Photo credit: State Archives of Florida/FloridaMemory.com
The Savoy Hotel has stood on Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive since 1937, a low-rise Art Deco landmark in a neighbourhood defined by that style. Now, a plan filed by Allied Partners would demolish most of the Savoy and the neighbouring Arlington Hotel to make way for a 38-story, 480-foot tower designed by Arquitectonica. Read on to know more details here: The Savoy Hotel was built in 1937, during the era when Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive was taking shape as a showcase for Art Deco architecture. The neighbouring Arlington Hotel, built in 1941, shares the block and has been closed since it was badly damaged by Hurricane Irma. The proposed Savoy tower would rise about 480 feet, or 453 feet depending on the measurement cited in filings, well above the surrounding buildings. It would include 90 market-rate condominiums averaging 2,851 square feet, 60 workforce rental units in the parking podium, and a 76-key hotel. The workforce rentals would be restricted to households earning at or below 120 percent of area median income for at least 30 years, as per Oftmw.com. Reports further suggest that the project also calls for 257 parking spaces, a sixth-floor pool deck, a beachfront hotel restaurant, and a beach club.
The project relies on Florida’s Live Local Act to bypass local zoning limits and on the Resiliency and Safe Structures Act to allow demolition of flood-vulnerable historic buildings, according to WLRN and project filings. The developer says the new building’s street front is designed to match the scale of the two old hotels and sit in line with the preserved elements, as per Oftmw.com. Its low-rise footprint and distinctive facade have made it a familiar sight in the South of Fifth neighbourhood for nearly a century. Under the current proposal, the Arlington would be demolished entirely, while the Savoy would lose most of its structure. What remains would be the hotel’s lobby and a small section of its Ocean Drive facade, both of which would be retained and restored intact. The mix of uses reflects a broader trend in Miami Beach development, where residential towers increasingly incorporate hotel and retail components. The Live Local Act’s density and height provisions make such projects financially viable in areas where local zoning would otherwise limit them.
The Savoy Hotel sits in the South of Fifth neighbourhood, just outside the Miami Beach Architectural District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Almost all of Miami Beach falls within a FEMA flood zone, which means many older buildings qualify under the law’s criteria. Because the law includes an exception for historic properties within districts recognised before January 1, 2000, and the Savoy falls outside that boundary, that placement matters.
What comes next for the Savoy site
Allied Partners filed a letter of intent in April 2026 invoking the Live Local Act, and the plans have since been filed with the city. The project is still in the planning and review stage, with construction not yet underway. The developer, Savoy Hotel Partners LLC, is owned by Allied Partners CEO Eric D. Hadar and family.