Miami's remaining hometown department store, La Epocá, has relocated to a new store in the former Woolworth Building, which was a The Sports Authority store until about two years ago. The new four storey location is much more fitting for the department store than its former location on NE 2nd Avenue. La Epocá department store "migrated" to Miami from Cuba in the 1960s, and continues to be a popular store for Cubans. Nice to see the beautiful building occupied once again.

Miami's remaining hometown department store, La Epocá, has relocated to a new store in the former Woolworth Building, which was a The Sports Authority store until about two years ago. The new four storey location is much more fitting for the department store than its former location on NE 2nd Avenue. La Epocá department store "migrated" to Miami from Cuba in the 1960s, and continues to be a popular store for Cubans. Nice to see the beautiful building occupied once again.Here, here! :cheers: I think that the Chapman School of Business offers executive MBA programs in the top floor as well.

I think you mean the Walgreens Building.

http://www.***************/05/1/flagmod.jpg

i luv that building

First modern building in Miami. Back from 1936.

Looks nice, just need to be cleaned :okay: :gossip:

That would of been a perfect spot for a Barnes and Nobles or a bookstore of some type. We will need these sorts of stores in this area in the near future.

im sure a barnes and noble or borders or something will go into one of the new buildings...

hopefully a smaller place, like a books and books, some local store, not yet another huge national chain, but u cant have it all

i wish we could get those crappy electronics shops and flea market type shops outta downtown ,so we can get some real retail in.....grocery stores,department stores etc.

just give it a while... when actual residents show up and create the market for such retail

i wish we could get those crappy electronics shops and flea market type shops outta downtown ,so we can get some real retail in.....grocery stores,department stores etc.

It is a very, very far cry from New York City or Chicago, but Miami's downtown retail is pretty much on par with most US cities - including Los Angeles. There is a healthy mix of national retailers - Macy*s, Marshalll's, Ross, etc. - that most US downtowns do not have.

Here is a wonderful image from the early 1960's. I used to visit this great place with my mom and dad and loved the cafeteria on the second floor. It was the one of the major epicenters of social life in downtown Miami. People would gather and pick up the local and out of town papers right outside on the corner. I was downtown recently and notice that it was re-opened as La Epoca Dept Store. I walked in and remembered the old days, sigh..... They were great....but the future is also very bright. I was happy to see it open and filled with life once again. The corner still bustles with activity and the Newspaper vendors still sell their papers there, just today they are papers from Latin America...no more The Miami News on sale in the afternoon. I enjoyed my day in downtown as I got a haircut and old-fashioned shave at Churchill's, walked through the old Burdines now Macy's and had a great lunch at Raja's Indian Cuisine a few blocks from this corner. Retail life is coming back to Downtown along with many international restaurants and shops. I love this Magic City, it continues to evolve and reinvent itself. I can't wait to see what the future brings with all the condos and retail coming on line.

Note Flagler Street was One Way to the east back then.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/walgreensmiami.jpg

How things have changed. Since the massive western expansions of the 1970's, Downtown has been an empty place full of strip malls.

When did Walgreens shut down? Anyone have a picture of how it looks now?

How things have changed. Since the massive western expansions of the 1970's, Downtown has been an empty place full of strip malls.Spoken like a true gentleman...that hasn't been in downtown Miami in a while. There is lots of life and there will certainly be more.
Logy, check out Pablo's post #3 in this thread

I agree, but it will take time. I just hope these condos will have real people in them and not just a bunch of empty air.

I agree, but it will take time. I just hope these condos will have real people in them and not just a bunch of empty air.Agree, with what but what will take time? Downtown is NOT dead.
Please read Magic Cities' post, there is a guy that knows how to enjoy the urban life!
Better yet, take a walk around sometime. I was at an event on a Saturday, and couldn't find street parking for blocks around the courthouse. Check out Bayside and the highest grossing Hooter's in the chain. There are lot's of things going on downtown. Department stores, Farmers Market, restaurants, bars, the best place to get a shave!! :cheers:
Walk a few blocks to Garcia's for some fresh seafood on the River. It is good NOW and getting better. For those with a love for skyscrapers and tall buildings, the Ingrahm Building, the Alfred P. Dupont Building the Gusman/Olympia, the court house etc. Awesome!

