1400 Biscayne Blvd - Espacio USA

[bigswingingschlong]

...

[Architek]

Since we're talking of Pei, here's his firms (Pei, Cobb, Freed) last completed skyscraper, Palazzo Lombardia...

[South Florida]

Is this proposal still alive?

[Jay]

probably not

[casamagda]

Originally Posted by South Florida

Is this proposal still alive?

Short answer, yes.
It is a project, and developers are working through the development process...it takes time.
They aren't really proposing anything. Espacio owns the land, and they know what they want to do with it. Now they work through the myriad of steps and tasks that are necessary to make it happen.

This project is ambitious and beautiful.

[FTL Beach Bum]

Whatever it is, it won't/can't be 744 feet.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by casamagda

Short answer, yes.
It is a project, and developers are working through the development process...it takes time.
They aren't really proposing anything. Espacio owns the land, and they know what they want to do with it. Now they work through the myriad of steps and tasks that are necessary to make it happen.

This project is ambitious and beautiful.

With Espacio behind it, it sounds almost like a given along the lines of Brickell Citicentre, but FTL Beach Bum is right. It probably will not be approved at 744 feet.

[casamagda]

Originally Posted by QuantumX

With Espacio behind it, it sounds almost like a given along the lines of Brickell Citicentre, but FTL Beach Bum is right. It probably will not be approved at 744 feet.

It is a terrible thread title.

One thing is remains unchanged in skyscraper development and that is that just about everything changes.

Heights, floors, uses, owners, architects, completion dates, tennants, designs, owners, development partners, tenants, etc.

For now, it would be best to name the thread:
1400 Biscayne Blvd - Espacio USA

Those two facts probably won't change much in the next 3 years.

[QuantumX]

New thread title!

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by DShoost88

I agree with the points made by you and others that it may be counterintuitive to move the airport and that it is one of the largest economic engines in South Florida. But I'm somewhat offended that you would assert my only reasoning for a relocation of MIA further west would be to increase the height(s) of a few buildings downtown. Allow me to explain.

MIA is encroached by development on all sides. There is little (if any) available land left for the runways to be extended and widened to accommodate the larger aircrafts that will be demanded by future air travelers. Furthermore, he terminals at MIA are only a few face-lifts away from becoming outdated, obsolete, and unable to meet the potential traffic demand that could enter Miami. (Now that I think about it, all of these problems are affecting FLL airport as well).

After personally flying to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Bangkok and witnessing the jaw-dropping gateways they've erected for their cities, it has struck me how short-sighted and unprepared virtually all American airports are to compete with the global economy. Those cities have all built brand new mega airports in the last 15 years with gargantuan international terminal entries and countless acres of available space for runway/terminal expansion. They've also constructed the infrastructure necessary to transport passengers quickly from their airports to their central business districts, via high speed rail or even MAGLEV trains... making the trip in as little as 10-15 minutes.

Call me crazy, but I'm just trying to think outside the box for a change.

How is it going to get paid for? If I were to have my taxes increased for a grand transportation project, it would be for a better mass transit system in South Florida that involved lots of rail instead of a mega airport over the Everglades or in the sea.

[Miami High Rise]

Yeah really, MIA may not be like those grandiose airports in those countries you might like to brag about, but I'd be willing to bet a dollar you wouldn't want to live in any of them (For example I love how both the far left and far right, as well as everyone in between loves to showcase different aspects of how China does things, while their basic morals are the polar opposite of their general natrure; right-communism; left-child labor, income inequality, supression of poor, etc).

I certainly don't hear too many complaints about MIA.

[QuantumX]

If we did things the way the Chinese did them, Americans would think we were trying to bring back slavery. China has lots of cheap labor willing to sacrifice for the good of the new China. Rather than moving the airport to the Everglades or putting the damn thing out in the ocean, it is much more expedient to develop the 79th Street business district and simply have it be uptown Miami. There we could build as tall as we wanted.

[aquablue]

Originally Posted by Miami High Rise

Yeah really, MIA may not be like those grandiose airports in those countries you might like to brag about, but I'd be willing to bet a dollar you wouldn't want to live in any of them (For example I love how both the far left and far right, as well as everyone in between loves to showcase different aspects of how China does things, while their basic morals are the polar opposite of their general natrure; right-communism; left-child labor, income inequality, supression of poor, etc).

I certainly don't hear too many complaints about MIA.

You are missing the point. China is not the issue. HK does not have China's justice or political system, and their airport is beautiful. Have you seen the new Haneda airport in Tokyo, it is beautiful too. Check out LHR terminal 5 too. All those airports destroy the airports in this country. That is because airports in this country are built with the 'bottom line mentality' rather than building something beautiful for the people to experience. MIA is a travesty.

If you noticed he posted pictures of Bangkok and HKIA which are not in Mainland China and kill anything we have here. Of course, Asians are very concerned with creating a good impression for visitors. When you let an airline like AA try and build a terminal you get cost-cutting and utilitarian design rather than a grand gateway to your city. They should have built MIA with a south florida feel to it, rather than another boring grey heavy feeling terminal building that could have been from Detroit or Chicago.

TBH, even small airports like FLL have a nicer more open terminal feeling than MIA.

[casamagda]

Originally Posted by QuantumX

New thread title!

Well done sir!

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by casamagda

Well done sir!

So chances are pretty good that we will see a 600-feet tall tower here at some point in the future?

[casamagda]

Originally Posted by QuantumX

So chances are pretty good that we will see a 600-feet tall tower here at some point in the future?

Close to it, now it is looking like a small office building and a 54 story tower.

[desertpunk]

I.M. Pei's Old Firm Does Two 80s-rific Towers For Biscayne Blvd

The firm of retired iconic 20th century architect I. M. Pei has designed two towers - a little one and a big one - for 1400 Biscayne Boulevard, just north of the Arsht Center, for spanish developers Espacio. Designed with lots of 45 degree angles, muted colors (is that a marble facade or exposed concrete). and a large slab-like form, the tower just screams.. well, it screams a few things. First, it's kinda Brutalist. Second, it's very 80s (like, oh yeah, the Miami Tower, that wedding-cake shaped building Pei built in Miami in the 80s). Third, there's a very 'Miami in the 80s' aspect about it. Is it not reminiscent of the Intercontinental?

To be built in two phases, the project will consist of a ten floor office tower rising to 173 feet, and a 65 floor residential/office tower of 651 feet, which sounds a bit low for 65 floors. Yes, the norm for a skyscraper is 10 vertical feet per floor, but what about mechanical, superstructure, and all that jazz? The lower building will be closer to the Arsht, so as not to overwhelm it. Plazas will face the buildings on two sides, and the garage and amenity deck will be pushed to the back, kind of hiding that tower-on-pedastal look typical of Miami.

http://miami.curbed.com/archives/201...i-building.php

[dave8721]

Looks like a 650 foot version of the Stephen P Clark building:

[Bobdreamz]

Originally Posted by dave8721

Looks like a 650 foot version of the Stephen P Clark building:

^ I hope not!

[CF221]

well, actually guys, I'm not very fond of brutalism, but I really like the Stephen Clark building, mainly because it looks so much more civic and formal than so many of the other usual condo towers which clutter downtown. However, I don't think 1400 biscayne should revert to the 80's... just look at the complex, it looks dated. You kind of wonder how long this building will be considered "up to par" with neighboring constructions...