South Florida's buzz continues unabated. Upscale brands such as Louis Vuitton, Valentino, and Four Seasons Hotel and Residences are proliferating to cater to the affluent crowds flocking to its shores in unprecedented numbers since the start of the pandemic. And in Palm Beach, the destination perhaps most sought out over the past two years by well-heeled out-of-towners in search of a new tropical base, a new ultraluxury hotel is about to shape up to meet the moment.

The Chesterfield was an iconic, if dated, boutique hotel beloved by Palm Beach residents and celebrities alike. Stars from Joan Collins to Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, loved hanging out at its Leopard Lounge, while socialites rested by its famous garden-side pool and enjoyed high tea afternoons. Formerly run by the Tollman family as part of their Red Carnation Hotel Collection, it was sold at $42 million this year to the Reuben Brothers, a British private equity and real estate firm run by billionaire brothers David and Simon Reuben. The pale-pink building with a Mediterranean revival architecture style will undergo a no-expenses-spared, yearlong interior transformation.

Once reborn, the 100-year-old property will reopen under the management of the Oetker Collection, a hotel chain that includes Paris's Le Bristol and the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Rock in Cap d'Antibes. It will be the luxury brand's first-ever property in the US and its 12th "masterpiece hotel."

The Germany-based, family-owned Oetker Collection is the group behind renowned five-star boutique properties such as the Lanesborough in London, Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden, Germany, Eden Roc St. Barths, and Antigua's Jumby Bay Island. These hotels are known for  opulent interior decor, advanced spa treatments, Michelin-starred restaurants, and top-tier service in panoramic settings.

The Chesterfield will be renamed the Vineta Hotel, the name it opened under during the Florida 1920s real estate boom and carried for almost 50 years. It is scheduled to reopen in late 2023.

Entering the US Market

"The United States has always been at the top of our list. We have about one-third of our guests who are from North America," says Timo Gruenert, chief executive officer of Oetker Collection. "We wanted to find the right thing, but we never compromised, and we dropped so many projects on the way."

Gruenert co-founded Oetker Collection in 2009. At the time, the collection consisted of just four hotels owned by the Oetker family: Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Le Bristol Paris, and Château Saint-Martin & Spa. The Oetker Collection company today consists of hotels it owns and hotels under long-term management agreements. For 11 years, it was Gruenert's job to grow the hotel portfolio, in addition to his role as co-managing director and later, chief financial officer. He was named CEO in May 2020.

Oetker aimed to find a US location where its guests were already vacationing. Palm Beach ranked in the top 10.

Gruenert and the Reuben Brothers also claim personal connections to Palm Beach.

"We are incredibly excited to be working with Oetker Collection on the Vineta Hotel in Palm Beach—a place very close to my and my family's heart," said Jamie Reuben in a release. He spends a lot of time in New York and Palm Beach and knows his way around, Gruenert says.

A youthful visit to the luxury beachfront Breakers resort, a key part of Palm Beach life since the start of the 20th century, sparked Gruenert's  interest in high-end hospitality. "Breakers was the moment where, in hindsight, something clicked in my head when I was there as a teenager; I was lucky that my parents brought me there," Gruenert says. "I still remember today, 30 years later, how I was blown away by all of it, so now it's becoming full circle for me going back."

For longtime residents, the sale of the hotel by the Tollman family was unexpected, says Annie Davis, a native of Palm Beach who has been visiting the Chesterfield for 25 years. "When you walk into the Chesterfield, you immediately feel that you're at home—and for some people, it was home," says Davis, president of Palm Beach Travel. "It's how the staff greeted you when you arrived. The second you pulled up the British flag, you were greeted by your valet parker. He was your very first introduction to the hotel, and how he greeted you made you immediately feel at home."

Top of the Market, But Different

Gruenert says the future Vineta Hotel will sit at the top of the market alongside neighboring properties such as the Breakers, the 538-room full resort with two golf courses that's the only property on the beach; the 89-room Colony Hotel that doubles as a popular brunch venue within walking distance of the beach; and the 80-room Brazilian Court Hotel known as a more intimate star hideout. Their room prices respectively start from $405, $800, and $900 in high season. "Breakers, of course, is a very different hotel, but we have a great admiration for it," Gruenert says.

