The decaying hotel at Miami Beach's historic Deauville Beach Resort, which once played host to everyone from the Beatles to President John F. Kennedy, is set to be imploded after it was declared an unsafe structure.
The implosion of the Deauville hotel tower at 6701 Collins Avenue will take place Sunday at 8 a.m.
Streets in the area - Collins Avenue and Harding Avenue from 65-70th streets - will be closed around 7:30 a.m. and were expected to be reopened by 10 a.m.
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The historic building has been closed since 2017 after suffering damage from an electrical fire and Hurricane Irma. It fell into such bad shape that an engineering report found it "unsafe" and beyond repair, saying it "cannot be saved due to structural defects."
Historic preservationists led a years-long effort to save the building but after the structural report from an engineering company hired by the property owners was reviewed, Miami Beach's building department declared a demolition order.
The building was originally constructed in 1957 and by the 1960s, the Deauville was the place to be. The "Ed Sullivan Show" telecast a Beatles appearance live from the hotel's ballroom in 1964, and President John F. Kennedy gave a speech to young Democrats there in 1961. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Judy Garland and Tony Bennett also performed at the resort.
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross had proposed a two-tower development designed by architect Frank Gehry, featuring a six-star hotel and luxury residences, at the Deauville site.
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But on Election Day, Miami Beach voters said "no" to allowing Ross to exceed current building-size regulations to build the development.
Now the future of the site remains uncertain following the implosion.
"The challenge of the Deauville property is that the previous owners of it created such a high price point that it’s very hard for a development to work there," Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said. "So somebody has to build something that’s gonna make enough money to warrant a purchase price."
Gelber had been a proponent of Ross' plan, but said he's not giving up on the site.
"This is just a back to the drawing board. I think it will be terrible if in 10 or 20 years this lot was still empty," Gelber said.
