The space at 100 Collins Ave is changing hands. Prime Fish ran there for a decade, serving some of South of Fifth's best seafood, and Myles Chefetz has said that run has now come to a close. Long before Prime Fish, in 1995, that same corner was Nemo, the very first restaurant Chefetz opened in Miami with Chef Michael Schwartz.
What happens next on that corner tells you more about where South of Fifth is heading than any of the flashier arrivals this year. And this year has had a lot of arrivals.
The Corner Chefetz Called His Trophy
In March, Charlie Levy's Motek group confirmed it is taking over the 100 Collins Ave space, bringing its all day Mediterranean concept to the corner Chefetz has called his own trophy location, the same address where he and Chef Michael Schwartz opened Nemo three decades ago.
What makes this handoff worth noticing is what Chefetz chose not to do. He owns a real estate and restaurant portfolio across South of Fifth that now centers on what he calls the Prime Corner, Prime 112, Prime Italian and the Prime Hotel. He could have leased his old trophy space to another high check concept and let the corner keep climbing in price. Instead he went the other way. Motek does breakfast, lunch and dinner without a fine dining price tag, and Chefetz has said plainly that the neighborhood had too many restaurants competing on check average and not enough that people could walk into on a Tuesday without a reservation or a strategy.
"I sensed we lacked an approachable all-day eatery," Chefetz said of the decision, adding that he offered Motek a lower rent to invest in the corner's longevity rather than squeeze another premium deal out of it.
That is not the story a neighborhood usually tells about itself when international brands are circling. It is the story of the person who has owned the corner the longest choosing to loosen his grip on price rather than tighten it.
Six Blocks, Two Different Bets
The Motek news landed a few months after South of Fifth's loudest opening of the year. Gaia, the Greek Mediterranean concept born in Dubai, opened its first US location on April 28 at 801 South Pointe Drive, on the ground floor of the Marea building. The room leans hard into the brand's Cycladic look, whitewashed walls, limestone, an Ice Market seafood display where guests choose their fish before it is cooked. Beneath the dining room sits Nyx, a cocktail lounge that turns the evening from seafood dinner into something closer to nightlife.
Gaia had already built a following in Dubai, Monaco, London, Doha and Marbella before Miami. Fundamental Hospitality chairman Evgeny Kuzin said the brand chose Miami deliberately for its US debut, calling it "the right city to lead that chapter."
So within the same six blocks and the same twelve months, South of Fifth got an international import that leans into spectacle and an established local operator who deliberately dialed his own corner down. Here is how that plays out on the ground:
| When | What arrived | Where it came from | The space |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | Gaia | First US location, previously Dubai, Monaco, London, Doha, Marbella | Ground floor of Marea, 801 South Pointe Dr |
| Open about five months, into 2026 | Cotoletta, veal Milanese bistro | Local concept | Team pivoted the concept |
| Announced March 2026 | Motek | Established Miami chain, expanding from Downtown, Brickell City Centre, Aventura and Coral Gables | Taking over 100 Collins Ave, the former Prime Fish and original Nemo corner |
| Expected late 2026 | Sant Ambroeus | Milan, via a New York flagship since 1982 | Ground floor of The Fifth Miami Beach, 950 Fifth St |
The One That Didn't Make It
Not everything that opens on this stretch survives long enough to matter. Cotoletta, a South of Fifth bistro built around a single dish executed well, veal Milanese with classic sides, was still getting written up favorably in February. By the time restaurant guides checked back in this month, the location had lasted roughly five months before its operators decided to pivot the concept entirely.
Five months is not a verdict on the neighborhood. But it is a useful data point next to Gaia's celebrity heavy opening week and Motek's rent break. South of Fifth right now rewards concepts that either bring enough spectacle to draw a crowd from across the causeway or enough everyday utility that a resident returns without needing a reason. A tightly focused single dish concept sits in between those two poles, and that middle ground is apparently a harder place to hold.
The Slow Build Down the Block
Not every project on this stretch is moving at Gaia speed. Sant Ambroeus, the Milanese restaurant and coffee bar that has anchored Madison Avenue since 1982, signed to open its first Miami location at The Fifth Miami Beach back in 2024, with an original target of late 2025. That date has since slipped. By December 2025 the public estimate had shifted to late 2026, and a January 2026 report narrowed that further to a November 2026 target.
Part of the delay traces back to the building itself. The Fifth Miami Beach, designed by Alberto Campo Baeza, winner of Spain's National Prize for Architecture, is the first new commercial office building constructed in South of Fifth in 22 years. Sant Ambroeus will take more than 7,000 square feet on its ground floor. The brand's appetite for Miami has not slowed down while it waits. This June, Sant Ambroeus signed a second Miami area location at the Kengo Kuma designed Mirai Design District, meaning the company is now committed to two Miami buildings before either one has served a single espresso.
The Smaller Signals
The marquee openings get the headlines, but the daily texture of South of Fifth has shifted in quieter ways too:
- Casa Rassi, once a coffee pop-up, now has a permanent home in South Beach, close enough to the newly reopened Suite Habana that locals have started describing the coffee scene here as noticeably deeper than it was a year ago.
- Suite Habana itself closed its original Wynwood shop and reopened two blocks from the beach, still built around its cortado and banana bread, with a food menu and happy hour cocktails coming soon.
- Naked Tomato took the ground floor of the Moxy hotel, serving hummus, lamb kebab and a branzino its own menu describes as the best its kitchen has produced.
- The W South Beach reinvented its longtime party space as Mary Lou's, aiming to blur the line between dinner, performance and late night the way the address always has, just under a new name.
None of these needed a celebrity opening night to matter. They are the version of the restaurant scene here that residents actually use on a Tuesday, and they are expanding at the same time the marquee names are.
What This Adds Up To
The easy read on South of Fifth in 2026 is that it is getting more expensive and more exclusive, one international import at a time. Gaia's arrival supports that read. But the more interesting move belongs to the person who has owned the neighborhood's most storied corner the longest. Chefetz didn't chase another premium tenant for his trophy space. He chose Motek, an all-day concept with no fine dining price point, and cut the rent to make it work. That is not the behavior of someone who thinks the neighborhood only wins by getting pricier. It is someone betting that South of Fifth needs a place people can walk into without a plan, right alongside the rooms that require one.
If you are already living on these blocks, that tension between spectacle and everyday use is worth watching over the next year, especially once Sant Ambroeus finally opens its doors and gives the corridor its second international name of 2026, right alongside a Miami operator betting the opposite direction.
Marcelo Steinmander tracks these shifts across Brickell, Edgewater and Miami Beach as part of daily coverage of the neighborhoods he works in. If you have questions about how a specific building or block in South of Fifth is changing, reach out anytime.
