I'm bored at work, and i found these renderings. Really don't know if they've been posted before, but a search through the site revealed no actual separate thread for the convention center... so here we go

http://arquitectonica.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files_mf/2.miamibeachconventioncenterv04op2r06s.jpg

http://arquitectonica.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files_mf/3.miamibeachconventioncenterv03op2r02s.jpg

http://arquitectonica.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files_mf/4.miamibeachconventioncenterv01r22s.jpg

http://arquitectonica.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files_mf/5.00.696.17.2.jpg

http://arquitectonica.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files_mf/1.00.696.16.19.jpg

Absolutely love this retro 50s style.

I absolutely Love it, Hope gets build.

This was the design that would have necessitated tearing down the Filmore/Jackie Gleason Theater right?

from the renderings, the theater is still there. you can see it in the second rendering

Love that, and hope it happens!

It's necessary, too. The Beach Convention Center isn't competitive for larger gatherings because of its smallish size.

(and selfishly, big conventions mean a lot of extra $$ for my family's business):lol:

When Miami (Beach) has a unique vernacular style where a proposed building like this speaks to 80 years of history while still exhibiting a contemporary feel, it makes me wish all new developments in Miami were striving to be even half as ambitious as this. This proves that all Miami needs is itself to create a brilliant modern day movement.

I don't like it, but just because of that I'm not going to give it less of a value. Hope it gets built.

I just parked in that new skeleton parking garage on Alton Road in South Beach for the first time and I don't understand why they didn't make it bigger, taking up the parking lots behind it. With floors that small, more than 50% of the space is ramps and right of ways, not parking spaces.

This design is taking up that giant parking lot that's next to the convention center now, isn't it? That's a good idea, there should be almost no level parking in a high demand area like south beach.

The most compact parking garage for it's footprint, by far, that I have ever seen is the southeast financial center garage, it's so compact it's confusing and hard to find your car sometimes. I'm certain it must have gotten some recognition for it's unique design. They should build some exactly like it (with a different façade), but larger for south beach.

I don't think the basic traffic flow and design of a parking garage can be proprietary so why not just outright copy it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12mRQox8RwE

Love it.

I Hope this gets built.

On the plans to tear down the Fillmore/Jackie Gleason Theater and replace it with a hotel:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/19/2224327/miami-beach-hilton-marriott-interested.html


Miami Beach: Hilton, Marriott interested in Convention Center.

Miami Beach says interest from hotels and other private investors remains high for a revamped Miami Beach Convention Center, despite questions about funding for the ambitious convention center overhaul.

By David Smiley
dsmiley@MiamiHerald.com

As calls grow louder for a plan to finance a proposed overhaul and expansion of the Miami Beach Convention Center, City Manager Jorge Gonzalez continues to quietly meet with developers and hoteliers about private investment into the estimated $650 million project.

Gonzalez met Tuesday with representatives of the Hilton hotel chain to discuss the project — which would double the size of the convention center to 2 million square feet — and a proposed 1,000-room convention center hotel on the site of the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater.

“All the big chains are calling and all the big developers are calling,” Gonzalez said prior to the meeting, adding that he has also met with Marriott representatives.

Neither company responded to requests for comment.

Gonzalez also said he met Monday with construction representatives and the prior week with design firms interested in applying for a city contract to come up with the “iconic” design commissioners have said they desire. Gonzalez said Miami-based Arquitectonica, which was paid $573,000 to research and analyze the convention market and create a conceptual design for the center within zoning limits — a design commissioners found unacceptable — is among the interested firms.

“There is clear interest in this project and in this hotel,” Gonzalez said.

As Gonzalez meets with private business in hopes of defraying costs of the project with outside investment, members of the city’s Convention Center Advisory Board have called for quick action on a plan for public financing

On May 12, board members convened a special meeting to discuss public funding options in the wake of the failing of two state bills that would have created millions toward financing the convention center overhaul by allowing Miami-Dade County commissioners to increase bed taxes.

Citing numbers from the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau that said some $300 million in convention-related business had been lost or is in jeopardy due to inadequate and outdated space and facilities, board members suggested a number of different funding options, including:

• Increasing Miami Beach’s bed tax by one percentage point through a November voter referendum

• Extending the city’s Redevelopment Agency City Center district an additional 30 years

• Returning to Tallahassee to push for another state bill to allow to allow for the raising of a county bed tax

All these options could be mixed and matched with private investment and would supplement the roughly $55 million already in hand and available to fund renovations. Gonzalez has said the city has reached out to county officials to find possible funding, but he said pursuing discussions with the county has been complicated by the recall of Carlos Alvarez, which has left Miami-Dade without a mayor.

Board members also urged city hall to have a funding plan to present to them by August.

“It’s very, very important,” said board member Jason Loeb. “Everybody is waiting to get this done.”

Loeb, who is also chairman of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, said he plans to meet soon with Tim Nardi, the chairman of the Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association — which opposes the construction of a headquarters hotel — in order to create a plan to support funding for the project.

Both lobbying groups recently supported proposals to allow for an increase of a county bed tax to finance the center renovation.

Stuart Blumberg, chairman of the Convention Center Advisory Board, said Gonzalez’s meetings with private business remain important. But he said public funding must also be a priority because developers and hoteliers will want to know how much the city is contributing to the project before committing their own resources.

“It’s great that all these hotel companies are interested,” he said. “We knew over a year ago there was great interest from the hotel community about a partnership. The questions we raised at our special board meeting the other day still puts on the table: What will be the contribution of public funding other than the $55 million?”

That would suck so much. The Fillmore has brought such great bands and artist to Miami. I heard they had a rough first year, but I've been at plenty of shows since and it's always a packed house.

On the plans to tear down the Fillmore/Jackie Gleason Theater and replace it with a hotel:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/19/2224327/miami-beach-hilton-marriott-interested.html

How about call it the jackie gleason center and hotel.