What's up with the Grand Bay? It ain't so grand now
What's up with the Grand Bay Hotel? I keep getting asked that but I cannot get an answer from anyone associated with it.
The big, white beautiful pyramid just sits there on South Bayshore Drive, inhabited by ghosts of good times past. And graffiti artists. Well, not artists, taggers and vandals.
Photos by Harry Emilio Gottlieb
posted by Tom Falco at 9:00 AM
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24 Comments:
Ugh!
The owners of the Grand Bay are called the Merco group. Developers who have gone bust and been foreclosed upon all their other projects. Google them for details. They are known as litigious and unethical. As for the Grand Bay, the Merco group owes the Wyndham people big bucks in franchise or licensing fees. They are appealing a court ruling lost by Merco to pay up. In the meantime, the once beautiful hotel is going down the tubes, along with the jobs it generated. Pure greed on the part of the owners.
Wait, so this place is empty?
My understanding is that the Merco Group is selling the Grand Bay to another group, that will renovate, and reopen the hotel within the year.
Wow! This is an eyesore that could be torn down and replaced with a park.
Maybe they could film Burn Notice inside.
Let's put a circle there, and another dog park.
Look like we found the new site for our "trader joes" yippie!!!
1$ bottle wine of the week here we come.
Pogonip, please tell me you are just stirring the pot...
Could be the home of the City Of Miami Youth and Senior Center!!!
Maybe Sarnoff could put residents of the Julia Tuttle Bridge there? He has SO MANY clever ideas, i.e. send Burn Notice to New Orleans.
How about setting up a mock jail for the scammers in Fresh Market parking lot.
Or better yet Let's move City Hall there and free up that for us the taxpayers after all that is our building and property, so we have a right to use it.
Now 4:48, don't be disparaging of Sarnoff Circle. It has become a city landmark. "Just go to Sarnoff Circle make a right, and look out for the dogs and SUV's."
I personally think we ought to put a statue of the Commissioner's grandfather there, whoever that may be.
I think this would make a great Lowe's because Home Depot sucks.
It makes me sad to see this, I have several pic's of me there on my first trip to Miami in 1986. The same time I fell in Love with The Grove!
It was the Hottest Hotel in Miami at the time. (That's what I heard anyway).Everyone was all abuzz about all the celebrities that were staying there. It sure was Beautiful with all the red flower's draping over the wall's of each floor. I was shocked to read on some Travel websites for several years now how the Hotel had gone downhill. On my Last Trip I stopped by to have some drink's at the Hotel Bar and found what I had read to be true. Mainly that the hotel had a terrible mildew smell. I noticed it as soon as I walked into the Lobby. Hotels with Pool's really do need to change their rug's more often. Or shampoo them more often.
it's a terrible problem in all the Hotel's along the beach in Ft. Lauderdale! I hope that it will be fixed up! I'm afraid most companies now will think it's a waist of space and tear it down to build something bigger and without any Character!
RichieRich
Bklyn,NY
can we turn this into an office building for my proposed tech hub in the grove?
have the city take it over...
Carlos get a grip - Lowe's is another big box - not only do we not need another big box but we have what we need in Shell Lumber Co. Surely you jest.
Jesters - Wonder how many of you out there remember just how extraordinary the Grand Bay Hotel in Coconut Grove was in "the day". It was THE most beautiful, elegant hotel in South Florida. Not only were the rooms fantastic, but the common areas, restaurants and service were five star - not to mention that Regines, located on the top floor was the place to see and be seen in Miami. Sure, was before the Ritz, the Mandarin and a slew of uber chic hotels were built here but nothing can take away just how GRAND the Grand Bay was. I hope whoever winds up being the new owner can bring back some of the cache that helped make Coconut Grove as "the" place to stay.
Like the tech idea... Any way this could work?
I miss the Wednesday night parties they had there - excellent pickup joint !
Grand Bay Hotel would make a Great Hotel Condo. We need a Hotel Chain Management company like "W" to make it happen. Or even Nikki Hotel.
It's in foreclosure and the owner's doing nothing about it, but nothing's going to happen to it for a while. The hotel market is awful right now, no one's going to convert it into condos because that market's even worse, and there's not money for real estate right now. Too bad, from what I heard it was THE place back in the day, but I stayed there about 3 years ago before I moved to the Grove full time, and it basically looked and felt like the last time anyone put any money into it was sometime close to when Miami Vice went off the air.
Where the Wednesday Disco Club when? Nice place with nice people. Music of the 70 and 80 the perfect place to be in a happy hour on Wedn. If you know about a similar place let me know!!!!!
Wow! I actually worked at The Grand Bay Hotel during the final days of the Cold War and Gulf War One. It was not yet a Wyndham, was rated by Mobil as a Five Star Hotel, and was managed by The Continental Companies. I must say it was a strange place back in those days. Kind of forever stuck in the eighties. People clinging on to the Miami Vice era and the past. Both the clientele and the staff were all characters. Trashy Euros, Oil rich Arabs, Suave South Americans, Colorful Cubans, and New York Exiled Jews could be found all over the property. You couldn't really say it was a hip place because the folks that stayed there were older, conservative businessmen and has-been, second rate celebrities! The management ran it pretty poorly in those days. Although it was considered their flagship hotel, they made much more money from their collection of cheap airport hotels all over the country! They were clueless as how to market it and how to attract a younger and cooler clientele. I remember people were enchanted when Fabio stayed there. As for the Grand Cafe restaurant in the hotel, it was very popular with rich older people, like doctors and dentists and their wives from Coral Gables, not supermodels and music moguls! They served things like Dover Sole and Rack of Lamb. I think Sinatra, Minnelli, and Davis Jr. stayed there too as well as Tony Bennett, but never any younger movie and rock stars! Too bad! But I must say one good thing about the place: the staff kept the lobby and public areas looking real clean all the time and the food was of the best quality! Now things have changed and you can't really run a hotel like that anymore. Honestly, you've got to run it like a Marriott if you want to make it! RIP Grand Bay!
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