MIAMI | Development Thread

[Dale]

Are they doing anything to the park in front ?

[bobdreamz]

^

Is this the park you mean? If it is, this will become the newly renamed Museum Park which will be the home of the Miami Museum of Science & Planetarium and the Miami Art Museum in an open setting of lawns, public gardens, fountains, and pools - all fronting l Biscayne Bay.



The Museums wont look like they do above since they are just showing where in the park they will be located.

[Dale]

Yes, bob, that's the one I meant. I was a little worried because I saw evidence of construction in the background but not in the foreground.

It's going to revolutionize downtown Miami. And I thought I'd read where they're renovated Bayfront Park too.

[bobdreamz]

^ This used to be BiCenntenial Park when first built in the late 1970s and it was very nice with man made hills and nature paths. It became neglected & the homeless took over. Then it became part of the race track for the Miami Grand Prix and that venture went bankrupt years ago.
The Museum Park idea was proposed years ago and both museums started a donation campaign. This complex will also be one block south of the Performing Arts center which is going to make the area the cultural heart of Miami.
Bayfront Park had some renovations but it more shade trees added and I think they repaired the fountain as well, nothing major I believe.

[LouisianaRush]

Originally Posted by Nautica

Funny how a comment about Dallas having an inner city airport like Miami was turned into an anti-Texas comment. By the way, according to Wikipedia, Houston has 355 hi-rises, Miami 278 and Dallas 239. Maybe you meant all together, in a small area?

How is my opinion of liking Miami's skyline over Houston or Dallas anti-Texas?

[Dale]

Originally Posted by LouisianaRush

How is my opinion of liking Miami's skyline over Houston or Dallas anti-Texas?

Don't Mess With Texas!

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by Dale

Are they doing anything to the park in front ?

Originally Posted by Dale

Yes, bob, that's the one I meant. I was a little worried because I saw evidence of construction in the background but not in the foreground.

It's going to revolutionize downtown Miami. And I thought I'd read where they're renovated Bayfront Park too.

Here is Museum Park under construction from the MacArthur Causeway May 1, 2011.


DSC_1629 by Quantum2010, on Flickr

[Dale]

This is going to be an awesome 'necklace' running from Genting to Museum Park to a finished (hopefully) Met to BCC.

[Nautica]

Originally Posted by LouisianaRush

Dallas and Houston may have taller buildings, but Miami's skyline is so much more beautiful imo. I lived in Texas for several years before moving here. I would rather quantity over height.

Just so we get it straight. This is not just an opinion of preference. You've made a factual error. Houston has more hirises than does Miami and not much more than Dallas. Letting everyone know you lived in Texas does not legitimize your opinion. The discussion was about inner-city airports and you determined that would give you an opportunity to sleight both city skylines. Oh, by the way love the skyline in New Orleans.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by Dale

This is going to be an awesome 'necklace' running from Genting to Museum Park to a finished (hopefully) Met to BCC.

There really is no telling what all we might see constructed in Miami in this decade. Continued interest in further development here in Miami seems to be very strong.

[LouisianaRush]

Originally Posted by Nautica

Just so we get it straight. This is not just an opinion of preference. You've made a factual error. Houston has more hirises than does Miami and not much more than Dallas. Letting everyone know you lived in Texas does not legitimize your opinion. The discussion was about inner-city airports and you determined that would give you an opportunity to sleight both city skylines. Oh, by the way love the skyline in New Orleans.

You are correct there are more skyscrapers in Houston city limits. A city that covers more than 579.4 square miles. Many of Houston's towers are in Uptown, Texas Medical Center, Midtown, Greenway Plaza, Energy Corridor, Westchase, and Gunspoint.

Miami by contrast has 55.27 square miles about 10% of the land/sprawl Houston has. A vast majority of the Miami's towers are downtown not spread out over the size of a small state

Just because Houston has more towers spread throughout over 579 sq miles does not mean it has a larger downtown.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by LouisianaRush

Miami by contrast has 55.27 square miles about 10% of the land/sprawl Houston has. A vast majority of the Miami's towers are downtown not spread out over the size of a .
.

