The 103-year-old Moore Building, located in the heart of Miami’s Design District, has figured out what it wants to be when it grows up.

The final piece of a multi-year development project is now complete. The Hotel at The Moore, its official name, will open to the public on Oct. 14 with 13 suites available for guests.

The largest suite is about 1,100 square feet while the smallest are at least 700 square feet. Each one has a separate living room. Most have a small space upon entering where one can sit at a dinner table and relax with a glass of wine or meal, conduct business deals or buy or sell art. A door seals it from the bedroom, ensuring privacy. The toilets are separate from the showers, making it easier to invite business associates for longer meetings.

Suites will range from $800 to $2,000 per night.

Hotel guests get full access during their stay to the private club, which takes up much of the second and third floor of the Moore Building and opened in April.

The art-rich members-only club includes a display of 157 works of art mostly loaned by members. The restaurant Elastika occupies the first floor and is open to the public. The entire space is 90,000 square feet. The entrance to the hotel is at 4040 NE Second Ave.

The project’s developer and operator is WoodHouse, known for building posh members-only clubs in Dallas and Houston and for creating the Dallas Cowboys headquarters. It obtained a lease from longtime Moore owner Craig Robins. It then brought in architecture and design firms ICRAVE and Studio-Collective.

The land where the Moore Building stands was once a pineapple farm owned by Theodore Vivian Moore, dubbed South Florida’s Pineapple King. He and architect and financier David P. Davis then developed it in the 1920s, initially as a furniture store. It then became a furniture warehouse, and later, an event space for artists and creative types. Design Miami, the annual art fair dedicated to museum-quality exhibitions of furniture and decorative art, started at the Moore Building. Bono performed there for a private event. Miami’s Design and Architecture Senior High used it for an annual gala.

It is perhaps best known as home to the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid’s massive sculpture which she created on-site for Art Basel in 2005. The Herald that year described the piece as “a spectacular and somewhat mysterious oblique white stretch that spans the space like chewing gum” in a profile on the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize.

While the latest version of the Moore is new, Hadid’s sculpture remains the focus. Guests can view it from just outside each hotel room. The building’s four floors surround it.

The overall development of the Moore Building has been years in the making.

Robins, born in Miami Beach, has been trying to ascertain the right use for the property and looking for the right developer. It’s one of the most iconic buildings in Miami and it was central to the rise of the Design District. “The historic nature of it and the cultural roots of what has happened in the building are profound,” said Brady Wood, founder and CEO of WoodHouse, in an interview. He understood and respected the waiting.

In late 2020, Robins called Wood. He had been impressed with Wood’s work and thought this might be the person who could get the most out of the Moore.

Shortly afterwards, Wood flew to Miami and Robins brought him to the Design District to see the Moore.

“I took one look at the building and my jaw hit the floor,” said Wood. A 100-year-old heavy timber building in Miami is rare, he observed, and “the light coming through the ceiling was breathtaking.” He immediately recognized the building’s significance and potential even though he’d never worked in South Florida.

He then brought in ICRAVE and Studio-Collective to do the architecture and interior design.

“It was rather daunting to have to start to understand how to plan it and how we’re going to use the voluminous space to create intimacy,” said Lionel Ohayon, founder and CEO of ICRAVE, in an interview. Early on, he wondered how they would bring this thing to life.

“The real breakthrough for us was when we started to map this in 3-D and understand how light came into it and how people move through it,” he recounted.

The building already had a big atrium. They opened that space further. Now, even more light shines down into the interior and across Hadid’s artwork.

As part of the original plans, they created Elastika, the ground floor restaurant. It opened this past April and has a menu emphasizing produce, seafood and meat from local purveyors. The designers and operator hope it will become an important public gathering spot for people visiting the Design District. Starting Oct. 7. it will be open seven days a week, beginning at noon. It also holds happy hour Monday through Saturdays from 3-6 p.m. The idea was to fulfill Robin’s long-standing wish of having a main lobby for Miami’s Design District. It’s somewhere “to hang out, bring your friends and eat,” said Wood. He sees it as being the hub for the entire neighborhood.

All hotel suites are on the fourth floor, as far from the noise as possible. “During events, you also want a level of privacy” for guests, said Christian Schulz, a co-founder of Studio-Collective, in an interview.

Plans initially called for as many as 17 rooms. The concept was that they would pinwheel around the central atrium space. But as they built the individual rooms, they discovered the challenges of developing an old building.

One day they found an elevator shaft behind the walls, recalled Schulz, so they had to reposition some of the rooms. “We were always moving things around,” he said

The building also includes an art gallery on the fourth floor, open for the public to rent out and hold shows. On display currently is a show of the work of Mr. Drip. There’s also an area called The Workplace which has private offices for lease, desks and co-working spaces.

The hotel stands out in other ways, too. There is no swimming pool here. Nor is there a beach or a pool deck or fountains of gushing water. That was intentional.

“You’re not coming here because there’s a pool and a spa. It’s not the usual trappings of coming to Miami,” said Ohayon.

Access to the members-only club seems a far more important benefit.

Since the private club opened April 16, it has held over 120 events. It has multiple lounges, game rooms and a speakeasy with metal doors. It has multiple meeting rooms including what they call La Pina room (Pineapple), paying homage to the history of the Moore Building. It has a large private dining area too where members can eat on sofas or tables. Like Elastika, the kitchen is led by Florida native and executive chef Joe Anthony.

If you’re interested in joining the private club, you can apply on its website. It has multiple tiers: the lowest is $5,000 for an initiation fee with an annual fee of $5,000 while the highest is invite-only and runs up to $125,000.

Wood says he envisions during one of Miami’s big weeks for art or fashion, designers or others could stay in the hotel suites and use the front foyer as a showroom. That space then become an extension of the particular event.

If successful, that could be an important reflection of the Magic City.

“Miami is a city, people live here, and this is kind of turning its back to the beach in a lot of ways by moving to the mainland Miami and supporting a neighborhood that’s full of creatives and art, full of fashion, and full of great food, said Ohayon.

It’s a “coming of age” for the city, he said.

HOTEL AMENITIES

▪ Full Access to The Club + Workspace

▪ Concierge Services

▪ Dedicated Butler

▪ Cultural Programming

▪ Personal Shopping + Lifestyle Consulting

▪ VIP Access + Privacy

▪ Culinary Amenities + In-Room Dining

Where: 4040 NE Second Ave

Info: https://www.mooremiami.com/hotel

This story was originally published October 1, 2024, 11:01 AM.

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