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.
Despite preservationists’ efforts to save the Hotel New Yorker, a landmark in the newly designated Architectural District, on April 23, 1981, the hotel was demolished without warning. A headline in a Miami News article reads: “Treasure or Trash, the Hotel is Gone.” The destruction of the landmark was so impactful that the Miami Design Preservation League uses the image of the New Yorker in its current-day logo. Excerpts and quotes from the article are highlighted below in blue.
Norman and Barbara Rosenfeld were lounging in their room at the Sands Hotel when the walls and windows started rattling.
Miami News, April 24, 1981, Mitch Lubitz and Kathy McCarthy
Next door, a swinging ball and crane ripped away huge chunks of concrete and plaster from the New Yorker Hotel, an 8-story Art Deco landmark at 1611 Collins Ave.
Demolition without Warning
The New Yorker fell yesterday after Miami Beach developers Dov Dunaevsky and Abe Resnick, who own the neighboring hotels, scrapped a $50-million plan to save the 41-year-old New Yorker.
There was no warning the demolition was going to start yesterday, and it caught preservationists by surprise. Resnick was vacationing when the wrecking ball took its first bite out of the building’s facade, and Dunaevsky was unavailable for comment.
Alternative Plan Fails
Under fire from preservation forces, the developers had been weighing a plan by a Miami architectural firm to preserve the New Yorker and the Sands as an Omni-type mall.
“The firm came back with a $50-million plan for a 300-room, 28-story hotel and 175-unit condominium, 50 stories high,” said Ron Sachs of Hank Meyer Associates, a spokesman for Resnick and Dunaevsky.
“The plans are beautiful plans, but with interest rates like they are and the cost of money so high, it just isn’t feasable.”
Preservationists had tried to work together with the developer on a plan for the space:
Before the deco exterior was torn down, though, Resnick halted the wrecking ball and agreed to have a Miami architectural firm study the feasibility of turning the empty building into a modern mall with an Art Deco motif.
The firm of Fabregas, Bouterse, and Perez completed the study two weeks ago and proposed a $50 million project of hotel rooms, condos and shops within the shells of the New Yorker and Sands.
Architect David Perez was bitter the plan had been rejected. “They did not need to touch the building at all. I don’t know why they did it. I think they were honest in trying to do something good, but they showed me they weren’t smart because they didn’t need to do that. It’s a lackc of vision … the easiest way out.”
Worst Fears Come True
“All my worst fears have been confirmed,” cried Barbara Capitman, director of the Miami Design Preservation League, who led the fight to save the hotel. “It’s a triumph of the unimaginative way of life,” Capitman said. “It’s barbaric. You simply don’t have a treasure and treat it like this. They want to get every last penny out of the property. It could have been a landmark building. It would have excited the city,” she said.
Demolition Company Chimes In
“This is a piece of junk,” said Juelle [Jose Juelle, VP of Juelle Brothers Demolition Company]. “It stinks inside. It’s full of termites and rats. The ceiling beams are rusty. The concrete is in very poor condition. It was poured with sand from the beach.”
Failed County Inspection
Resnick had obtained a demolition permit for the New Yorker in January after it failed a county structural inspection. Sachs said a county ordinance requires buildings to be recertified for occupancy when they become 40 years old. The New Yorker hit that mark last fall.
The New Yorker’s lot stood vacant for many years and is now occupied by the northern-most portion of the Loew’s hotel. It wasn’t until June 16th, 1982 that the first local historic preservation ordinance was adopted by Miami Beach. It took several years after that for the ordinance to be refined and strengthened in order to adequately protect historic landmarks and neighborhoods.
