W Hotels has opened their 31st property, the W South Beach and The Residences at W South Beach in the arts and entertainment district of Miami Beach. The development includes 408 W-branded residences with Ocean Suites, Beach Bungalows, and the Extreme WOW suite (W's version of the Presidential suite). Among the food and drink destinations at the property are Wall, a bar and lounge, Spanish restaurant Solea and the celebrity favorite Mr. Chow. The hotel also bring the popular Bliss spa to Miami.

The $500 million hotel was designed by architect Costas Kondylis. The W's Living Room (aka the lobby) was designed by Anna Busta with artwork from collector Aby Rosen's private collection. The art is showcased in an environment with tufted leather ottomans, velvet curtains in eggplant purple, modern white and gray sofas, armchairs covered in white pony or slate velvet and white pony rugs splashed with gold paint. A 20-foot-high beaded curtain set off by glass walls marks the way into the W Living Room Bar with views of the pool deck and garden. If you book by July 20 the hotel is offering rates from $269 per night for stays July 16 – October 12. The Miami Herald reported earlier this month that the South Beach location has sold out for weekends in July even though the prices are higher than many other hotels in the area.

So-hip-it-hurts rock star Lenny Kravitz has just listed his waterfront Miami Beach mansion with an asking price of $2.85 million. The 5,717-sq.-ft. three-bed, three-bath built in 1954 was transformed into a rock star haven decorated in Kravitz's signature retro-futuristic style which has been termed "Bordello Modern". The louche pad (above), which features its own recording studio, was done up as a "sleek, throbbing James Bond-esque den of seduction" according to W magazine, complete with four-inch-thick red shag carpeting, black patent-leather walls, a metal-grill catwalk lit from below, a mirrored white-fur tunnel, red glass doors, red lacquered floors, and a white handstitched padded patent-leather bar. We hear that Kravitz may have revamped some of the more extreme features prior to listing the property for sale.

Kravitz's interior designer Michael Czysz originally spent over $1 million on the décor, and even picked out a silver Ferrari to match the house and designed a special chrome Flying V guitar for the recording studio. Located on guard gated Biscayne Point, the 12,000-sq.-ft. lot features unparalleled open bay vistas. A custom wall of glass opens the massive living area to incredible water views, while the "resort-like" backyard features a pool, spa and boat dock. Kravitz paid $725,000 for the house back in 1996. While Czysz's décor is undeniably over-the-top, hopefully it hasn't been completely dismembered. Meanwhile his lavish NYC apartment, which has been listed as high as $19.5 million, is still on the market, reduced to $14.995 million.

The Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel is currently finishing up a $500 million renovation but could there be plans for a casino in the venerable Florida hotel? The Miami Herald reports on a recent push to have the Florida constitution amended to allow gambling at the proposed Miami Worldcenter and any hotel in Miami Beach with more than 800 rooms, a restriction that includes only the Fontainebleau. It's a natural leap considering that a Fontainebleau casino in Las Vegas is already under construction.

The new Fontainebleau in Miami Beach is set to open next month and follows the inclusive hotel paradigm of Las Vegas Strip hotels with 11 restaurants and bars, ample meeting space, 1,500 guest rooms, and a 40,000-square-foot spa. The developers have said that their plains for the Miami Beach hotel did not include casinos. The push for gambling in Miami comes from Miami developer who wants to put a casino in a commercial complex planned for the downtown area. But many feel that the Fontainebleau is the natural place for a casino in Miami Beach, it has the size and prestige to embrace gambling in a way that would add to the resort. And it could also bring a much needed infusion of cash to the South Florida resort economy.

Florida real estate may be precarious but that hasn't stopped the rise of luxury condo penthouses. Today's home is the palatial penthouse A at the top of the Apogee building in Miami Beach. The penthouse is 6,853 square feet of interior square feet spread out over three levels with six bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms. The interior is mostly raw space with double-height windows and 22-foot celings but the exterior space is what really dazzles. It has more than 11,000 square feet of terrace space with a 360-degree rooftop palazzo, private pool, and summer kitchen. The views are outstanding from just about every angle. The penthouse comes with an elevator, 2.5-car private air-conditioned garage, staff quarters, and other luxury amenities. It is listed at $22 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

[Thanks, Don!]

Today' estate in Miami Beach, Florida (thanks, designer) was once home to Cher and has also served as a temporary residence for Janet Jackson and Julio Iglesias. Cher bought the property in 1993 for $1.5 million and rebuilt it. She sold in 1996 for $4.35 million to Barry Schwartz, former chairman and CEO of Calvin Klein who sold to real estate developer Todd Glaser and investment partner Armin Mattli, president of Clinique La Prairie, the Swiss spa/hotel/medical center ten years later. The property was completely redone and then rented to Janet Jackson last year for $85,000 a month, followed by Julio Iglesias and then Douglas Cramer, executive producer of the TV series Dynasty. The home which once featured in Architectural Digest, has six bedrooms, cabana and gym, two-car garage and dock.Details include a large inner courtyards, archways, rosette windows, keystone columns, a two-story living room, formal dining and large media rooms and a lap pool. The kitchen has double sub-zero stainless steel refrigerators, Traulsen wine cooler, huge white marble island and Wolf gas stove, also opens to wide covered terrace. The master suite has a walk-in closet, private covered terrace overlooking pool and wide views, and a 3rd story living room with large covered terrace overlooking water. This home is listed at $14.9 million which seems a bit ambitious for the current market even though it is a beautiful home.

[via Miami Herald]

This one confounds me. We start with a prestigious location, North Bay Road in Miami Beach, the same place where Hulk Hogan recently sold another white contemporary house to director Michael Bay. From the outside this looks like a your standard contemporary with boxy lines and a sleek little glassed-in sunroom space. The outdoors check out fine, a small piece of land certainly but with a nice pool and a private wood dock with charming old-fashioned style lights. But then, let's take a look inside this six-bedroom home. It's kitsched-out within an inch of its life. The gilding, the elaborate moldings and fireplace mantles, the heavy draperies and chandeliers all create a space that is positively Liberacesque. No pictures of the bedrooms in the listing which is a shame because if the public spaces are this baroque, I can't even begin to imagine what the private spaces are like. This rescue mission is listed at $5.95 million. I hope someone picks up this house and restores its modern soul.

This one is for the design junkies. This five-bedroom penthouse in the Murano Grande building in Miami Beach not only has open views of sea and skyline it also has an amazing interior design that is more than just Miami white. The design was created by Xpasio featuring Rene Gonzalez as architect and CDC builders. Details include custom design teak walls and floors, even the media room has teak built-ins and a sea grass inlaid carpet. The overall effect is calm and warm in subtle grays and earth tones. Given the current real estate market is $9.5 million a lot to ask for a 6,000-square-foot penthouse?

The seven-bedroom home in Miami Beach offers a feature I have never seen before, a putting green with an ocean view. This is often where homes in the area put the pool but instead you can find the pool up a few floors on the roof. This Miami Beach contemporary sits on a whisper of land (under a quarter acre) but has over 7,000 feet of interior space.The new home has marble and wood floors, a formal dining, waterfront kitchen with morning niche, family and media rooms, guest and staff quarters. The large master suite has a private terrace. This home is listed at $7.95 million.