Kobi Karp.
Kobi Karp
Principal and founder at Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design
Few architects are more prolific in Miami than Kobi Karp, an Israel-born, Minneapolis-raised designer of buildings who has been practicing in the metro region since the late 1980s.
Karp is currently working on dozens of luxury condo and hotel projects across South Florida, including a 22-story Four Seasons hotel and condo in Fort Lauderdale and another Four Seasons condo-hotel hybrid at the Surf Club in Surfside.
The latter is a historic property originally constructed by tire magnate Harvey Firestone in 1930, and the redevelopment involved restoring the original, Russell Pancoast-designed beach club. Karp, together with starchitect Richard Meier, designed two new condo buildings with 40 units and a glassy 77-key hotel overlooking the old club building, which remains private to members. Karp said that the facades feature travertine stone, which is more sustainable in Florida’s climate. “Stone is a more resilient material to protect the buildings from the salt-laden air and the hurricane forces,” he said.
Karp has also worked on a number of condos on Fisher Island, including the 10-story, 47-unit Palazzo del Sol; the 10-story, 50-unit Palazzo Della Luna; and the under-construction, 50-unit Residences at Six Fisher Island for Related Companies. In Fort Lauderdale, he’s working on the Selene Oceanfront Residences, two 30-story towers with 154 condos.
And at the 27-acre Miami Worldcenter, Karp is designing a 700-foot-tall combination hotel and condo, Legacy Hotel & Residences, which will also include offices, retail, 480 parking spots and more than 140,000 square feet of amenities.
Along the Miami River, he did the master plan for Chetrit Group’s “River District,” a $1 billion project due to include 1,600 apartments, 30,000 square feet of retail, offices and marina on 6.2 acres south of the river. Workers recently topped out the development’s first building, a 54-story, 600-unit rental tower that’s expected to be complete in 2026. Elsewhere in Miami, he’s working on Michael Shvo’s Raleigh hotel and condos on Collins Avenue, which also involves the restoration of a 1940s hotel.
Karp started his career working with a firm in Miami that mostly worked on hotels and residential buildings in the Caribbean — including in Turks & Caicos, Grenada and St. Lucia. He became a partner in the firm, and then renamed it when his business partners opted to leave the business to live in Turks & Caicos in the early 1990s.
