Nick Jones started the SoHo House Group in London 16 years ago. In that short span, it has become one of the hottest private club and hotel operations in the international marketplace.
Jones, 47, now has 25,000 members worldwide in his SoHo House Club, four clubs in London, another in the countryside of England, one each in New York and Los Angeles, and with the recent opening of the SoHo Beach Club, one in Miami Beach. All are private members’ clubs — a membership costs $1,500 a year. They also double as public hotels, meaning that even if you aren’t a member, you can still get a room at the oceanfront inn, but it just will cost you a little more.
“It’s an international club, so around the world we have a load of members and they buy one membership and it allows them to go into any of the houses (clubs) they want,” Jones said. “You don’t have to be a member to stay in the hotel room, there’s just a different rate; there’s a member’s rate and a non-member’s rate.”
Jones and his SoHo House Group bought the aging Sovereign Hotel, 4385 Collins Ave., a year ago and refurbished it from top to bottom.
“We wanted a beachside property in America,” Jones said. “But we wanted a location where our New York members could fly down to and have fun on a weekend. So we’ve taken this hotel built in 1942 and refurbished the whole thing. Every bedroom has been re-done; everything is brand new; we’ve even built a tower on it.
“The restaurant is Cecconi’s; it’s open 24 hours, very affordable and open to the public. You can go in there and have a pizza and a glass of wine or you can get a full-blown meal. We also have the Cowshed Spa on the premises, a rooftop swimming pool, a large pool on the ground, a gymnasium, a cinema and big events programming.”
Jones said he purposely chose to buy a hotel located north of South Beach for very specific reasons.
“We prefer this end of the beach,” he said. “We prefer the actual beach; it’s smaller and the hotel is much nearer the ocean than if we were located right down on South Beach. And it’s quieter; it’s much busier down there.”
Jones adds that he thinks Miami is a perfect fit for his SoHo House Group because the population here is young, hip and creative.
“We love the community here in Miami,” he said. “Our membership base is very creative. It’s very much made up of film, media, fashion — that sort. It’s very much the basis of where our membership comes from. And that’s here in abundance in Miami, so we have a great local membership base. And, besides, 50 rooms shouldn’t be too difficult to fill.”
For more information, call 786-507-7900 or go online to www.sohobeachhouse.com.