The Chesterfield remake is Oetker Collection's second project with the Reuben Brothers, following Hotel La Palma in Capri, which opened this summer. The number of guest rooms will be reduced from 53 to 41 to create more open space. "The rooms will be fresh, sharp, and luxurious, with a palette of pastel prints and elegant crisp detailing enhancing the high ceilings—with special attention paid to spacious, well-lit, and comfortable bathrooms," explains interior designer Tino Zervudachi, who will work on the project.

Gruenert is unable to specify what it will cost to transform the Chesterfield. It isn't unusual for a budget to expand as a project evolves, and its owners understand that, he says.

Opened in 1926, the Chesterfield stretches 0.4 acres and sits at 363 Cocoanut Row on a quiet residential corner just a two block walk from Worth Avenue, Palm Beach's glitzier Rodeo Drive equivalent. Its old British country home styling, from pink bedding to floral patterned couches, made it stick out in a sea of sleeker, modernized properties such as the Brazilian Court Hotel, the Colony, or the newer White Elephant, a Nantucket brand that opened in Palm Beach in 2020.

Locals agree that the property needed an update. "The Chesterfield needs a major, massive facelift," says Davis. Being listed on the US National Register of Historic Places since 1986 means owners are restricted in modifying the building's exterior structure—that pale-pink facade with arched windows that give it a distinct Mediterranean look that Oetker says it intends to keep.

Reimagined Iconic Spaces

The hospitality design portfolio of star decorator Zervudachi, a principal at Mlinaric, Henry and Zervudachi, includes the Regent in Montenegro's Porto Montenegro and the Aurelio in Lech, Austria. He will lead on transforming the hotel's interior spaces, such as the restaurant and rooms, as well as the courtyard and pool area.

"We are developing a design language for the hotel that will be unmistakably 'Palm Beach' but bringing in a new, fresh and crisper feel to uplift the spirit," said Zervudachi in an email statement. "Colors will be clean and fun, but elegant and sophisticated to reflect the uniqueness of Palm Beach's stylish local and international crowd."

The most renowned space to be reimagined is the hotel's iconic Leopard Lounge, a sultry bar and restaurant in which a more senior clientele that included celebrities gathered aprés dark on leather seats, surrounded by black lacquer walls, a red-and-white hand painted ceiling, and a leopard print carpet.

Davis says she's seen a fair share of stars there over the years, including Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, and Lionel Richie. "And relationships were made there, so many people have met each other at the Leopard Lounge—literally like, love is in the air."

The lounge might need a "breath of fresh air," Gruenert says. Perhaps a name change. Its old-school vibe had trouble attracting Palm Beach's younger crowd. They favor Cucina, an Italian restaurant that turns into a late-night party spot with live DJs; HMF at the Breakers, for fancy lounge cocktails; the Colony Hotel's poolside bar at Swifty's; and to Būccan, a small-plates restaurant whose bar scene has grown popular. And an exclusive space recently opened: the Carriage House private members club.

In addition to the lounge redesign, there will be a new classic "American Bar" built for pre- or post-dinner evening drinks.

Guests can also expect a new indoor-outdoor poolside restaurant to surround the hotel's beautiful, deep pool. The shaded, verdant courtyard is to transform into an outdoor dining space.

A New Kind of European Cool

"It's the people who worked there, it's the Leopard Lounge, it's the quaintness, it's the wallpaper, it's what the Tollman family did to that hotel to make it British—it felt like it was a part of Palm Beach," says Davis. "If they turned it into a luxury hotel and kept that, it would be perfect."

Oetker Collection says its brand values are in line with what the Chesterfield meant to its regulars: family spirit, elegance, and kindness.

In the meantime, the search has begun to staff what's sure to be the most highly anticipated hotel opening in Palm Beach in decades. The market continues to soar while leaning toward contemporary Mediterranean-meets-big city glamour.

"We're seeing restaurants come in that we're not familiar with, and so for us to get a taste of New York without having to travel to New York—it's exciting for us," Davis says. "We're chic, but we're pink, and we're not going to change that, but it gives us a bit of New York flair that we're missing."

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