Actually, that 55.27 square miles includes the part of Miami that is also in Biscayne Bay. The actual land area of Miami is only 35.68 square miles, making it one of the smallest major cities in the country with more skyscrapers on the way. Miami just has a really huge metro area by comparison.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by LouisianaRush

A vast majority of the Miami's towers are downtown not spread out over the size of a small state
.

That parts not really true. There are more 15+ story buildings in Miami-Dade County outside of Miami than there are in Miami. If you are talking 500+ footers than yes most of them are downtown. There are 908 10+ story buildings in Miami-Dade County (counting ones still under construction), only 379 of them are in the City of Miami much less Downtown.

Getting off topic, those 908 highrises are still in an area smaller than the City of Houston. Miami-Dade's UDB is less than 420 square miles yet has almost twice as many highrises as the City of Houston which is larger than that.

[LouisianaRush]

Originally Posted by dave8721

That parts not really true. There are more 15+ story buildings in Miami-Dade County outside of Miami than there are in Miami. If you are talking 500+ footers than yes most of them are downtown. There are 908 10+ story buildings in Miami-Dade County (counting ones still under construction), only 379 of them are in the City of Miami much less Downtown.

Getting off topic, those 908 highrises are still in an area smaller than the City of Houston. Miami-Dade's UDB is less than 420 square miles yet has almost twice as many highrises as the City of Houston which is larger than that.

I said "A vast majority of the Miami's towers are downtown not spread out over the size of a small state" I never said Miami-Dade. I was talking about the city not the county. A large majority of towers in city of Miami are in the downtown area. Houston's towers are more spread out over 579 sq miles inside the city limit and it has 7 mini skylines outside of downtown. This goes back to my point there are more towers downtown Miami than there are in downtown Houston. Both cities still have a long way to go in making them more pedestrian friendly though.

[pj3000]

Miami may have more towers in its downtown than Houston does in its, but in Miami they are mostly samey condo buildings and cannot come close to reaching the heights of Houston's numerous office towers (nor can Miami match Dallas in that area either).

Sure, Miami overall has a handful more buildings than Houston over 150m... but that does not paint an accurate picture when comparing corresponding skylines.

It's real easy... Miami has 3 buildings that reach 200m. Houston has 15.

Or look at it this way... Miami has three 700-footers as its tallest buildings. Houston has two 1000-footers, one 900-footer, and seven 700-footers. And most of Houston's tallest buildings are in its downtown core... not spread out over the "area of a small state", as is seemingly being suggested.

It's not even a close comparison, really. They are completely different skylines with completely different functions in completely different cities. One can prefer one city's skyline to another for whatever reason, however there is no question that Houston has many more impressive buildings.

[Nautica]

Amen, pj3000.

[QuantumX]

I think it is still a matter of personal taste and preference though. Houston has more buildings over 500 feet tall in its downtown than Miami, while Miami has more over 400 feet tall making for a more dense skyline of buildings with respectable height in its downtown, but not as tall altogether as in Houston's downtown. I also happen to find having a lot of choice in being able to live 500 feet above ground quite impressive and futuristic. I think living vertically is the wave of the future with many urban populations on the rise encroaching on natural habitats. I look at Miami's skyline practically everyday, and I see lots of variety in it, not just samey condos, so to each his own.

[LouisianaRush]

What I love about downtown Miami is that is a real neighborhood with thousands of people living downtown, shopping, bars/nightclubs, fantastic restaurants, grocery stores, museums, concert halls, marinas, parks, stadiums, and many transit options (metrorail, the people mover, and tri-rail all accessible from downtown) that can bring one to the airport, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach. Downtown Miami offers lots of living options and is not just an large office park like some other downtowns across the US.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by QuantumX

I think it is still a matter of personal taste and preference though. Houston has more buildings over 500 feet tall in its downtown than Miami, while Miami has more over 400 feet tall making for a more dense skyline of buildings with respectable height in its downtown, but not as tall altogether as in Houston's downtown. I also happen to find having a lot of choice in being able to live 500 feet above ground quite impressive and futuristic. I think living vertically is the wave of the future with many urban populations on the rise encroaching on natural habitats. I look at Miami's skyline practically everyday, and I see lots of variety in it, not just samey condos, so to each his own.

