Club50 at SkyscraperCity

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by 1772

http://www.banyantree.com/en/bangkok/index.php

A roof-top restaurant?
I'm thinking somewhere along Biscayne Bay... Is it to windy in Miami to pull that of?
(and yes, there would be a roof that could easily be pulled out. )

It would have to be a hotel or an office building which narrows down the choices. Condo's are usually more concerned with privacy and less likely to allow people off the street to take an elevator up to the top floor. An outdoor rooftop restaurant (or even a simple public outdoor rooftop viewing platform) would be an interesting addition.

[Aceventura]

.....isn't this thread named after a restaurant on the 50th floor at the top of a building? That one in Bangkok looks really cool but it also doesn't look ADA compliant.

[1772]

Originally Posted by dave8721

It would have to be a hotel or an office building which narrows down the choices. Condo's are usually more concerned with privacy and less likely to allow people off the street to take an elevator up to the top floor. An outdoor rooftop restaurant (or even a simple public outdoor rooftop viewing platform) would be an interesting addition.

But it would work, I'm thinking with the conditions and all.
Would it be pleasant so be there?

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by Aceventura

.....isn't this thread named after a restaurant on the 50th floor at the top of a building? That one in Bangkok looks really cool but it also doesn't look ADA compliant.

No, I think it really is just a poolside bar. The "sliders" that I ordered, and ate at the bar, had to come up from the 15th floor.

[kevinkagy]

Originally Posted by 1772

http://www.banyantree.com/en/bangkok/index.php

A roof-top restaurant?
I'm thinking somewhere along Biscayne Bay... Is it to windy in Miami to pull that of?
(and yes, there would be a roof that could easily be pulled out. )

Anything is possible in Miami.

[deambulante]

I have a totally random question, but why is it that TV networks don't update their background bureau wallpapers of downtown Miami?

I mean, CNN, some of the local channels and others, they have pictures from what it seems even BEFORE 2000! I mean I know things are tight but the MIA skyline is radically different now so they could at least update a bit. I know it's a minor issue, but it does irk me a bit.

[Hia-leah JDM]

Anyone catch the ESPN documentary on The U? It covers everything from the Schnellenberger era right up to Erickson era with a brief mention of that 2001 team. Some of the things these players would say is pretty incredible and just continued the stereotype of the inner city boys, but it was still a great watch.

[spellbound]

Originally Posted by deambulante

I have a totally random question, but why is it that TV networks don't update their background bureau wallpapers of downtown Miami?

I mean, CNN, some of the local channels and others, they have pictures from what it seems even BEFORE 2000! I mean I know things are tight but the MIA skyline is radically different now so they could at least update a bit. I know it's a minor issue, but it does irk me a bit.

I hear 'ya. It probably won't make you feel any better but the NBC affiliate here in Philly does the same thing. Their 'background' looks like some sketchpad version of the skyline circa 1995.

I'm guessing there's probably 25 other city forums on SSC with the same complaint, so you have company.

[spellbound]

Originally Posted by Hia-leah JDM

Anyone catch the ESPN documentary on The U? It covers everything from the Schnellenberger era right up to Erickson era with a brief mention of that 2001 team. Some of the things these players would say is pretty incredible and just continued the stereotype of the inner city boys, but it was still a great watch.

I've only seen snippets so far but eager to see the entirety.

I know the university has tried to distance themselves from it (with good reason) but it remains a fascinating chapter in our city's history---especially for anyone with an interest in sports.

From all I've heard, it shows the VERY direct connection those UM teams had to 'ghetto' Miami. Not at all the cleaned-up, tourist-friendly version of the city but rather the VERY violent and economically desperate 'other' Miami that so many of those players actually came from.

I remember always having mixed feeling about it all. The football fan in me LOVED all the swagger and winning. The "civic" side cringed at how debased it made the university look.

I had a good friend---Joanne---who taught English at UM back then. One of her students was a borderline star receiver on the team named Stanley Shakespeare (someone I'm sure Embarcadero and maybe of few others here remember).

Anyway, Stanley NEVER showed up for even one class. Never took a test---never even made an office appearance to explain his situation and get 'take home' work. Just blew off the academics entirely.

Well, Joanne gave him an 'F' and why not? She was doing her job.

Suffice it to say Joanne was visited by half the football coaching staff about it because Stanley Shakespeare couldn't keep his eligibility to play by failing EVERY SINGLE CLASS he took. She had the entire athletic department breathing down her neck.

