Miami, Fla.—The opening of Pestana South Beach Art Deco Hotel will represent the first investment by the Group Pestana in the U.S. market. Pestana, Portugal’s largest tourism group, is well known for its heritage Pousadas de Portugal hotel brand across the Atlantic. The new Pestana hotel is a rebirth of the historic Hotel Milejan in South Beach.
This boutique hotel with 97 rooms and suites is divided into four Art Deco Buildings, classified by the local Historic Preservation Board. The new hotel also offers 2 luxury two-bedroom apartments, as well as the retro Mermaid Café and the Pool Bar set on a 1940’s inspired patio with an outdoor pool.
“North America is a very attractive and strategic market for the Group Pestana. This is our first investment in this market and Miami is a natural starting point because it is a gateway for Europe and South America where our brand is quite strong,” says José Roquette, Pestana’s development director for the North American market. “We also are well versed in taking a historic structure and updating it in the right ways to make a real destination hotel.”
The buildings represent Streamline Moderne and Art-Deco style with an asymmetrical front façade defined by a central entrance door. The structure is characterized by continuous “eyebrows” and a vertical pylon sign, extended above the hotel’s stonewalls. One of the buildings is also a rare example of Post-War Modern apartment architecture once common in Miami Beach just after World War II.