Of course it's a matter of personal taste. And for the record, I love the Miami skyline... I loved it when I first saw it as a kid back in the early 80s, when I lived there in the 1990s, as it was blowing up in 2000s, and now when I climb up on my roof and marvel at its increased density (yeah, my neighbors probably think I'm weird on my roof with a telescope... and maybe I am... but I don't care, it's fun). As I said previously, Miami and Houston have completely different skylines with completely different functions in completely different cities.

My only point in entering the conversation about this was to dispel the suggested notion that Houston's tall buildings were somehow scattered all over some enormous geographic area. They're not. Downtown Houston is a pretty damn impressive collection of skyscrapers no matter how you want to look at it, and there are huge towers outside of downtown Houston as well. There have been plenty of threads on this forum which display not only the large extent of Houston's skyline, but also the impressive clusters of buildings, which very few cities can match.

Also, although I know that downtown Miami's skyline is made up of more than similar-looking condo towers, one would be hard pressed to defend the position that the majority of buildings in downtown/Brickell are anything but just that. The painted white, balconied, blue-green glassed condo tower makes up a huge percentage of the skyscrapers. That is an especially accurate description for development in the last decade. That is one of the major disappointments about Miami's most recent building boom for me (and many others on this site). Considering the massive amount of skyscraper construction that went on in the past 10 years, Miami basically only got one "signature" office tower added to its skyline... and only a 600-footer at that... leaving the skyline with towers built in the mid-1980s as the most significant architectural features on the skyline. Which reflects a point I made on this thread earlier about the lack of demand for such tall office towers in Miami, due to the lack of established corporate headquarters presence.

[QuantumX]

First of all, I'll say I prefer height over density. I always have, and therefore, I think Houston has a better skyline than Miami's. As far as I can see, there is only one tower of significant height that is not in downtown Houston and that is the Williams Tower in the Galleria that is famous for being the tallest building in the country (901 feet) outside of a city's CBD.

Originally Posted by pj3000

The painted white, balconied, blue-green glassed condo tower makes up a huge percentage of the skyscrapers. That is an especially accurate description for development in the last decade. That is one of the major disappointments about Miami's most recent building boom for me (and many others on this site).

And it's not just this site.

Originally Posted by pj3000

Considering the massive amount of skyscraper construction that went on in the past 10 years, Miami basically only got one "signature" office tower added to its skyline... and only a 600-footer at that... leaving the skyline with towers built in the mid-1980s as the most significant architectural features on the skyline. Which reflects a point I made on this thread earlier about the lack of demand for such tall office towers in Miami, due to the lack of established corporate headquarters presence.

Now here , I don't disagree with you, it's just that you originally said lack of a corporate presence was the reason for Miami's lack of height, not lack of tall office towers and I disagree with you here because taller buildings had been planned that were not office towers. It was only in the last decade that there was enough developer interest that developers and the City of Miami went up against the FAA and MIA to at least get the 1,010 height limit in downtown and Brickell east of Miami Avenue so that developers could build taller, whether it be office towers, condos, hotels, or mixed-use structures.

And considering what downtown Miami looked like when I moved here in 1984, I'll take today's skyline hands down with no complaints any day. It's kind of the nature of the beast down here anyway. Look at most other tropical skylines. White keeps the building from getting as hot as it might otherwise be cutting down on the cost of cooling the building and the blue glass is the color of tropical waters. Isn't that why they are changing the color of the Willis Tower, to cut down on cooling costs. And getting back to the ugly massive parking pedestals, they actually help keep a tall building stable during a hurricane. Again, this is Miami. It is the nature of where we live.