost business conference bookings now that several wealth-management and venture-capital companies and a dozen tech startups have opened offices in the Miami metro area in the last few years.
“As we witnessed the influx of people and companies moving to Miami over the last three years, there was a clear 
opportunity to build on the long legacy of Fontainebleau Miami Beach as a leading destination for elite travelers and create an epicenter of experiences and events in South Florida,” explains Fontainebleau Development President Brett Mufson (pictured right). “The elevated design and state of the art features of the center will bring a new level of modern-day luxury to Miami Beach and create another extension of our brand on the heels of the opening of our sister property, Fontainebleau Las Vegas set for Q4 2023.”
Attached to the main hotel’s Tresor Tower by an indoor sky bridge, the four-story event center is being built on a former surface parking lot adjacent to the iconic oceanfront resort and will add a third and fourth ballroom to the property plus 10 more breakout spaces and a 9,000-sq.ft. rooftop deck. The center’s new 18,000-sq.ft. Grand Ballroom will feature an outdoor terrace and divide into four smaller spaces, while the 9,000-sq.ft. Junior Ballroom will divide by three. Floor-to-ceiling windows in pre-function areas will bring in natural light and provide views of the waterway. There will also be an underground garage that will include employee parking.
On the technology side, there will be multiple LED walls providing branding opportunities, plus touch-screen technologies and other advanced audiovisual tools. For sustainability purposes, the center will meet LEED certification standards, with features such as insulated glass to control internal temperatures and reduce energy use and a rainwater collection and recycling system to increase water efficiency.
The new center’s design will reflect the property’s historical features from the hotel’s original architect, Morris Lapidus. Throughout the events center, symbols rooted in Fontainebleau’s origin, history and brand story—such as the bowtie (bow-tie floor pictured left)—which Lapidus wore his entire life and the shape of which he used to create the property’s pools and other features—will appear in some elements of the event center. Other features that will echo the hotel’s original aesthetic include layered ceilings, light and shadow contrasts, reflective surfaces, brass finishes and blue accents and grand staircases reminiscent of the hotel’s “Stairway to Nowhere.”
Currently, the original hotel has two large ballrooms plus a mid-century showroom that regularly hosted entertainers such as the Rat Pack and Jackie Gleason from the ‘50s-’70s. Its design and decor has been maintained to provide a unique atmosphere for receptions and gala dinners. The Fontainebleau also has 12 restaurants and lounges including StripSteak by Chef Michael Mina; Arkadia Grill; Scarpetta by Scott Conant and Hakkasan. There’s also the trendy LIV Nightclub, a 40,000-sq.ft. Lapis spa, and an oceanfront pool with cabanas.
In Charlottesville, the new, as-yet unnamed Hotel and Conference Center is targeting a spring 2025 debut after breaking ground last week. The 223,000-sq.ft. hospitality center will feature 214 guestrooms and suites and will be managed by Pyramid Global Hospitality (known as Benchmark Pyramid until last June).
Those present at the October groundbreaking celebration included Ellen Sinclair, senior vice president, Pyramid Global Hospitality; Tim Rose, CEO of the UVA Foundation; Jennifer “J.J.” Wagner Davis, executive vice president and COO of UVA; Jim Ryan, president of UVA; Hal Powell, vice president, sales & marketing, Pyramid Global Hospitality; Colette Sheehy, UVA’s senior vice president for operations and state government relations; Stephen Brockman, partner at Deborah Berke Partners and David Keith, CEO of Hanbury Architects, which are leading architecture and design for the property. Photo Credit: Pyramid Global Hospitality
Plans are for 25,000 sq.ft. of technologically advanced meeting and event space, including a 10,000-sq.ft. ballroom, which will be the largest in Charlottesville, a full-service restaurant with indoor and outdoor terrace dining, a rooftop café with distant panoramic views, a convenient grab-and-go eatery and multiple spaces for hospitality, business and academic conferences. By anchoring UVA’s Emmet-Ivy corridor, it aims to be a destination property and a convening space for guests and visitors to the University, the local community, faculty, staff, students and conference attendees. The meeting and event venue will be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and will conform to the University’s 2030 sustainability goals.