Joanne was disgusted but ultimately caved in, gave him a passing grade and quit within two months---took a job at Cornell for better pay at a better school. UM lost a damn good, dedicated professor over maybe a dozen more receptions on the football field. That's how it was back then.

So, anyway, much as I love football---much as I have a soft spot for that old Canes way of winning that was VERY Miami---it had to stop. The University of Miami must be about academics. Leave the pro football stuff to the Dolphins.

I'm a fan of how UM is trying to get it done now. Be Stanford---not Oklahoma State.

[1772]

Originally Posted by spellbound

...Be Stanford---not Oklahoma State.

[noland123]

Man you guys are getting some serious flooding from all this serious downpour of rain here in Miami and South Florida.

[QuantumX]

Originally Posted by Aceventura

.....isn't this thread named after a restaurant on the 50th floor at the top of a building?

Yes, you're right! I thought it was just a poolside bar, but it is listed under cuisine on the list of the hotel's amenities.

Club 50 Miami
Fifty stories up, Club 50 reigns as Icon Brickell's most exclusive lookout point: a spectacular, Asian-inflected private pool and lounge atop the hotel tower. By day, Club 50 is available exclusively to Viceroy guests and Icon Brickell residents for swimming, lounging and light fare and libations.

Open Tuesday through Saturday evenings, Club 50 is the ultimate downtown gathering spot for locals and guests alike to enjoy cocktails before or after dinner at Viceroy Miami's spectacular restaurant, Eos, or as a prelude to a night on the town. Late night, the rooftop lounge plays host to an international who's who, featuring a rotating roster of some of Miami's top DJs and an ambiance that's chic, sexy and quintessentially Miami.

A menu of light Mediterranean-inspired fare is offered by acclaimed chef Michael Psilakis, the perfect complement to an inventive menu of signature cocktails and a premier wine list.Club 50's stunning interiors, the work of Kelly Wearstler, are layered with grained marbles and woods, Japanese woodblock-inspired prints and plants, with salt air and fresh floral blossoms scenting the sky-high atmosphere. From nearly every angle, the boundless view of Biscayne Bay below underlines Club 50's unparalleled perspective atop Viceroy Miami.

VICEROY MIAMI 485 Brickell Avenue Miami Florida 33131 Reservations 866 781 9923 Tel +1 305 503 4400
THE WORLD OF VICEROY OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES CONTACT PRESS CAREERS PRIVACY AND SECURITY SITE MAP BECOME A FAN Viceroy Hotel Group Viceroy The Tides Urban Retreats © 2009 Viceroy Hotel Group

[kevinkagy]

State feels coldest temps in nine years- Almost two weeks of sustained temperatures of high 50s, low 30s/40s in Miami.
http://www.miamiherald.com/460/story/1408061.html

The first work week of the New Year will begin with a shiver. An arctic cold front has gripped the eastern half of the country, and South Florida will brave its coldest cold snap in almost a decade.

A wind chill advisory was issued for most of South Florida, and temperatures were forecast to dip below freezing in far western Broward. On Monday and Tuesday, the mercury is expected to top out around 60 degrees -- 17 degrees below normal.

The lows in most of South Florida are expected to be in the mid-30s to low 40s.

Sub-freezing temperatures are expected farther north.

Jacksonville fell to 26 degrees overnight Saturday, well below the typical temperature of 42 degrees, said Dave Samuhel, a meteorologist for AccuWeather.com. A low of 20 degrees was forecast for Sunday night, which would break the existing record of 22 degrees, Samuhel said. Orlando was expected to slip to 27 degrees Sunday night, shattering its record of 31 degrees.

The reach of the cold even extended to Key West and Havana, Samuhel said. Saturday's overnight low in Key West was 55 degrees; in Havana it was 45.

Sunday night, hundreds of people lined up at shelters in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The Salvation Army in Fort Lauderdale expected to house more than twice its 40-person capacity, said Sally Gress, the organization's director of development. The Miami Rescue Mission planned to accommodate at least 80 people beyond the 255 permanent residents.

Farmers were preparing for the cold wave's economic impact. Just three weeks ago, Jane and Daniel Lyons planted new papayas, beans and eggplant at the 120-acre Lyons Farms near Homestead.

