2009 News <<Back

Redesigned Lobby Bar Opens at Marco Island Marriott

This week, Marco Island Marriott Beach Resort unveils the renovated Korals, the hotel's lobby sushi and cocktail bar. The $2.5 million redesign included the addition of 1,000 square feet of space, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, and a sushi bar with a Bisazza tile mural backdrop. At 11 feet tall and three feet wide, a 3,600-pound aquarium column will showcase live Hawaiian moon jellyfish. Using a thin layer of synthetic snow, the new onyx bar features a chilled drink rail to keep cocktails cold.

The new layout accommodates up to 119 guests and includes three communal tables, three half-round booths, fainting lounges, window seating, and intimate cocktail cubbies surrounded by drapes. Korals mirrors the shoreline of Marco Island by integrating shades of blue, green, and gold to illustrate the ocean, marshes, and sunset. Free-form wooden elements suspend above the 12-seat backlit bar. "The wooden ribs, and their reflections, emulate Marco Island's magnificent mangroves as they reach out of the glassy water into the sky," says Malcolm Berg of Edge of Architecture in Coral Gables, the architect for the redesign project. "Incorporating this indigenous element provides a regional feel to the lobby setting."

The John Hardy Group provided the Project Management Services.