Roam Brings Co-Living to a Historic Miami Neighborhood

Inside the historic River Inn Miami is a concept called Roam, where travelers, explorers, and adventurers merge. Together, they create a seamless co-living community in the center of a bustling and ever-growing landscape. Instead of booking a typical hotel room, Roam gives guests a place to eat, sleep, exercise, relax, work, and socialize — all in a shared environment. 

"It's meant to give people a sense of place and home," cofounder/visionary Bruno Haid says. "It's about giving people a place even if they're going back and forth all the time."

The River Inn marks Roam's first location in the United States and second in the world. Haid says bringing Roam to Miami, specifically to the old downtown hotel, made sense because the space taps into the vintage 100-year-old history of the place.

Designed for "the modern traveler," Roam gives guests that "home-away-from-home" feeling, Haid says. Each location offers flexible leases, ranging from a night or a weekend stay to something longer-term, such as a month or even a year. Rates are $500 per week or $1,800 per month in the Magic City, as well as its flagship location in Ubud, Bali. 
As the oldest hotel and boarding property in the city, an array of brightly colored wood-frame houses make up Roam Miami. The structures have been a staple in Riverside, also known as East Little Havana, for more than a century. The new co-living concept is reigniting life in one of Miami's oldest neighborhoods. 

Developer and longtime preservationist Avra Jain and the Vagabond Group restored the historic site, keeping its quaint charm and old-school vibe intact. Many of its features — such as the original mahogany front doors, red brick fireplaces, reupholstered antique furniture, and Dade County pine wood floors — have been refurbished, preserving the venue's classic feel. 

Roam Miami offers 38 furnished private suites with private bathrooms. Each house has its own porch, along with other public spaces such as a communal kitchen, co-working spaces with Wi-Fi, laundry facilities, swimming pools, social areas, and green spaces, plus a restaurant and bar will open this summer. 
Haid says Roam will quickly expand globally, with its third location opening in Madrid in June, followed by Buenos Aires and London. The developer plans for hundreds of other locations to appear in the next handful of years.

"Each one is completely different," Haid says. "We're not like a chain where there are the same products. There will always be a co-working area and a shared kitchen and spaces, but each location looks and feels completely different.

"A lot of people might have heard about this kind of trend or know someone who might have lived that way but still know nothing about it personally," he adds. "But when we see people come for a few weeks for the first time and experience it, it makes the difference."

Roam Miami
Historic River Inn, 118 SW South River Dr., Miami. Now taking reservations. Visit roam.co.