"We've very nervous," said Jane Lyons, who operates the farm with her husband, Dan. "We have quite a few tender crops that even a frost would hurt."

Citrus growers in Central Florida and the Panhandle also have reason to worry, said Rod Hemphill, a spokesman for the Florida Farm Bureau. Although a taste of cold weather can make oranges sweeter, sustained cold endangers their growth.

Typically, groves can survive freezing temperatures that last for about three hours. The state emergency management department expected freezes lasting from five to seven hours in inland areas and from two to four hours near the coast.

The unusual weather is the result of a series of cold fronts swirling over South Florida, replacing one with the other, said Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The cycling of cold fronts is partially due to the climate pattern known as El Niño, which Caracozza said traditionally sends colder, wetter weather to South Florida during the region's dry season.

The last time we have experienced such a stretch of cold weather was in January 2001, when Miami-Dade had six consecutive days with lows below 50. The weather is forecast to warm up a bit on Thursday -- with a high of 65 and a low of 56 -- only to return to lows in the mid-40s again on Friday. Miami Herald writer Christina Veiga contributed to this report, which was supplemented by Herald wire services.

[1772]

Global Warming my a**

[QuantumX]

Burj Dubai

The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/worl...y/1407513.html'

Posted on Sun, Jan. 03, 2010
Dubai's record tower has high price: $1.5 billion
By ADAM SCHRECK
Associated Press Writer

image hosted on flickr

Kamran Jebreili / AP Photo

One day ahead of the official inauguration, Burj Dubai the world's tallest building is seen, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010. Burj Dubai is over 800 metres (2,625 ft) tall and has more than 160 stores, the most of any building in the world. Besides an observation deck on its 124th floor affording 360-degree views of the entire city, Burj Dubai is home to the world's first Armani Hotel, luxury offices and residences, and a variety of other sophisticated leisure and entertainment facilities. Burj Dubai will ultimately be the place of residence, work and leisure for a community of up to 12,000 people. Crews in Dubai rushed to complete final preparations for the opening of the world's tallest skyscraper, which the developer said Monday cost about $1.5 billion to build.
That comes out to more than $9 million per floor in the more than 160-story Burj Dubai, which is scheduled to officially open later Monday.

The official height has not been released, with the developer Emaar Properties saying only that the spire stands more than 800 meters tall. Mohammed Alabbar, Emaar's chairman, said Dubai's ruler will announce the height at the evening inauguration ceremony.

Alabbar said the landmark glass-and-metal clad tower is 90 percent sold in a mix of residential units, offices and other space, offering a counterpoint to Dubai's financial woes. The Gulf boomtown is now mired in debt and many buildings sit largely empty - the result of overbuilding during a property bubble that has since burst.

Still, the tower's developer and other officials were in a festive mood, focusing on the city-state's future potential rather than past missteps.

"Crises come and go. And cities move on," Alabbar told reporters before the inauguration. "You have to move on. Because if you stop taking decisions, you stop growing."

At a reported height of 2,684 feet (818 meters), the Burj Dubai long ago vanquished its nearest rival, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan.

The Burj's record-seeking developers didn't stop there.

The building boasts the most stories and highest occupied floor of any building in the world, and ranks as the world's tallest structure, beating out a television mast in North Dakota. Its observation deck - on floor 124 - also sets a record.

"We weren't sure how high we could go," said Bill Baker, the building's structural engineer, who is in Dubai for the inauguration. "It was kind of an exploration. ... A learning experience"

Baker, of Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, said early designs for the Burj had it edging out the world's previous record-holder, the Taipei 101, by about 33 feet (10 meters). The Taiwan tower rises 1,667 feet (508 meters).

Dubai's ruler will open the tapering metal-and-glass spire with a fireworks display Monday evening. Cleaning crews were busy scrubbing windows and sweeping the plaza at the tower's base just hours before festivities began.

Security is expected to be tight. Local newspapers quoted Maj. Gen. Mohammed Eid al-Mansouri, head of the protective security and emergency unit for Dubai Police, saying more than 1,000 security personnel, including plainclothes police and sharpshooters, will be deployed to secure the site for the opening.

Work on the Burj Dubai began in 2004 and continued rapidly. At times, new floors were being added almost every three days, reflecting Dubai's raging push to reshape itself over a few years from a small-time desert outpost into a cosmopolitan urban giant packed with skyscrapers.

