LIV Nightclub Now $10 Million Cooler

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Attention glamorous and cool people of Miami. Your favorite nightspot is reopening. LIV makes its return to the Magic City's sizzling night scene after being closed since July for a $10 million renovation. The iconic Fontainebleau club now sports a 360-degree immersive video and light extravaganza but regulars will recognize the same familiar layout that earned Rolling Stone's pick as one of the top 10 dance clubs in America.

"To be honest, it was a nerve-wracking thing to close a business that was actually flourishing," acknowledged LIV's vice president of operations, Mo Garcia, in an interview with Patch ahead of this weekend's soft opening. "Social media makes everything so quick, whether it's fashion, music whatever."

After nine years on top of the club scene, LIV's braintrust decided it was time for a fresh look. (Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami Beach Patch.)

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"We take pride in being ahead of the curve and kind of leading the pack in this industry," said Garcia. "To be competitive and to stay competitive not just in Miami — but to stay competitive from Las Vegas nightclubs, New York nightclubs, LA nightclubs — we needed to do something."

The tricky part was not to do too much.

"We went back and forth about moving the DJ booth, moving tables and everything else," he said. "But after nine years it's become an iconic space that works so well. It has such a grand entrance to walking in these marble steps."

Garcia said management opted for what he called the wow factor.

"I think we've been able to do that in technology. We've kept the bones of the nightclub the same, the tables and the stairways and the bars the same," he said. "Really we're going to be able to blow the socks off of people. We created this 360-degree feeling. In any direction you look at, you're going to be able to feel something, watch something move, something explode at you and a lot of movement. The club is really going to come alive around you."

The centerpiece of the renovation is a mechanical treatment high above the dance floor that resembles a spider.

"It's 410 individual motors. All those individual panels move individually up and down and can be choreographed in all different types of ways," Garcia explained. "Along with the lighting, it creates movement that no nightclub has ever seen. This is a one of one. This doesn't exist anywhere else."

Well-known DJ Skrillex was to headline Saturday night during the soft opening. The doors were to open at 11 p.m. Tickets were selling online for $60 for women before 1 a.m. and $125 for men.

"I think one of the things that we accomplished is that there is still the familiarity and the person having their favorite table and their favorite bar to go to," observed Garcia, who said that the club closes at 5 a.m. "It's all going to exist here. But it's also going to have the wow factor between the lighting and video mapping. We're going to integrate a lot of heart around the club as well."

LIV is planning a more formal grand opening in the near future.

"We know there's definitely a lot of things going on around the globe between hurricanes and earthquakes and everything else," Garcia said. "We want to really be able to hit a grand opening, probably in three weeks from now and for right now it's kind of a sneak peek — get the club open, get all the kinks out."

Even some regulars don't know that LIV is not an acronym, but rather the roman numerals for 54, which is the year that the Fontainebleau first opened on Miami Beach as one of the crowning jewels of architect Morris Lapidus' career along with the nearby Eden Roc.

Over the years, the Fontainebleau has hosted Hollywood and political elite like Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, John F. Kennedy, Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

That celebrity tradition lives on with LIV. Justin Bieber headlined this past New Year's Eve.

"We're going to try to top that," Garcia insisted. "There's not really many people we don't have. We're going to be looking for a big New Year's Eve."

Admission ranges from $40 to $300 depending on the night and artist. Garcia said the prices are about the same as before the renovation.

Garcia's advice to anyone who wants to experience LIV for the first time:

"Come dressed nice and come early. We open at 11."

Photos by Paul Scicchitano