Faena District set to sizzle in Miami Beach

With the pending opening of the arts, entertainment and retail complex in the Faena District in late November, Mid-Beach Miami Beach could become a certifiable hotspot where celebrities and the wealthy converge in a massive development located in the middle of North and South Beach.

The Faena Forum, Faena Bazaar and Faena Park — an arts venue, retail complex and car park, respectively — are all named after the Argentinian hotelier and developer Alan Faena, who developed something similar in Buenos Aires more than a decade earlier.

“We really wanted to set a new tone to Miami Beach,” he told China Daily. “This area was mainly abandoned and was a transit area. Nobody was interested in this part of the city.”

The 52-year-old founder of the Faena Group had to aim to create an arts enclave of sorts, enlisting the help of architects like Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster and film director Baz Luhrmann to design the various parts of the development complex.

The $1 billion Faena District project comprises the Faena Hotel Miami Beach, residential towers and the Faena Forum, Bazaar, and Park.

“We put the best minds in the world to create and think how a new utopian place can be. We have the chance to develop it [and] this is what we did. I think now we are at a crucial moment because it’s all going to open very soon,” he said.

Faena said that the developers also have their eyes on international tourists, who steadily stream into Miami.

“Miami is growing. There are more flights coming in

We put the best minds in the world to create and think how a new utopian place can be.”

Alan Faena, developer all the time. It’s one of the most amazing cities in the world: the leisure, the quality of life, is some of the best in the world. It’s a one-of-a-kind place and it’s growing every day,” he said.

The city has been making more of an effort to court Chinese tourists, working extensively with Chinese media to promote the city’s brand. It is currently developing a television series with a Chinese broadcaster to educate potential travelers about what the south Florida city has to offer.

Faena said that he expects the Chinese will have plenty to do in the Faena District:

“I think we have a lot of entertainment that Chinese people would love — great food, great shows. We have a theater, we have a forum, we have gardens and that’s what the Chinese people like,” he said.

The 18-story residence tower in the district attracted much media attention when it was reported that hedge fund manager Ken Griffin bought a duplex penthouse for $60 million, which was a record-breaking price for a single-family home in Miami. Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs and Larry Gagosian, art dealer, both purchased units there as well.