Agree, with what but what will take time? Downtown is NOT dead.
Please read Magic Cities' post, there is a guy that knows how to enjoy the urban life!
Better yet, take a walk around sometime. I was at an event on a Saturday, and couldn't find street parking for blocks around the courthouse. Check out Bayside and the highest grossing Hooter's in the chain. There are lot's of things going on downtown. Department stores, Farmers Market, restaurants, bars, the best place to get a shave!! :cheers:
Walk a few blocks to Garcia's for some fresh seafood on the River. It is good NOW and getting better. For those with a love for skyscrapers and tall buildings, the Ingrahm Building, the Alfred P. Dupont Building the Gusman/Olympia, the court house etc. Awesome!

Dowtown is not literally dead. Yes it's full with people and tourists, but there is none of the pride Miami's citizens used to have toward it. People just don't care anymore. Comparing toady's boom to the one of the twenty years ago, people actually were exicted for these projects. People were actually involved in these things, and the fanfare for projects like Metrorail, the Cultural Center, Bayside, and tall structures like the Wachovia is paralled for no other of today. If you ask any average Joe in Miami, to identify the PAC or the Four Seasons, do you think they'd know? No. It isn't that downtown is dead. The awful traffic of Flagler and Brickell says otherwise, but there isn't the feeling of pride and interest of the old days.

Agreed...

Dowtown is not literally dead. Yes it's full with people and tourists, but there is none of the pride Miami's citizens used to have toward it. People just don't care anymore. Comparing toady's boom to the one of the twenty years ago, people actually were exicted for these projects. People were actually involved in these things, and the fanfare for projects like Metrorail, the Cultural Center, Bayside, and tall structures like the Wachovia is paralled for no other of today. If you ask any average Joe in Miami, to identify the PAC or the Four Seasons, do you think they'd know? No. It isn't that downtown is dead. The awful traffic of Flagler and Brickell says otherwise, but there isn't the feeling of pride and interest of the old days.
Wow...I totallly disagree that there isn't pride for the downtown!!
but there is none of the pride Miami's citizens used to have toward it. People just don't care anymore.None?!? I have alot, and just about anyone I work with, whether attorneys in the Wachovia, bankers in the Bank of America buiding, or Alex the guy that does the straight razor shaver at Churchils, they all have pride.
I was there today and it was very active, and I can't imagine how anyone of the people walking in downtown on a day like today couldn't be proud.
Further, I think that a very high percentage of people would identify the PAC and Four Seasons...I don't hang around with a lot of average joes, they tend to be negative and whine a lot, but I've listened to homeless guys on the Metromover give tours about the various landmarks throughout downtown. There is palpable enthusiasm in the air!
Maybe some people don't care.
Clearly Magic City isn't average...he's been downtown lately and can identify those landmarks. I can't speak of the boom of 20 years ago, but one thing for sure is that a lot of people are very excited about downtown.
Concrete example: Today. A couple from Palm Beach did their walkthrough for their apartment at Brickell on the River, from their balcony we watched a manatee, and the wife pointed out all the buildings that are going up to her husband. That example is from 3 hours ago proving the point that people are excited about downtown! And if what you guys say is correct, that some people don't care anymore, then fine, let them drive in from the suburbs and I'll be happy to care about the city with newcomers that care to!
The people that don't care will jump back on the bandwagon when we fix it for them.

Okay...so Toucana and Pablo agree that no one is excited about downtown, and Magic City, Me, and the New York Times ARE excited. Let's just agree to disagree.

