Editors Note: The Barbara Baer Capitman archives “Historic Threads” project is partly sponsored by the Department of State, Division of Historical Resources, and the State of Florida.
In 1984, six hotels underwent major renovations that would mark the second wave of an Art Deco revival in South Beach. According to a Miami Herald article written by Paul Shannon on July 8, 1984, Royale Group Ltd. officials secured a $13.5 million loan to pay for the planned renovation, which included painting and refurbishing in the original Art Deco style.
The hotels are: The Carlyle and Cardozo, both at the corner of 13th Street and Ocean Drive, The Cavalier, 1320 Ocean Drive, Leslie, 1244 Ocean Drive, The Senator, 1201 Collins Ave, and The Victor, 1144 Ocean Dr.
The Capitmans were mentioned in nearly every Art Deco news story of the 1980s. They were pioneers of the movement towards preserving Miami Beach’s history:
Royale then bought the six Miami Beach hotels from “Financially Troubled Art Deco Hotels Inc.,” a company run by Andrew Capitman, the son of Art Deco advocate Barbara Capitman, in exchange for stock and assuming $5.6 million in mortgages.
The goal was to attract young professionals to the city:
Royale officials have said they hope to aim the hotels and the nightclubs and cafes they have built into some of them toward the young and affluent, a group characterized as “Yuppies” — young, upwardly mobile professionals.
This was the start of a new beginning in Miami Beach.
