Posted Nov 13, 2014, 2:13 PM
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Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Miami
Posts: 4,070
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From the Miami Herald today:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...le3852019.html
Quote:
Worldcenter unveils plan for first tower in Miami’s Park West
BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI
AVIGLUCCI@MIAMIHERALD.COM
The long-awaited, and at times controversial, Miami Worldcenter megaproject unveiled plans Wednesday for its first tower, a 470-unit, 60-story lux condo that would be embedded into the planned three-level shopping mall stretching across three and a half blocks in the old Park West district.
Its developer, Daniel Kodsi, says his Paramount Miami Worldcenter condo is further proof that the massive mixed-use project, first approved by the city as a special district nearly a decade ago, is a definite go, portending the revitalization of a long-derelict stretch of downtown. At the end of last year, the project’s master developers, Miami Worldcenter Associates, brought in major mall developers Forbes and Taubman to erect an upscale urban shopping center anchored by Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.
A separate developer, meanwhile, hopes to start construction by the end of the year on a companion piece, an expo center and convention hotel on the adjacent site of the old Miami Arena, after purchasing the site from the Worldcenter group.
“We all know it went through its ups and downs, but given the obstacles they faced, what they’ve done is really fantastic,” Kodsi said of Worldcenter principals Art Falcone and Nitin Motwani, while acknowledging some public skepticism over whether the project would actually happen. “Since they signed Forbes and Taubman, it’s been full throttle. It took a little longer, but it’s done right.”
The planned tower’s design, by Boston-based Elkus Manfredi Architects, represents a distinct departure from the typical wrap-around balcony look of most of the dozens of luxury residential towers recently announced or under construction in Miami and Miami Beach. The swept-back glass tower, which features irregularly jutting balconies, is designed to signal that it’s not a beach condo, but an urban residential tower, Kodsi said.
Kodsi said he asked Elkus Manfredi, which designed the commercial podium at the Time Warner Center at New York’s Columbus Circle, to give the Miami tower’s street entrance a similarly pedestrian-friendly “urban’’ look and functionality, with the expectation that many residents would actually walk outside to nearby attractions. (The firm is also designing the Worldcenter mall.)
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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...#storylink=cpy
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