Built on a former pineapple plantation by architect David P. Davis during the 1920s Florida land boom, the historic Moore Furniture Building has long influenced Miami’s creative sphere. The Art Deco gem served as a design emporium until the early 2000s, when developer and Dacra founder Craig Robins was courting Art Basel and ushering in his transformation of the building’s sleepy neighborhood of trade-exclusive furniture showrooms into the future Design District. After he renovated the Moore Building into a cultural venue, the inaugural Design Miami/ took place there in 2005 under a monumental site-specific sculpture by Zaha Hadid Architects that sprawls throughout its four-level open-air atrium and remains its photogenic centerpiece.
That was two decades ago, so further renovations were in order. The landmark has now entered its most recent era as The Moore, a multi-pronged lifestyle hub befitting the Design District’s evolution into the Magic City’s preeminent destination for high-end shopping, blue-chip galleries, and fine dining. Anchoring the operation on the ground floor is Elastika, a modern-American restaurant named after the fluid-like sculpture it sits under. Helmed by acclaimed Executive Chef Joe Anthony, previously the culinary director of New York’s two-Michelin-starred Gabriel Kreuther, the menu nods to The Moore’s century-long history and Miami’s cultural renaissance. Dishes run the gamut from citrus-cured kingfish crudo and grass-fed bison tartare to heirloom tomato gazpacho and miso-marinated beef tenderloin.
They can all be enjoyed in ICRAVE’s indulgent interiors—celadon velvet banquettes, hand-crafted wooden Sossego seating, and an expansive 18-seat bar—that glisten underneath a newly added skylight and complement an art collection curated by local advisor Monica Kalpakian. Elastika is only one piece of the puzzle, though. WoodHouse, the Dallas-based developer that specializes in social clubs and entertainment spaces, plans to fill out the rest of the building with a boutique hotel, executive offices, gallery space, and a private members’ club designed by Studio Collective that promises the same allure as Soho Beach House Miami but more buttoned up. According to press materials, the “global leaders, innovators, and tastemakers” on its list of founding members include the fashion designer Francisco Costa, model Karolina Kurkova, beauty entrepreneur Barbara Sturm, and actor Waris Ahluwalia.
