Since November, workers have been dredging the waters and building a sea wall to prepare for a deepwater marina that will be the focal point of Island Gardens, a $640 million mixed-use project being developed by the Flagstone Property Group. The development will include two luxury hotels, private residences, a botanical garden and dozens of restaurants and boutiques.
The ambitious project is the rare exception these days in Miami, where rampant building and speculation combined to make the city a vivid example of the real estate crisis. While the downturn has stymied many developments, the Island Gardens project seems to hark back to a sunnier time with its promise of luxury living.
Island Gardens, with Eric K. Kuhne as the architect, will cover 11 acres. The 50-slip marina, called Super-Yacht Harbour, will accommodate yachts up to 450 feet long, one of the few places around to do so.
A Shangri-La hotel will have 150 guest rooms and suites designed by Piero Lissoni. The hotel will have a pool, a 14,500-square-foot spa and views of downtown Miami. On top of the hotel will be the Residences, 98 units of one- to four-bedrooms that will be sold on a fractional basis. The price, $225,000 to $1 million for a one-eighth share consisting of 45 days a year, includes access to a small fleet of yachts. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will manage the Residences. Another hotel is planned for the site, although the operator has not yet been announced. There will also be a series of narrow streets lined with designer boutiques and restaurants that lead to the waterfront.
City officials say they hope that the development will establish Miami as an international yachting destination — a Monaco on Biscayne Bay — and create hundreds of jobs to help the moribund local economy. “I’m an absolute fan of the idea,” said Marc D. Sarnoff, a Miami city commissioner.
For Mehmet Bayraktar, the chief executive of Flagstone Property, a little-known company based in Miami that was awarded the project by the city, it is a bold bid to make a name for the company in the United States.
“This is a rare opportunity,” said Mr. Bayraktar, who has developed similar mixed-use projects in his native Turkey.