Here is an article from todays Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/realestate/06haven.html?ex=1294203600&en=d4cc404bcb1ddc6c&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

January 6, 2006
Havens | Downtown Miami
What's Hot and Trendy and Not South Beach?
By PAMELA ROBIN BRANDT
From the elevated section of Interstate 95 that borders Miami's central business district on the west, the neon lights that illuminate skyscrapers in "Miami Vice" pastel colors have made the city look glamorous and exciting for years. Until recently, however, a drive down among the high-rises at night revealed mostly shuttered office buildings and empty spaces. Downtown Miami was, as Mayor Manny Diaz described it in one brief bark: "Dead."

But the setting was spectacular. Bordered on its entire eastern side by Biscayne Bay and bisected by the Miami River, downtown Miami invited a transformation, and now that makeover is under way.

Cranes loom above the Biscayne Boulevard/Brickell Avenue corridor, which is greater downtown's Main Street, as developers build spaces where people will shop and play - and live.

Dana A. Nottingham, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority, said 3,041 new condominium units were recently completed in the northern Omni district (recently rechristened the Media and Entertainment District), the southern Brickell financial district and the central business and Park West districts between them that is the heart of downtown. Another 13,890 condo units are under construction in the same areas, and plans have been filed for buildings that would provide 10,534 more.

Downtown is Miami. It incorporates almost everything that defines the city in an area from I-395 to S.E. 25th Street. But with all these generic whitewash condos rising around the area and the attempts by developers to turn Miami into NYC, Downtown is losing its identity and turning into some Midtown wannabe. The skyline is starting to look like a Brazilian city with endless drones of identical towers and almost no definite landmarks. Yes growth is good, but what the city is doing is NOT preserving the flavor of Miami. Downtown is a great place to be and Miami is a VERY lucky city to have landmarks such as MetroMover and a revival at this moment. Which city wouldn't love to have a brand new PAC, which will and does rival any other one in the world. What I don't want to see are generic monsters like the Club at Brickell Bay and sealed up projects like the Ivy turning downtown into some extention of Miami Beach. Even this country's eminent architectural critic, Vincent Scully agrees. When looking at the skyline he said: ‘‘It’s getting to look like one big megastructure. There’s just so much of it." What Miami has failed to do is balanced the skyline out like it has in previous decades, when you could actually tell a building apart and not look at another one wondering whether your seeing double.

Overall, Miami IS the greatest city in the world. I have never seen a place like it. There just has to be a balance in maintaining the city's identity and ushering change. People DO care, but not in the ways of the past. By the way, these "journalists" in NYC don't know Miami. They're just making observations by comparing their skyline to ours. In the 80's during the Vice years, the skyline was lit less at night than in recent years. At night you could only tell apart the Bank of America Tower and the SunTrust Tower. Everything else was dark. The only buildings in Brickell that were lit were the neon lights of 1221 Brickell and three neon stripes on the Palace. That was it.

Downtown is a great place to be and Miami is a VERY lucky city to have landmarks such as MetroMover and a revival at this moment.Oh...so now we can add another person to the list of people that care. Wooo hoooo! We're making progress! It was only a few posts ago where you wrote things like.
Downtown has been an empty place full of strip malls. there is none of the pride Miami's citizens used to have toward it. People just don't care anymore.
I'm glad you now realize the people do care (as the concrete example of end users moving into Brickell on the River demonstrated), downtown in not, in fact empty (as Magic City's post demonstrated), and your tune has changed for the better. I like that postive 180 degree turn.
So, it seems that your disdain is for the developers? Am I getting that right?
The old developers were good, and the new ones are bad...okay, well that is a matter of opinion.
sealed up projects like the Ivy turning downtown into some extention of Miami Beach.Wow, you still don't understand that project? It's not sealed up, that has been explained over and over. There is a public walkway through the ENTIRE property! Is that sealed up compared to the Atlantis?? Villa Regina?? The Palace??? Those old developers...
People DO care, but not in the ways of the past.Oh the good old days...when men delivered your ice, there wasn't this devil in that television box, and minorities couldn't vote! Of course people don't care in the same way as they did in the past, the tallest skyscraper was 19 stories!! and in the 1980's they built waterfront highrises without any public access to water. Today's developers, have given a 50ft setback for a 5.5 Mile Riverwalk on the Miami River! I love the new thinking.
By the way, these "journalists" in NYC don't know Miami.Probably not, but they picked a great day to prove the point that people do care about Downtown Miami, and I felt compelled to post it.

