Tommy Hilfiger has high designs on turning Miami Beach hotel The Raleigh into a high-end hotel and private members club.

Fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger has revealed grand plans for the iconic The Raleigh hotel in Miami’s South Beach, which he purchased last year for $56.5 million last year. 

Located on Collins Avenue the 105-room landmark property opened in 1940 and designed by illustrious architect L. Murray Dixon (one of the principal architects of the Miami Beach Art Deco Architectural District) and was once previously owned by hotelier André Balazs. Hilfiger is looking to “bring back the grandeur, the elegant feeling of relaxed luxury, that The Raleigh had when it first opened.”
 Planning permission has recently been granted to renovate and transform the property (with designers Touzet Studio): downgrading the number of rooms to just 87, creating new cabana space around the famous pool, a new nightclub and lounge with music mogul Tommy Mottola and also a private members-only club – to rival nearby Soho Beach House in mid-Beach.

Hilfiger has already trademarked The Raleigh name in other countries and is currently looking for other places, including Los Angeles, to expand to. Interestingly another historic Miami Art Deco hotel – the Setai hotel - has also been snapped up – by fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.