Like many in the New York real estate business, designers/developers Bob and
Cortney Novogratz have long made a habit of heading down to Miami for Art Basel
week.

“I’ve been eight years in a row,” says Bob Novogratz, who will be there again
next week, filming the couple’s “Home by Novogratz” HGTV show and hosting a
design-themed dinner at the Shelborne South Beach hotel. “You visually see so
much art and design that you come back to New York very charged up. You come
back overstimulated.”

Yes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed during a week when Art Basel, numerous
satellite fairs and real estate developers on and off the beach compete for the
attention of all the wealthy potential customers in town.

“There’s no other week in Miami where there are so many high net-worth
individuals,” says Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Oren Alexander, who has the
listing for the $60 million Miami mansion at 3 Indian Creek. “No other city in
the world can compete with the level of sophistication and class during this
time.”

Put it another way: Those who sell Miami real estate know it’s time to
hustle.

The eagerly anticipated St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort & Residences, which
is scheduled to open in January and has just started condo closings, will host
invite-only open houses and walk-throughs all week.

“Art Basel is a great week,” says John Manrique, vice president of sales and
marketing for the Residences, which has nearly 70 percent of its 270 condos in
contract. “A number of our buyers are art collectors.”

The building has been selling “decorator-ready” units for upwards of $1,000
per square foot. Lower-floor two-bedrooms start at $1.9 million. And local
brokers are buzzing about buyers combining units and purchasing an entire floor
(nearly 14,000 square feet) for upwards of $20 million — with the expectation of
spending millions more on renovations.

While brokers all over the city will be busy all week, working in Miami also
means partying. This is the kickoff of the social season, after all.

By the time the Art Basel fair itself actually opens to the public at the
Miami Beach Convention Center next Thursday, many visitors might already feel
like they’ve been on a bender. The W South Beach Hotel & Residences will
host the Art Basel opening party on Tuesday, and the week only heats up from
there. Highlights include:

*Gary Nader will host a VIP preview dinner for his new auction house in
Wynwood on Wednesday. And on Thursday, he’ll open for business with an auction
of contemporary and modern art, offering 150-plus lots from $50,000 to $5
million.

*The Lower East Side and SoHo will descend on Canyon Ranch Miami Beach (which
has sold about 120 condos in the last year) at a Thursday breakfast for
collectors from three galleries: Eleven Rivington, On Stellar Rays and Renwick
Gallery.

*Novogratz has tapped 10 artists to reinterpret 10 “iconic chairs” (including
the Eames chair and Frank Gehry and Philippe Starck pieces) and present them at
a poolside dinner at the newly renovated Shelborne on Thursday. The hotel will
also be home to party photographer Seth Browarnik’s “Art of Night” exhibit.

*The Related Group’s new MyBrickell condo development downtown will celebrate
the opening of its sales center at a lunch reception with designer Karim Rashid
on Saturday. Later on Saturday, Related chairman and CEO Jorge Perez will chair
the Miami Art Museum’s MAM Ball at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.

*Artist Javier Martin will exhibit his paintings and sculptures at a Saturday
party, thrown by Spanish furniture firm Baltus, in South Beach’s Artecity condo
building.

*A 10,000-square-foot penthouse at downtown condo building Paramount Bay will
be home to the Elle Décor Miami Showhouse, an official satellite exhibit of the
Design Miami fair. It will be open for viewings on Saturday and
Sunday.