For most of the last decade, the stretch of Collins Avenue between 167th and 174th behaved like a hallway. Residents walked through it to get somewhere else, either south toward Bal Harbour or west across the causeway to Aventura. The two anchors that used to give the block a reason to linger, the Newport Beachside Hotel and the pier behind it, spent years half-closed, under scaffolding, or written off.
That geography reset this year. The pier is open. The hotel reopened under a new name. And if you live in one of the towers above 163rd Street, the shortest walk to a drink over the Atlantic is once again shorter than the drive to Aventura Mall.
The thesis, in one sentence: for the first time since Hurricane Wilma, the north end of Sunny Isles Beach has a walkable evening anchor that isn't a hotel lobby, a mall food court, or a resort you have to pretend to be a guest of.
The pier, first, because everything else follows from it
The Newport Fishing Pier was originally built in 1936 and has spent most of its 90 years being knocked down and rebuilt. The current 776-foot structure replaced the one destroyed by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, and it is now, by a comfortable margin, the last remaining public fishing pier in Miami-Dade County. That fact alone reframes what the block is. There is no equivalent in Bal Harbour, Surfside, or Miami Beach proper.
Access is unchanged and generous. Walking the pier is free. Fishing carries a nominal charge. The lifeguard station at the base of the pier operates during daylight hours, and there are showers and restrooms in Pier Park at 16501 Collins Avenue. The parking lot is small enough that residents who bike or walk have a real edge over anyone driving in from off-island.
What is new is what happens when you step off the pier back onto the sand.
What "The Sunny" actually put on the corner
The Newport Beachside Hotel & Resort, a Sunny Isles landmark since 1968, closed for a full rebuild by HB Capital Group and reopened in February 2026 as The Sunny, with 339 guest rooms, six food and beverage outlets and a spa on the same 16701 Collins address. For residents, the hotel itself is beside the point. The six F&B rooms are the story, because five of them are open to the public and three of them are, functionally, neighborhood restaurants that happen to sit inside a hotel.
Here is what actually opened, in the operator's own descriptions:
- Julene. Part neighborhood favorite, part refined American kitchen, Julene serves the dishes people crave — confident, thoughtful, and unpretentious. A joyful, energetic room where neighbors gather and guests feel instantly at home. This is the room they want you to bring people to.
- Sandbar at Newport Pier. The one you already know, rebuilt. Sandbar at Newport Pier is Sunny Isles' go-to oceanfront hangout, and the only spot in Miami where you can sip a drink right above the Atlantic. Perched on the historic Newport Fishing Pier, it offers stunning ocean views and a fun, upbeat atmosphere. The menu now includes plates like a furikake-crusted seared tuna salad at $29 and a watermelon and tomato salad at $19, positioned above beach-bar pricing but well below Bal Harbour dining rooms.
- Lovebirds Café. Part bodega, part coffee shop, Lovebirds Café features local finds, retro and fan-favorite snacks, and new-to-market products by up-and-coming brands. This is the grab-and-go morning stop the north end has been missing.
- Citrus Shack. Citrus Shack is our poolside restaurant, inspired by Florida's classic fruit stands.
- ¡Viva! by Ray Garcia. A celebrity-chef Mexican-American concept named in the original renovation filings, and The Newport Room, an adults-only bar and lounge, round out the six.
The relevant number for a resident is not the room count. It is the walking radius. From the front doors of Ocean Four, Sayan, Trump Palace, or Trump Royale, you now have five distinct dining or drinking rooms within roughly 800 feet, none of which existed in this configuration a year ago.
The Acqualina counterweight, half a mile south
The north-end story is not happening in a vacuum. Down the beach at Acqualina, Il Mulino New York unveiled a newly reimagined dining experience, marking an exciting new chapter for the celebrated restaurant. The refreshed dining room and bar introduce an elegant new look that enhances the restaurant's timeless atmosphere, while the menu welcomes inspired new dishes alongside the beloved Italian classics guests have come to know and love. The room reopened in tandem with a special three-course lunch menu for just $49 a person plus tax and gratuity, available Monday through Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Read those two openings together and the shape of summer 2026 becomes clearer. The Sunny is building a casual, resident-scale corner on the north end. Acqualina is defending the fine-dining ceiling on the south end. What sits in between, the 30-block condo canyon, finally has both ends anchored again.
