Jocelyn Hider has a passion for historic preservation. When she
first laid eyes on the Sunshine Motel, located at 7350 Biscayne
Blvd., she knew the building was worth restoring to its original
1939 glamour, and convinced her husband, Tom Hider, to purchase
it. Thus began a labor of love slated for complete by the end of
winter 2007.
The Hiders, who are originally from Haiti, bought the Sunshine
Motel in September 2005 for $1.2 million. At the time of his purchase,
the motel had one of the worst drug and prostitution problems on
the Boulevard; when Hider closed it for renovations, nearby residents
and business-owners breathed a sigh of relief.
Hider hired Sean Dugas (who works under the name Sean Gypsy),
a native of New Orleans and principal designer for Design Consulting
Inc., to oversee the renovation. Dugas specializes in historic
preservation and in addition to work on the Library of Congress
and several sites in New Orleans, Dugas once flew to Havana
by Presidential exception to help set up the city’s first
downtown preservation organization. For the Sunshine project,
he has hired
the contractor Gilbert Torezze, who owns G4 Contracting Co.
Dugas has been unable to contact the original architect because
the city of Miami has no records of the building, but this has
not stopped him; the Sunshine Motel is now in its fifth week of
rebirth.
“This is the first demolition phase, where we expose the
original bones and structure of the building,” Dugas said. “Now
we can get a feel of what we have to do.” In the course
of stripping and demolishing, the original floor of the motel
revealed
an ornate star design, which Dugas felt should guide the aesthetic
development of the whole restoration: Pure 1939 Art Deco.
Like Eric Silverman, who is renovating the Vagabond Motel across
the street, Dugas and Hider want the Sunshine Motel project to
help to bring back the Boulevard’s distinct historic character.
The building, however, is no longer going to be used as a motel.
Instead, its new tenants will range from lawyers to chefs to retail
storeowners. Presently, the Sunshine Motel’s faded coral
walls are just a shell surrounded by debris and dust, hinting to
passersby of its glamorous (and more recently, not-so) past. There
is hope for this building among the designers involved, that it
can rise from the ashes and ill-repute and return to some semblance
of its former glory – to become, as Dugas phrased it, “The
diamond of the Boulevard.”
Dugas and Hider want the neighborhood to be involved with the
project, and to extend some benefit to locals bearing the annoyance
of construction, Dugas hired out-of-work laborers.
“
I went out into the neighborhood and hired some of the guys [part-time]
that don’t have job,” Dugas said, “I told them
why don’t you come and work for me and I will show you guys
what we’re going to do to this building in your neighborhood.” He
is considering hiring these men on a fulltime basis for the duration
of the project.
On the marketing end, roughly half of the building is already
reserved. The Hiders themselves are trading their Venetian Causeway
residence for the penthouse, to “be closer to the rising
Boulevard,” said Dugas. Their living space will be a loft
with a rooftop garden. The middle floor will have offices and
the ground floor will have retail stores in the back and in the
front
one, possible two restaurants.
The right side of the building is currently blocked off by a fence,
which will be removed to make the building more welcoming to pedestrians.
Additionally, this will provide easier access to the bottom-floor
retail stores and restaurants.
The revamped Sunshine Motel will open next year around the same
time as the Vagabond. Rather than fight for patronage, however,
the two plan to work off one another, each providing valuable business
for the next. People staying at the Vagabond can hop across the
Boulevard for a bite to eat, while tourists coming to the Sunshine
to shop and eat might decide to stay a few nights at the Vagabond,
or go home and recommend it to friends.
Dugas said: “Now people are going to see what you see
on South Beach, which is real Art Deco. With this we are going
to
bring back all the glamour and beauty to the building. This little
portion of the Boulevard is going to have a whole new life.”
While prostitutes and hustlers will demand a controlling stake
along the Boulevard for some time to come, turning around businesses
like the Sunshine, Vagabond and more recently, the Camelot
Inn, improves the area’s prospects for a healthy future.
But while everyone contributing to make the Boulevard a better
place may be supportive of one another, business is business
and competition certainly exists. “This project is at the forefront
of renovations taking place on the Boulevard,” Dugas boasted.
Indeed, it’s going to be one of the first buildings people
see when they enter the Corridor, a glimpse of what was, past
glamour fueling a hopeful future.
