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SEARCH SOUTH BEACH PROPERTIES
Today the South Beach section of Miami Beach is a major entertainment destination with hundreds of nightclubs, restaurants and ocean-front hotels. The area is popular with international tourists as well, with German being the third most spoken language after English and Spanish. The large number of European tourists contribute to why South Beach is one of the few public beaches in the United States where topless sunbathing is common.
There is always something happening on South Beach with its parade of Hollywood stars and famous personalities, many of whom live on the Beach. Any day of the week can see fashion shoots, music videos, television shows and/or movies in production as media moguls from around the world come to capture the perfect backdrop of South Beach for their projects. Many historic hotels have been renovated into resort-condominiums and apartments or residential and boutique hotels. Luxury condominium towers rise high above the beach providing some the most spectacular views of sea, sand and city to their residents. The food and entertainment are unmatched on South Beach from the Art Deco bars and cafes of Ocean Drive, to the haute cuisine and historic old-school spots on Washington Street and Collins Avenue. If you crave life in the center of it all, South Beach is your neon dream come true.
South Beach is traversed by numerical streets which run east-west, starting with First Street, and the largely pedestrianized Lincoln Road (between 16th and 17th). It also has 13 principal Roads and Avenues running north-south, which from the Biscayne Bay side are Bay Road, West Avenue, Alton Road, Lenox Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, Meridian Avenue, Euclid Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Drexel Avenue, Washington Avenue, Collins Avenue (Route A1A), and Ocean Drive. There are three smaller avenues (that do not run the entire length of the beach) in the Collins Park area, namely Park, Liberty, and James. Most locals agree that South Beach's northern boundary runs along Dade Boulevard from Lincoln Road on the bay side of the island, and heads east-north-east until it connects with 23rd Street, which forms the northern boundary on the ocean side.
There are several residential neighborhoods in South Beach. South of Fifth (also known as SoFi) encompasses the area from the Atlantic ocean east to Biscayne Bay on the west, and from Fifth Street to the South Pointe. It is, as of 2005, the area with the highest property values. This area is home to several large scale development projects and large buildings such as the Portofino and its sister buildings, Icon (spearheaded by designer Philippe Starck), and several other buildings. This area has several notable nightlife destinations, such as Opium Garden, Prive, Nikki Beach Club, and Pearl. It also has several smaller, upscale bars, and in addition several restaurants, including world famous Joe's Stone Crab. However, it is mostly residences.
Flamingo Park is the neighborhood directly north of Fifth, and expands from Alton Road on the west to Washington Avenue on the east, with its northern boundary being Lincoln Road. This area consists mainly of low rise apartment buildings. It is also home of Flamingo Park, one of South Beach's public parks, which includes recreational facilities such as tennis and basketball courts.
Collins Park, which, according to the Miami New Times, is the most "up and coming" South Beach neighborhood, is located between 17th Street on the south, 23rd Street on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and Washington Avenue/Pinetree Drive on the west. It is directly across from the Miami Beach Convention Center. This area is currently undergoing gentrification, as many of the old apartments from the 1980's (many of which still have bars on their windows) are being purchased by major New York and South Florida real estate developers for purposes of condo conversion. The Sanctuary, located on James and 18th, plans for a new public library, and several open projects in this neighborhood, are cited by the Miami New Times as evidence that this is the next South of Fifth. This area consists mainly of low rise art deco buildings built in the 1930's and 1950's, as well as the Bass Museum of Art.
Additionally, many high-rise buildings exist on the entirety of Bay Road (home of the world's largest apartment complex - The Flamingo), and West Avenue, and there are multifamily residence located north of Lincoln Road and east of Collins Park.
