This Ritz-Carlton Duplex Condo Brings a Dose of Manhattan to Miami Beach
Three years ago, David DeVos and husband, Bruce Starr, relocated to the Miami area from New York City. After an extensive renovation, they’re now listing the duplex condo they settled into within the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach for $5.5 million with Darin Tansey of Douglas Elliman.
The eight-story tower, with just 111 residences, was designed by renowned architect Pierro Lissoni and completed in 2020. Like most of Miami’s condo interiors, the original design was “decorator ready,” with stark white walls. For their new home, unit 218, which has three bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and one powder room, the couple, who both work in the luxury sector, wanted to redo the interiors in a way that reflected their singular style and taste and that brought a bit of their New York City sensibility to South Florida.
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“When we moved in, we just came off renovating a loft in NoHo in New York, so we wanted to make this space a lot more warm and inviting,” David DeVos tells Robb Report. The original unit and the renovated unit interiors are night and day. Perhaps the most dramatic change to the unit is the wood paneling, seen on the walls of the kitchen, living room, entry foyer, primary bedroom, and more. To bring in a more textural element, they did limewash walls and Venetian plaster throughout. “We wanted to bring New York-level finishes to the apartment,” Bruce Starr says. “Prior to the 60,000 New Yorkers moving down to Miami, that design style was a little bit harder to find.”
The couple have an extensive (and impressive) contemporary art collection gathered over more than 15 years, and many pieces are very sentimental. Starr explains that the art makes the house feel even more like a home, and, indeed, throughout the home are expanses of white and smooth-paneled walls ideal for displaying a private collection.
The main level is an open-plan space that houses the kitchen, featuring sleek appliances and pale marble countertops, which were formerly a dark black color. Alongside the kitchen, the dining area hosts a large table the couple sourced in Paris, as well as a built-in wood paneled bar, while the sumptuous living room’s ceilings soar to 25 feet high with floor-to-ceiling windows that flood the space with natural light. The airy space connects to a terrace that runs the length of the unit, with skyline and water views. The primary suite is located just off the living room and has a massive spa-like bathroom with an enclosed shower and tub, plus a hot tub on the connecting terrace.
Up the floating steel and glass staircase, a bedroom features an interior porthole window with an artistic green gradient, so you are able to peer out into the living room below, but others can’t see inside from the lower level. During the day, changing light animates the window, which looks almost like an art piece. “We made it a circular porthole window to have some dimension and add an Art Deco-ness to the space,” DeVos says. “We love Anish Kapoor’s work, so we decided to do our own little version but as a window so you can look below to the loft and out to the sea.”
Because the building is a converted hospital, the layouts of the units are very spacious, and several units feature double-height ceilings.The couple was attracted to the building because of the value that a branded residence brings, as well as the turnkey amenities and concierge services—luxuries they did not have in their last place in New York. Building amenities include a club room, a screening room, a meditation garden, a fitness center, an on-site spa, a boardroom/library, and access to a private day-use yacht.
Click here for more photos of the Miami Beach condo.
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