The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort

At the northern tip of the barrier island that carries Miami Beach, just short of Haulover Inlet, three glass towers stand between Collins Avenue and the Atlantic. The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort opened here in January 2012, on land that had held one of the great resort hotels of post-war Florida, and with the Bal Harbour Shops directly across the road.

History

Bal Harbour is a small village, incorporated in 1946 and planned as a quiet residential enclave north of Surfside. In 1956 the Tisch family opened the Americana on its oceanfront, a resort hotel designed by Morris Lapidus, the architect of the Fontainebleau, whose curving lobbies and theatrical staircases defined the Miami Beach style of the 1950s. The Americana later traded as the Sheraton Bal Harbour, and it was demolished in the 2000s to make way for the present resort.

Across Collins Avenue, Stanley Whitman opened the Bal Harbour Shops in 1965, an open-air centre of palms, fountains and koi ponds that drew shoppers from across the Americas and gave the village an international name. The St. Regis was conceived to serve that clientele, with hotel rooms and suites in the central tower and private residences in the towers on either side.

The St. Regis name goes back to 1904, when John Jacob Astor IV opened the St. Regis in New York. The brand still trades on the rituals of that house: butler service for every guest, an evening ritual in which a bottle of champagne is opened with a sabre, and a house version of the Bloody Mary, a drink first served at the King Cole Bar in New York in the 1930s under the name Red Snapper.

Architecture and design

The three towers are clad in glass and placed so that the rooms look out over the ocean. Their height gives the upper floors views north over Haulover Inlet and south along the line of the beach towards the towers of Sunny Isles and Miami Beach. Between the buildings and the sand, terraces step down to the pool deck and the gardens.

Rooms and suites

Rooms and suites face the water, most with balconies over the beach. Every guest has access to the St. Regis butler service, which handles unpacking, pressing and small requests.

Dining

Atlantikós, the main restaurant, serves Greek and Mediterranean cooking, with whole fish and mezze, and has a terrace above the ocean. The St. Regis Bar is the setting for the evening sabrage and for the local version of the Bloody Mary.

Wellness

The resort has a full spa, and the pool deck runs along the beach with cabanas and loungers. The beach at Bal Harbour is broad and quieter than the sand further south in Miami Beach.

Weddings and events

The resort hosts weddings on its oceanfront lawns and terraces and in its indoor function rooms, and meeting rooms take board retreats and corporate dinners.

Location

The resort sits at 9703 Collins Avenue. Haulover Park and its beach lie just north across the inlet bridge, and Surfside begins at the village's southern edge, reached along the sand by a beach path that makes an easy morning walk. Among the luxury resorts on Miami Beach's barrier island, this is the one closest to the Bal Harbour Shops, which stand across the road. Miami International Airport is about 35 minutes by car, and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International is a similar distance to the north.