Most Miami Beach waterfront developments were a thing of the late 60's and 70's. Very little was done in the 80's. It was mostly Art Deco restorations. The boom was more present in Miami. Also Miami hasn't had a tallest building shorter that 19 stories since before 1925. :ancient: By the way it doesn't matter that you can't acces Villa Regina, The Palace, or The Atlantis. At least they are architectural pleasing. Covering a building in pastels is more satisfying than white wash. I just hope that these "developers" can pay decent commisions to hire more reputable architectural firms. Arquitectonica has switched to the same generic stuff in the last several years, so I think they have fallen of their pedistal :badnews: (although their stuff is a lot better that some other firms around town). At least buildings like ESP and Blue add to the architectural variety Miami seems to be losing. Overall lets be content :banana: that some building is being done and all these vacant lots are being filled up. It's better having white wash that weeds. :hahaha:

By the way it doesn't matter that you can't acces Villa Regina, The Palace, or The Atlantis.oh, okay I gotcha. The way that you wrote "sealed up projects like the Ivy" made it sound like you thought Ivy was sealed up and that sealed up was bad. So you think sealed up is good, if you like the color. Gotcha! I'm starting to understand.
Now if you still think that a development WITH a public access going through the property along the water is "sealed up", then we still have some educating to do.
Covering a building in pastels is more satisfying than white wash.Well, sure! I wish everyone in the world thought exactly the same as you! The Parthenon is pure garbage, let's put some pleasing pastels on it.
I just hope that these "developers" can pay decent commisions to hire more reputable architectural firms.Yeah! You bad bad developers!! Oooops...not the ones from 20 years ago, the bad ones are the ones from...uh oh...when did developers become bad?
Well, nevermind...I'm sure the new ones don't pay decent commissions. The architects probably work for food.
Arquitectonica has switched to the same generic stuff in the last several years, so I think they have fallen of their pedistal (although their stuff is a lot better that some other firms around town). At least buildings like ESP and Blue add to the architectural variety Miami seems to be losing.I'm not a huge Arqutectonica fan, but if I'm not mistaken, Arqutectonica did Blue. And Arquetectonica did the new Federal Courthouse in downtown, you think that is generic??
It's better having white wash that weeds. :hahaha:Now, THAT was clever!

Before making a statement, read the whole thing completly. Okay. :)

The thing I like about the CBD of Miami is that most of the buildings are slammed right next to each other, like you see in NYC for example. It seems that all of the new buildings have open area around them, almost like they belong in the suburbs. The mistake of the old Brickell of the 80's is that they built suburban style office and residential buildings, of course a lot taller, in the city. I love Villa Regina, Santa Maria, Bristol Tower but what a waste of land. I prefer the old downtown, for example the Security Building and Congress Building; it seems that developers really paid attention to the facade of the buildings back them. Yes I know it’s all about making a profit, which is understandable.
BTW I love ESP and the Four Seasons, but again if you ESP there is a gap between it and the building next door. Four Seasons takes up a whole block. Even One Miami has some space between it and Hotel Intercontinental at ground level. Is there a new code in Miami that does not allow buildings to be built right next to each other?

