Homeless sleep in the lobby of a former grand hotel, Coconut Grove's Grand Bay

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/02/1561127/there-was-a-time-when-miami-tourists.html


Fall from grandeur: Recession, foreclosure shutter Grand Bay


There was a time when Miami tourists couldn't do better than stay at the Grand Bay Hotel. Now homeless people sleep in the lobby.


Pigeons live in the barren penthouse nightclub of the former Grand Bay, South Florida's last five-star hotel.


Pigeons live in the barren penthouse nightclub of the former Grand Bay, South Florida's last five-star hotel.


No local hotel has suffered as steep a fall as Coconut Grove's Grand Bay, which closed two years ago for a $20 million renovation and never reopened.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/02/1561127/there-was-a-time-when-miami-tourists.html#ixzz0k5h0UT1R


How did things go so wrong?


Like many suffering buildings throughout South Florida, the Grand Bay fell victim to an ill-timed real estate venture.

[jody]

1. Anyone who makes decisions based primarily on future revenue is at risk, whether business or govt.

Decision makers who accept only "best case" assumptions and ignore "worst case" assumptions are particularly at risk.

[lib2DaBone]

2. Our Economy is dead-in-the water....Dead beyond repair.....

All aspects of our economy are dead: Retail, Transporation, Tourism, Manufacturing, Service, Medical, Real Estate, Financial. The Politicians have done a good job.. they have brought an entire country to its knees...


Every ounce of our vitality has been given to China .. with no stings attached.

Yet.. do we even hear a whimper in America? No.. not even a whimper. So...in effect, we are saying.. take our jobs.. take our wages.. take our security.. we are comfortable with that.. we believe in the Federal Government and we will do whatever they say.

Whatever the Republican want.. the Dems will do...

[Gidney N Cloyd]

3. A major management fuckup that might have survived a better economy.

[SoCalDem]

4. It can all change.. When I was a 15 yr old visiting Mimai

we used to go down to the "spooky" abandoned area..All or most of the old Art Deco hotels were shuttered or closed down.. It was a wasteland.. Teens loved it though because after dark it was fun to prowl around and go to the beach at night, after the jai alai matches..

that area?

South Beach :)

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. I've been there once. that area is really nice now

[SoCalDem]

6. In 1964 it was a ramshackle place..

All it takes is for a few people with money to show up and start a "renaissance", and the others fall in line.

a lot of those old hotels were almost demolished, and now they are all shined up . :)