Changing the Game

CHANGING THE GAME The resort took that commitment to an entirely new level with its most recent refurbishment. You might say it took flooring to new heights with materials so rare it required dedicated sourcing halfway around the globe. The St. Regis brand dates back to the early 20th Century when the first resort opened in New York City. The portfolio has since expanded to more than 60 locations across the globe. The top-tier hotel chain is renowned for its aspirational design, impeccable service and attention to detail. Steeped in history, this brand was a perfect fit for Miami’s Bal Harbour region. The coastal village turned vacationer’s paradise, like much of Miami Beach’s historic district, is marked with retro elements that incorporate the colors, architecture and geometric accents made popular in the 1920s. Designers behind the St. Regis Bal Harbour managed to marry the area’s art deco elements with both midcentury glamour and modern Miami culture. In line with this vision, the resort is appointed with exquisite works of art and exclusive details unique to the property. In celebration of its fifth anniversary, the resort devoted $35 million in extensive enhancements to better entertain and accom- modate guests, investing in a new restaurant, revamped suites and a significant lounge expansion in its one-of-a-kind lobby. The reimagining of the lounge area was considered the most challenging of these projects because, unlike new construction undertakings, it would require flawless continuity with the existing lobby; specifically, demanding the same signature, slick black floors throughout the ground-level addition. Matching intent with precision The lounge expansion, set to extend approximately 2,000 square feet, called for the precise sizing and pattern of a very rare material—black peony granite. This distinctive material, quarried exclusively in select regions of China’s Henan province, is marked with unique, white and green fossil “blooms” branching throughout its jet-black surface. Due to its limited availability, black peony is primarily used for artistic carvings, as large, commercial quantities of slab and tiles are few and far between. In fact, the St. Regis Bal Harbour’s use of this stone—also dubbed God’s Flower granite—marked its first commercial applica- tion in the United States. Rare products become rarer still when aesthetic specifi- cations come into play. For this project, it was critical that the density and hue of each flower formation match the granite of the existing lobby. Too many or too few “blooms” in the granite would have created a disparate transition between the existing and forthcoming lounge installations. Another key consideration was material sizing: pre-expansion, the existing lobby floor featured a repetitive design, 15 feet x 15 feet, comprised of 36 stone pieces in six different sizes—a pattern the designer wisely insisted on continuing throughout the new installa- tion. Due to the larger stone dimensions required to fit this pattern, there was a nonnegotiable requirement to secure granite slabs sizable enough to meet project specifications. Completed lobby expansion Installers worked hand in hand with the general contracting team to pick up where sourcing left off to complete the project ahead of deadline. 168 COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION — MARCH : APRIL 2019