Back in the 80's, the city wanted Brickell to be a surburban looking area. They wanted lots of space and lots of public areas (this effort was concentrated on commericial office projects, for example, 1221 Brickell). Few projects incorporated public areas, but that space was still there. But as Brickell grew in the 90's, the city changed their mind, and wanted the area to look like the other financial districts in the country. That explains how Brickell is now "running out" of space and how mid-rises are being smaked together between two others. Plus, who wouldn't like to live in a condo complex covered with thick hammocks of tropical trees.? It it better having a tropical view out of a balcony than looking at stucco walls every morning?

The thing I like about the CBD of Miami is that most of the buildings are slammed right next to each other, like you see in NYC for example. It seems that all of the new buildings have open area around them, almost like they belong in the suburbs. The mistake of the old Brickell of the 80's is that they built suburban style office and residential buildings, of course a lot taller, in the city. I love Villa Regina, Santa Maria, Bristol Tower but what a waste of land. I prefer the old downtown, for example the Security Building and Congress Building; it seems that developers really paid attention to the facade of the buildings back them. Yes I know it’s all about making a profit, which is understandable.
BTW I love ESP and the Four Seasons, but again if you ESP there is a gap between it and the building next door. Four Seasons takes up a whole block. Even One Miami has some space between it and Hotel Intercontinental at ground level. Is there a new code in Miami that does not allow buildings to be built right next to each other?There isn't really a new law, but it comes down to the zoning. The highrises in the CBD have zero set backs in some cases. This isn't the case in Brickell places just outside the CBD.
I'm with you, in the CBD buildings do take advantage of their entire property area and the setbacks are very small if any. The Brickell residential properties had very large parcel sizes and built small footprint building
(relative to the parcel). True even of the more recent buildings from the 90's.
Contrary to others might post, the Brickell Residential towers built in the 1980's did NOT have public space. The had limited common elements for the residents that lived in each INDIVIDUAL building. In other words, a gate with a guard was set up at the sidewalk on Brickell and only residents and guests of each individual building were allowed access. No public park space, no public walk along the water, no ground floor retail/restaurants open to the public, and not even community among neighboring towers. It would be safe to say, these buildings were sealed off to the general public.
Pretty ironic, considering Zyberk and Duany were principals of Arquatectonica at the time these "independant" Brickell residential buildings were built.
They have since gone on to pen numberous books that throw out those forementioned concepts and now promote openess in design in books such as, "Suburban Nation: The Rise and Sprawl and the Decline of hte American Dream"

I love the Congress Building, the Security Buildng the Alfred Dupont Building, among others in the CBD they are all very nice buildings, but don't think that those developers weren't thinking about a profit when they built their buildings.

Thanks for the responses. As for One Miami, drove by there the other day and there is no space between it and the Citibank tower. Unfortunately, there are loading docks facing Biscayne which take away from the pedestrian element. What an amazing view know that Dupont Plaza is gone. They should move the road so it hugs the river and build Epic farther north, where the road is now. I did not have a camera but the area feels so open now.

Here are some great images of Walgreens in the 1930's. Check out the cafeterias and the wall of Souvenir Postcards. I wish I could go back in time and bring a bunch of those cards back.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/miami17/walgreens3images.jpg

Nice find. I remember back when it was the "center" of downtown retail. It was always full of people and everyone knew where it was. It also provided for a clash of architectural styles being situated next to the classical Ingraham Building.

From the Downtown Development Authority...

http://www.loopconsulting.com/projects/mdda/images/Epoca_1_smll.JPG

http://www.loopconsulting.com/projects/mdda/images/Epoca_2_smll.JPG

After 40 years on N.E. 2nd Avenue, La Época opened on Flagler Street on Sunday, December 18. Once the third largest department store in Havana, Cuba, La Época continues its family retail business while bettering its location, highlighting designer fashions and offering its distinguished customer service.

With a large department store look, but the small department store feel and attention, La Época counts on the patronage of local residents, international visitors, downtown workers and cruise ship visitors.

La Época has three floors that offer shoes, sports clothing and men's and women's fashions, as well as home goods and luggage.

Visit the all-new La Época in its brand new location! For more information, call 305-374-7731.

its look very well