Edition hotel with halo top planned for central beach

Tourists who visit a planned five-star Edition hotel by Marriott International will spend their nights under a halo once the tower is completed in Fort Lauderdale’s Central Beach District.

The Fort Lauderdale Edition Hotel would contain 176 guest rooms and 26 residences, along with a neighborhood restaurant and retail space at 619 Breakers Ave. and 2900 Belmar St., according to an application to be heard Tuesday by the city’s Development Review Committee.

“The tower is topped with a ‘halo’ that houses a pool and amenity area providing a distinctive skyline element,” according to a project application submitted to the Fort Lauderdale Development Review Committee, which is scheduled to meet Tuesday.

A statement released Monday by a public relations firm representing Rishi Kapoor of Location Ventures in Coral Gables said he is overseeing the project’s development.

“We are working through the necessary public process with the community and city for this proposed project with Marriott and the EDITION brand,” Kapoor said. “We aim to bring a world-class hotel to Fort Lauderdale Beach in conjunction with our under construction sister project, EDITION Residences, Fort Lauderdale.”

Last October, Kapoor and Marriott launched a sales campaign for EDITION Residences Fort Lauderdale, a residence-only luxury boutique condominium project with two 11-story towers in the middle of North Beach Village.

The network of Edition hotels, which includes a property on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, spans North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asian Pacific.

Founded by entrepreneur and real estate developer Ian Schrager, the Marriott International-owned luxury hotel firm has been opening a new round of hotels and residential properties around the U.S. and abroad.

‘Homage to the banyan trees’

“The design draws inspiration from the natural environment of its beach area neighbors — specifically the banyan trees in Birch State Park,” said the DRC application written by Fort Lauderdale land-use attorney

Courtney Crush, who represents the project. “The Edition’s design pays homage to the banyan trees, and creatively creates an architecturally fascinating façade including balconies and amenity floors nestled behind a building façade that evokes the look and feel of an organic material inspired by the banyan tree.”

The project description asserts the hotel “has been thoughtfully designed” and takes into account the “architectural character” of the neighborhood and the possibilities for furthering “a walkable comfortable pedestrian environment.”

Hotel surge

The Fort Lauderdale Edition Hotel joins an array of other hotels under construction in Broward County that are expected to come online between this year and 2025.

According to Visit Lauderdale, the tourism promotion agency for Broward County, 29 new properties accounting for more than 4,400 new rooms are expected to be in operation. And that’s after 20 new hotels with 2,600 new rooms became active between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic through the end of last year.