[chris08876]

Some news:


Miami Worldcenter to break ground this year

The project is scheduled to break ground late this year and is deemed one of the largest urban developments in the country.

If construction goes as planned, the center will open up to the public late 2016.

Besides the retail space, the Miami Worldcenter will also house the new Marriott Marquis World Convention Center Hotel, which will hold about 1,800 rooms and 600,000 square feet of convention space

All Aboard Florida, the private passenger rail that will connect Orlando to Miami, will build a stop across the urban center, which will be located between South Beach and Miami’s Central Business District

Stay tuned for more information.

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http://www.miamishoot.com/miami-worl...und-this-year/
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Miami Worldcenter has received approval from the city for its plan to pedestrianize portions of two streets as well as construct a building that spans over a third, with city commissioners enthusiastically endorsing the proposal. Apparently the city doesn't technically own the streets, so they can't really ask for compensation, and as for traffic this might create, that's Worldcenter's problem.

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http://miami.curbed.com/archives/201...nter-turns.php
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Miami Worldcenter Creating Urban Mall With Closed Streets

Miami Worldcenter wants to create urban pedestrian promenades with shops and restaurants, à la Lincoln Road, on two of the public streets it's trying to purchase from the city. They plan to construct a building spanning over the third, a block of NE 8th Street, and return it to public use. By sheer square footage, the Worldcenter people say they are giving more area to public use than they are taking away.

Critics have complained that the price the city is being paid by Worldcenter is far too low. Worldcenter's lawyers say the streets, although ceded for public use, aren't technically owned by the city but by adjacent landowners, according to original platting a century ago. Thus the city cannot technically sell them. Worldcenter says closing the streets will weave together the project with the new condo towers to the east. Other critics say the street closures will ensnare traffic, especially during Heat games, where the streets act as dissipators. But at Worldcenter, cars can hit the road, jack.

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April 23, 2014
http://miami.curbed.com/archives/201...ed-streets.php