What's Good: Vegan Drama, Double the Luck, & a Ground Breaking Hotel

Tam Tam does Chinese, Summer Real Estate Deals, and Major Miami Infrastructure.

Miami’s cooking—literally and figuratively (it’s hot as f*ck). From plant-based shakeups to Chinese pop-ups, convention center power moves, and red-hot real estate deals, this week’s lineup is a snapshot of oour city in motion. New chapters are opening, deals are happening, and the energy is pure summer.

Let’s get into it.

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BEACH BUSINESS: Planta Files for Bankruptcy

Say what you will about vegan chains, but Planta was doing something different, plants, but with style and flavor (think sushi made of Watermelon & cold pressed cocktails). Now, the Toronto-born restaurant group has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, sending ripples through its fanbase across the U.S. and Canada, including multiple Florida locations (Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, West Palm, Fort Lauderdale). Founded in 2016 by Steven Salm and David Lee, Planta's mission was to turn plant-based dining into an “unguilty pleasure.”

It’s a loss that hits deeper than just menu items—it’s about a business built on values, community, and change. Whether or not this is the end, it’s a reminder that even buzzy, well-branded concepts aren’t immune to the grind of the restaurant game and the risk of blitz scaling across multiple geographies. Planta isn't alone. "More than 30 restaurant operators have filed for bankruptcy since the beginning of last year amid weakening sales and high costs," according to Restaurant Business.

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Miami Worldcenter Retail Hits the Market for $300M

One of downtown Miami’s crown jewels is up for grabs. Miami Worldcenter has officially listed its fully leased retail component for sale—asking over $300M for 273,000 square feet. The open-air retail hub includes major tenants like Apple, Sephora, Lucky Strike, Lucid Motors, and the Museum of Ice Cream.

The broader 27-acre, $6B development continues to reshape downtown. It’s a rare retail asset in a city where mixed-use is the moment.

Insider Note: The Upper East Side’s go-to pasta institution just landed in downtown Miami. Serafina is now open at Miami Worldcenter, thanks to David Shabtai—who’s running the new spot with his father, Benny Shabtai. “The first Serafina opened the year I was born, a block from my childhood home,” David says. “It was family dinners, first dates, office lunches. It was home.”

Now, they’re bringing that same lived-in luxury to a part of Miami that could use a little more soul. Serafina is aiming to be a real neighborhood restaurant, one where you actually want to be a regular.

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Mega Hotel with Major Backers, Connected to the Convention Center

Forget what you know about Miami Beach, it’s not just a leisure town anymore. The Grand Hyatt Miami Beach, now under construction, is a 17-story, 800-room convention center hotel that will redefine the city's business engine: conventions. Yes transient leisure business is what you read about, but conventions and citywide events pay the bills. A $600M public-private partnership between the City of Miami Beach and two longtime Miami families, Jackie Soffer and David Martin, this project adds 100,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and a climate-controlled skybridge linking directly to the convention center.

This isn’t just a new hotel, it’s infrastructure decades in the making. And for a city that depends on tourism, it’s one of the most impactful civic projects of this generation.

More Info →

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HOSPITALITY: LOCAL INSIDER

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