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http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...e19745208.html

“We could have taken the path of least resistance and put apartments and condominiums and made a good profit on this and not been subjected to a lot of criticism. Or we could take the harder road,” he said. “And that’s what we did.”

William Sharples, an architect with the Brooklyn-based SHoP Architects, said the tower was designed to fit in with the soon-to-be-developed Miami Worldcenter and All Aboard Florida’s MiamiCentral station. The tower is also planned as a linchpin for a larger, roughly 10-acre Miami Innovation District, which Simkins submitted last week to Miami’s planning department.

“We didn’t design this in a vacuum,” said Sharples, whose firm also designed the request for a special area plan from the city.

The preliminary design of the district, comprising nine towers on four blocks, would be about half office space, 40 percent condos and 10 percent retail, Simkins said. He said he’s had discussions with “top 10” technology companies about coming to Miami to establish a technology park designed for collaboration between tech companies and smaller living spaces geared toward millenials.

Simkins and his partners are already pushing forward other projects associated with the district. Earlier this month, Miami’s planning and zoning board gave a thumbs-up to a proposal to close a street between two buildings in the proposed district area. He said those plans are still far off, but he’s got a bigger vision for Miami — however controversial.

“We think it’s worth it. I don’t think Miami needs more condos and apartments,” he said.

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