Miami Gets Flashy Makeover for Art Basel

Art prices are sagging and South Florida is reeling from a collapsed real estate market, but art dealers and collectors arriving at Art Basel Miami, which takes place Dec. 4-7, will discover a refreshed city of flashy new hotels and restaurants.

Art Basel is one of the chicest events in the art world. It includes work from more than 200 international galleries selected from across the globe. Visitors are a mix of billionaires looking to scout out the next Francis Bacon, and local party girls looking to score a free Red Bull and vodka. At the center of it all is the Miami Beach Convention Center, but the art action stretches across the city at pop gallery installations, site-specific performances and public art displays strewn across local beaches and industrial sites.

Art Basel gallery exhibit by Martin Creed.

Sleep: the new hotel ingénue. The past year has marked three major hotel openings, the largest of which was the debut of the Fontainebleau Resort in North Miami Beach. The combination of a $1 billion investment and iconic Morris Lapidus-designed property yields two new hotel towers, revamped bow-tie shaped resort pool and a roster of eateries such as Gotham Steak. The new in-house LIV Nightclub will feature a Dec. 5 performance by Estelle to kick off Art Basel. Rooms have been restored to their Rachel Marron heyday, with glamorous leather-accented headboards, plush seating areas and striped marble baths. Its distance to South Beach makes it too far to walk, but with rooms still available for Art Basel from $390 per night, you'll have plenty left over for cab fare.

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