Where locals still go when the hotel scene isn't the point
The independent operators along Collins have not gone anywhere, and for many residents they are still the default. A quick geographic sort, so out-of-town guests don't end up eating hotel lobby food three nights running:
Argentine steak, two ways. Baires Grill is a Sunny Isles staple with superb Argentinian steak and an extensive wine selection. Here, you can enjoy dry-aged steaks, fried or grilled empanadas and the signature grilled provolone cheese with heirloom tomatoes. Baires Grill is just a block from the beach and offers fantastic lunch specials, plus half-off all drinks during happy hour Monday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. A few blocks away, the award-winning Argentinian steakhouse La Cabrera first arrived in Miami in 2022 and has since expanded to include three locations across the destination, but Sunny Isles Beach was the first. Chef Gastón Riveira, known as the "artist of the asado" in Argentine parrilla, brings his rich culinary heritage of grilling meat to Miami.
The international-language spots that make Sunny Isles feel like Sunny Isles. Chayhana Oasis is an authentic Uzbek restaurant in Sunny Isles Beach that blends European and Middle Eastern flavors with elaborate decor and a celebratory atmosphere. Be sure to order the khachapuris, savory Georgian pastries with a big hole in the center filled with melted cheese. A few doors north, Baku Cafe Bar & Restaurant is a vibrant dining destination located in the heart of Sunny Isles Beach, offering an exceptional culinary experience that blends the rich flavors of Azerbaijani cuisine with a contemporary twist. The restaurant is named after Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and pays homage to the country's culinary traditions.
Late-night, because summer. Porterhouse Music Bar & Restaurant at 17008 Collins Avenue runs until 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday, which is a genuinely useful thing to know at 11:30 on a July evening.
Notice what this list is not. It is not a top-10 destination roundup. It is a working map of where to send a friend depending on what block they are already on.
A resident's summer evening, actually mapped
If you moved into a north-end tower in the last two years, here is a route the block did not support in 2024:
- Coffee and a small breakfast at Lovebirds Café inside The Sunny, then a slow walk out to the end of the pier before the sun gets serious.
- A mid-morning swim at Pier Park, using the public showers to rinse off. The lifeguard station covers the swim zone during daylight hours.
- Lunch at Il Mulino's $49 three-course prix fixe if you are dressing up, or the tuna salad at Sandbar if you are not.
- Late-afternoon reset at home. This is Sunny Isles. The A/C is not optional.
- Sunset cocktail at Sandbar, which is, again, the only room in Miami where the drink is physically above the ocean.
- Dinner at Julene if you want to stay in the neighborhood, Baku or Chayhana Oasis if you want the room to feel like a different country, La Cabrera if the point is the steak.
- A late drink at The Newport Room or a booth at Porterhouse if the evening still has legs.
None of that route requires a car. Most of it did not exist eight months ago.
What this actually means for the block
Real estate people talk about walkability the way weather forecasters talk about wind chill: as a number that either supports or undermines a story they already want to tell. The honest version, for the north end of Sunny Isles Beach in summer 2026, is smaller and more useful. The pier is open. The corner has five new rooms on it. The independent operators up and down Collins are still here. And for the first time in a long time, the north end has more to offer its own residents than it does the tourists who used to be the only reason the block existed.
If you own here, that is a quiet upgrade to your daily life. If you have been thinking about buying on this stretch, it is worth walking the block yourself on a Thursday evening before you look at another floor plan.
Talk to us
At GK Realty Group, we spend as much time walking these blocks as we do inside them. If you own a residence on the north end of Sunny Isles Beach and want a candid read on how this year's openings are reshaping demand for your building, or you are considering a purchase along Collins and want a neighborhood-level tour before you commit, request a confidential luxury market consultation and we will meet you where the story actually lives, on the sidewalk.
