1111 Lincoln Road – Miami’s New Hip Event Venue

By Kevin Woo

Our culture is filled with mononyms. Elvis is the king of rock and roll, and Bono is the face of fusion philanthropy. With a little thought we can come up with others such as Cher, Madonna, Twiggy, Penn and Teller. You get the idea.

If we take liberties with the exact definition of mononyms, Miami’s South Beach is home to an event venue that is so hot and hip it has become known among locals simply by its numerical address. No street name is required.

The venue isn’t part of a swanky hotel or hot dance club. Instead 1111 (pronounced Eleven-Eleven) is a parking garage. Each year 1111 (Lincoln Road for those not in the know) hosts 25-30 private events for groups ranging from 70-700. “A parking garage?” you ask. Well, this is no ordinary parking structure. This is a work of art.

The Summit

This past May, Compete, a Boston-based marketing research firm and a division of Milward Brown Digital (MBD), held an evening event for 175 clients as part of its three-day Digital CMO Summit. The Summit is an annual, by-invitation-only, meeting for chief marketing officers who get together to learn new ways to integrate traditional marketing programs with online marketing and social media.

“Before I did the site inspection at 1111, I was warned to brace myself because it’s a parking garage,” Kristen Luongo, Compete’s event organizer says. “Before I saw it I said, ‘Sorry, a parking garage is not going to happen.’ But when I saw 1111 I immediately got it.  Our customers spend their lives finding new ways to use the Internet and social media to reach their customers. With the blank walls and 34-foot ceilings, the garage allowed me to create an atmosphere that was consistent with our message to the attendees.

“I recognized that 1111 provided us with the vibe we were trying to go for and that none of the other venues could match. It was literally a blank canvas and we could do anything we wanted with the walls, décor, the arrangement of the furniture and eating areas.”

Lauren Helpren, who is a member of MPI’s South Florida Chapter and an account executive at of DECO Productions, was the person responsible for producing the event. To sell Luongo on the idea, Helpren took advantage of 1111’s best asset – the spectacular view.

“I wanted her to see the garage at sunset,” Helpren said. “It is the most beautiful view in all of South Beach.  I had a caterer and chef waiting for Kristen and we did a tasting while she walked around thinking about what she could do with the space.”

Eleven Eleven

1111’s design was the brainchild of Robert Wennett, the garage’s owner, and the architects at Herzog & deMeuron, a Swiss architectural firm known for its cutting edge designs of shopping malls, and homes.

What makes 1111 so unique is the way it was constructed. It’s made of concrete and glass and there are no external walls or cross beams to obstruct the views. Inside the garage are water gardens, reflective glass pavilions and artwork. The ceiling heights vary from floor-to-floor and range from 8 feet to 34 feet high. It’s the seventh floor, with its 34-foot ceilings, that is reserved for parties.

Within the property is 40,000 square feet of retail space that is occupied by companies such as MAC cosmetics, Nespresso coffee, and Osklen clothing.

On the second floor is Juvia, a restaurant that combines French, Japanese, and Peruvian cooking styles.

And if parking, retail space, a restaurant and event space weren’t enough, the garage even has a condo (complete with a pool and garden) on the top floor.

“1111 is a nontraditional venue for hosting an event. The concept of hosting an event at the top of a parking garage might seem unusual at first, but once guests see the gorgeous architecture and the panoramic views, it begins to make perfect sense,” Denise Grant, the events manager for 1111, says.

“Today’s event attendees are sophisticated, well travelled and are looking for something out of the ordinary.  Any other event venue that you step into leaves the city behind, but at 1111 the city is the backdrop for the event,” Grant continued.

Some big name corporations have recently used the facility to launch new products. In October, Nike held a week long event introducing its new line of LeBron James basketball shoes. Audemars Piguet also held an event introducing its new line of LeBron James watches.

The Challenges

You might think that 1111’s wide-open space would make it a cinch for load in and load out. Not so. Ceilings with varying heights, steep ramps, no freight elevators and wind are just some of the challenges that vendors face.

The ramps challenge every vendor that works at 1111. Because the pedestrian elevators are off-limits to vendors, everything must be brought in on flatbed trucks, minivans, golf carts, or by tow. Even shuttle vans are too tall to make it to the top levels because in some areas the low ceilings exceed the height of the vans.

Jenny Lynn George of Aaron’s Catering says that it takes a small army and several types of vehicles to load in and out at 1111. For the CMO Summit her team needed a 26-foot truck to carry all the tables, chairs and cooking equipment to the garage. Then they had to unload the haul into minivans and flatbed trucks for the trip to the seventh floor. The load in process took 3.5 hours.

Once the cooking equipment arrived another small army of chefs began preparing a menu of molecular gastronomy cuisine. The menu included scallops with bacon air and truffle mashed potatoes, and braised and glazed short ribs with yucca pureed with goat’s cheese.

George says that those who attend conventions and special events expect more than chicken with mashed potatoes and some peas.

“The people who attended the summit expected innovation,” George continued. “Today everybody is watching the Food Network so they know more about food and the science of food. They go to food and wine festivals and they’re far more knowledgeable about every aspect of the culinary process. That’s why our chefs offer something that’s different and experiential.”

And if the menu and 1111 weren’t different and experiential enough, Luongo engaged her attendees another way. As the guests arrived they were given instructions on how to take pictures, upload them to Instagram and within seconds the pictures appeared on the ceiling.

“This may have been the coolest part of the evening,” Luongo said. “All night people were taking pictures of themselves with friends and were able to see the pictures projected on the ceiling in real time. For our audience this was a big hit and it engaged them in a way that most have never experienced.”

The Shield

The biggest challenge for George was something she had no control over – wind.

“Wind is always a factor at 1111,” George said. “Fortunately for the guests the wind dies down around 6:30 and there’s only a light breeze during the evening while the guests are there. But when we’re trying to set up it can be a challenge.”

To shield themselves from the elements (rain is also a factor in the late afternoon during the summer), George installs pipe and drape around the areas where the staff will be working. She also says through experience her team has learned that using the right vessels will prevent food from flying away during events.

Regardless of the pipe and drape that surrounds the food prep area, 1111 is still a challenge for the chefs. George’s staff typically uses propane-based ovens, but the fire marshal determined that propane is a fire hazard at 1111 so her team was forced to use electricity. George’s team needed to bring in powerful generators to run the cooking equipment.

Helpren credits Luongo for seeing the possibilities at 1111. When she shows the property sometimes event planners get it and sometimes they don’t.

“Those clients who get it are likely to be high tech, innovative and creative,” Helpren says. She added that the facility rental fee and staffing costs aren’t cheap. The CMO Summit required 150 workers and there were additional charges for security and on-site medical staff.

Finally, Helpren says that 1111 shouldn’t be considered a year round venue. Between May and September the heat and humidity is oppressive and an outdoor event can be described by a simple meteorological mononym: uncomfortable.