The eagerly awaited Mondrian South Beach--we had a tour of the unfinished version back in November 2007, and we've been enthusiastically waiting for the real opening--is set to open fully soon.
In the meantime, HotelChatter tipster Michael told us about a bunch of lobby and sample guest bedroom pictures available from designer Marcel Wanders online and we just had to show you. It really does look something special.
Starting in the lobby, there's a pretty spectacular spiral staircase, as pictured above. Move into the guest rooms and you can't miss the unique design features that really make it look different to other hotels.
We love the big sweeping spaces of the bedroom and if you take a look at the same room from the other angle, we're pretty excited by its funky bath tub too.
There's no official opening date being publicized soon and no online reservations open yet, but May or June are looking likely.
[UPDATE: The hotel is set to open in December 2008 for the annual Art Basel Art Fair.]
Yesterday we were given a brief tour of the Mondrian South Beach which is, much to our dismay, still under construction. The hotel will technically open some of its units in January 2008, as had been previously reported, but the entire property won't be fully operational until May 2008.
Either way, when it opens the Mondrian will be spectacular. And we're not just saying this because we got a tour and we feel like we have to be nice.
For starters, Morgans Hotel Group basically gave designer Marcel Wanders creative freedom for the hotel. And his designs are pretty spectacular if somewhat unusual.
The Dutch-born designer was named "Designer of the Year" by Elle and been recognized by Time magazine as a top interior designer. Here's how he described his vision for the Mondrian:
Wanders, 44, conceived the hotel as "Sleeping Beauty's castle," with gardens that serve as indoor and outdoor living spaces, featuring cabanas, tented play spaces for children and a hanging chandelier above the elegant pool. The hotel rooms, which resemble theater boxes, overlook the gardens so that "everyone has the best seat in the house," he says.
We saw samples of the interior decor and furnishings inside the sales office of the Mondrian South Beach which is temporarily housed in the building. Wanders' contemporary designs have been called bold, innovative and romantic but we thought it was also incredibly happy and giddy (excuse our layperson's descriptions.)
It's decor that we wouldn't want to live in 365 days a year but we firmly believe a hotel stay (especially in a luxury hotel) should be an experience different from your daily life. And Wanders' whimiscal but bright decor should do the trick.
Not a yacht, but the planned Mondrian South Beach Hotel.
While we couldn't attend last week's Mondrian South Beach yacht party, (we were busy with a...um..private jet party), the hotel made sure that we got the full party dispatch.
Keep in mind, the Mondrian is still not open but it will be sometime in early 2008. The yacht party was kind of like of "woo cruise" in hopes of getting buyers for the residential units in the hotel. These residences will start at $400,000, and consists of 342 studios, one and two-bedroom apartments and penthouses.
Thus aboard the yacht, 200 VIP brokers checked-out furnishings from hotel's designer Marcel Wanders Mooi collection which will be placed in the Mondrian South Beach residences. Fancy hors d’oeuvres from OLA were served and of course, there was champagne. Revelers included the hotel's co-developer Keith Menin, Jeff Mohr, the owner of Majestic Properties and the hotel's general manager Maria Elena Rubio, along with sales director Pietro Belmonte.
Yacht-goers were also offered the chance to enter a raffle for a two-night weekend stay at the Mondrian LA. The night ended by docking in the soon-to-be-home of the Mondrian's private marina where guests were treated to a "video visualization" of the hotel from Marcel Wanders on an inflatable screen. We just can't wait for the place to actually open soon.
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by amandak
