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THE MIAMI HERALD | MiamiHerald.com NC SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2011 | 3NC
The historic Vagabond
motel in the MiMo District
was sold to the highest bid-
derduringanonlineauction
on May 17 — but it turns out
the highest bidder was Da-
vid Lin, the current owner,
who bought back the build-
ing for just $100.
If he doesn’t find a buyer
soon, he’s “probably going
to try to hold it for a few
years until the market turns
around," he said.
That means the iconic
motel that served as Frank
Sinatra’s hangout in the
1950s and ’60s, and is a gem
of Miami Modern architec-
ture, could stay abandoned
for many more years to
come.
According to Lin, the auc-
tiononlytookoneminute,at
which point he bought it
back in hopes to make a
profit in the future.
“Nobody ever insisted on
buying it,” said Lin, who’s
going to hire a broker to try
to find a buyer.
In March, the city of Mi-
ami boarded up and built a
fence around the aban-
doned property at 7301 Bis-
cayne Blvd. to prevent
homeless people from
breaking in. Lin fears that
this will hurt his chances to
sell the Vagabond, since he
can’t get inside to show the
place to prospective buyers.
Community activist
Frank Rollason agrees that
the plywood makes both the
building and the surround-
ing area less appealing. Rol-
lason has tried to take on the
problem himself: In April,
he convinced a company to
donate five gallons of white
paint, which he used to coat
the plywood so that it now
matches the color of the
building.
Rollason said he is con-
cerned that the motel’s de-
cayed state will stall the
neighborhood’sgrowth,asit
doesn’t match the trendy
boutiques and restaurants
that have sprouted up in the
MiMo District in recent
years.
“We are not happy,” he
said. “It needs someone
who’s going to take it and
make it what it has to be.”
Nancy Liebman, presi-
dent of the MiMo Biscayne
Association, agrees with
Rollason and is confident
Linwillbeabletofindabuy-
er. “It’s a prime historic
building in the neighbor-
hood and there’s going to be
plenty of buyers,” she said.
“Until that time he [David
Lin] needs to take care of it.”
The Vagabond Motel,
built in 1953 is 56,000 square
feet in size and occupies an
entire block. It was designed
byB.RobertSwartburg,who
also designed the Delano
hotelinMiamiBeachin1947,
the Marseilles hotel in 1948
and the Bass Museum. Al-
though it never had the lux-
ury of the hotels on the
beach, the cream-colored,
two story motel offered air-
conditioned rooms and free
orange juice at the pool side
for $3 a day during its
heyday.
More than 50 years later,
the paint on its geometric
designs and overhanging
roof lines is starting to
crack; the sculpture of
nymphs in the shell and dol-
phins facing Biscayne Bou-
levard looks opaque. The
place became a drug dealer
and prostitute magnet in the
‘80s. For some, hopes of see-
ing the place functioning
again have faded away as the
motel continues to decay.
“It’s sad to say but so ma-
ny people have gotten ac-
customed to it being vacant
that it doesn’t affect anyone
anymore,” said Scott Timm,
president of the MiMo Busi-
nessImprovementCommit-
tee.“Iremainoptimisticthat
somebody will recognize
thearchitecturalgemandits
potential to be such an icon-
ic place — right now it’s the
sore thumb of the
neighborhood.”
Therehavebeenattempts
to revive the place following
in the track of the Collins
Avenue shopping district
where Art Deco apartment
complexes and hotels have
been transformed into retail
stores, but all attempts have
failed. Lin originally bought
the property in 1988 for $1.3
million and managed it be-
fore selling it to Eric Silver-
man and Octavio Hidalgo
for $4 million, according to
Miami-Dade’s property ap-
praiser website.
The two planned to revi-
talize the motel and capital-
ize on its fame as an old Rat
Pack hangout and one of the
prime examples of Miami
Modern architecture, a style
that was popular in the ’50s
and ’60s, but ran out of mon-
ey and walked away from
the property in 2009. Who-
ever buys the Vagabond will
have to settle the historic
property’s $349,190 in back
taxes. It is likely that Lin
won’t sell the building for
less than $4.5 million—the
foreclosure award—if he
wants to make a profit. Now,
Lin is looking for a new buy-
er, and doesn’t have any
plans to fix-up up the
building.
“It’s a big mess,” he said.
MIMO DISTRICT
Motel still vacant after failed auction
■ The 1950s
architectural landmark
on Biscayne Boulevard
will remain boarded up
for now.
BY SERGIO N. CANDIDO
sergio@openmediamiami.com
About this
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THE VAGABOND MOTEL: The motel’s architectural details make it part of the Miami Modern, or MiMo
movement.
BARBARA P. FERNANDEZ/FOR THE MIAMI HERALD