Ian Schrager, the celebrity hotelier who invigorated South Beach with his launch of the Delano hotel 15 years ago, is coming back to the beach.  Through a partnership with Marriott, Schrager is set to turn the shuttered 12-story Seville Beach Hotel into a boutique property under the new Edition brand.  The new venture, confirmed Thursday by Marriott, is just the second announced U.S. location under the new brand. The first is scheduled to open this fall in Honolulu.

Marriott spokesman John Wolf said the South Florida hotel, which sits on nearly three acres of beachfront property at 2901 Collins Ave., is expected to open in three years after significant renovations.  ”Edition has tremendous growth potential and this hotel will be a flagship to showcase the brand,” said Marriott International CFO Carl Berquist in a conference call with investors.  Thursday’s announcement adds a new whiff of hip to the Beach scene, still basking in the glow of basketball star LeBron James’ decision last week to call the area home. And it comes at a time when few comparable projects are on the horizon.  Schrager left Miami Beach a few years ago with the sale of his interest in the Morgans Hotel Group.  In recent years, Schrager has focused on luxury residences and a hotel in New York City and on the creating the Edition brand, aimed at sophisticated travelers.

His return to the beach is being heralded as a renewal after a tough patch for South Beach hotels, with several high-profile properties stressed by the economy.  ”The Delano has the vibe or whatever . . . and Schrager was the marketing genius behind it,” said Scott Brush, an independent hotel consultant based in Miami-Dade. “With him involved with this, I don’t think there’s any way that it won’t be successful.”  Some of Miami Beach’s hottest hotels, the W and the Gansevoort, are several blocks south of the Seville; the Fontainebleau Resort lies 15 blocks north. The action between is subdued.

“For locals, this was an area that you avoided,” said Peter Zalewski, a principal at real estate consultancy Condo Vultures. “Or if you drove through it, you went really fast.”  He wondered how easy it would be to translate a massive older resort into “boutique chicness,” but called Marriott a pioneer for moving into the area.  ”This is a tremendous economic boost,” he said. “It’s going to fill in the gap between south of Fifth and the Fontainebleau. This is the piece that’s necessary to bridge.” Click here for full story By Hannah Sampson, The Miami Herald…