The finished product contains more than 160 floors. That is over 50 stories more than Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest record-holder in the U.S. formerly known as the Sears Tower.

At their peak, some apartments in the Burj were selling for more than $1,900 per square foot, though they now can go for less than half that, said Heather Wipperman Amiji, chief executive of Dubai real estate consultancy Investment Boutique.

Besides luxury apartments and offices, the Burj will be home to a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani.

It's also the centerpiece of a 500-acre development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district in this sprawling and often disconnected city. It is flanked by dozens of smaller but brand-new skyscrapers and the Middle East's largest shopping mall.

That layout - as the core of a lower-rise skyline - lets the Burj stand out prominently against the horizon. It is visible across dozens of miles of rolling sand dunes outside Dubai. From the air, the spire appears as an almost solitary, slender needle reaching high into the sky.

The Burj's opening comes at a tough time for Dubai's economy. Property prices in newer parts of the sheikdom have collapsed by nearly half over the past year.

The city-state turned to its richer neighbor Abu Dhabi for a series of bailouts totaling $25 billion in 2009 to help cover debts amassed by a network of state-linked companies. Burj developer Emaar is itself partly owned by the government, but is not among the companies known to have received emergency cash.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 2010 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

[1772]

I dream of the day Miami beats that.

[QuantumX]

AVATAR - Doing this well after only three weeks, this movie could well out-gross Titanic. No doubt it will be nominated for Oscars in all the technical categories and will probably win for Best Visual Effects. I doubt if 2012 will beat it. It will most certainly be in the theaters long after the Academy Awards ceremony grossing God only knows how much by then.

The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertain...y/1408147.html

Posted on Mon, Jan. 04, 2010
`Avatar' rules, topping $1B worldwide
image hosted on flickr


James Cameron's science-fiction epic Avatar had another stellar weekend with $68.3 million domestically, shooting past $1 billion worldwide, only the fifth movie ever to hit that mark.

No. 1 for the third-straight weekend, 20th Century Fox's Avatar raised its domestic total to $352.1 million after just 17 days. The film added $133 million overseas to lift its international haul to $670 million, for a worldwide gross of $1.02 billion.

Avatar was Cameron's first film since 1997's Titanic, the biggest modern blockbuster with $1.8 billion worldwide. Cameron is the only filmmaker to direct two movies topping $1 billion. The others are The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at $1.13 billion, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at $1.06 billion and The Dark Knight at a fraction over $1 billion, according to Hollywood.com.

Hollywood finished 2009 with $10.6 billion domestically, easily surpassing the previous record of $9.7 billion in 2007.

Weekend sales were:

1. Avatar, $68.3 million.

2. Sherlock Holmes, $38.4 million.

3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, $36.6 million.

4. It's Complicated, $18.7 million.

5. The Blind Side, $12.7 million.

6. Up in the Air, $11.4 million.

7. The Princess and the Frog, $10 million.

8. Did You Hear About the Morgans?, $5.2 million.

9. Nine, $4.3 million.

10. Invictus, $4.1 million.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© 2010 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

[spellbound]

Originally Posted by kevinkagy

State feels coldest temps in nine years- Almost two weeks of sustained temperatures of high 50s, low 30s/40s in Miami.

I actually LOVED that type of weather when I lived there year-round but understood the Chamber of Commerce types and Orange Bowl organizers don't exactly share that enthusiasm. I think it's supposed to be in the 40's for the game tomorrow. I just hope it doesn't affect agricultural interests too badly but the reports are not encouraging on that front. I well remember what the big freezes of the 70's and 80's did to those guys.

Of course, most of the country aside from the West Coast is really cold right now. Way below normal here as well. Time for a skiing trip!

[spellbound]

Originally Posted by 1772

I dream of the day Miami beats that.

The FAA restrictions prevent anything even remotely that tall ever rising in Miami but I doubt ANY American city will ever build something like Burj---and doubt they would even want to, frankly.

It's a marvel, no question, but Dubai's building orgasm has also left the place bankrupt with a collapsed real-estate and office market. I find Dubai to be fascinating in many ways but also the polar opposite of what I would consider a really livable, sustainable city.

[1772]

Originally Posted by spellbound

The FAA restrictions prevent anything even remotely that tall ever rising in Miami but I doubt ANY American city will ever build something like Burj---and doubt they would even want to, frankly.

I still don't understand why the planes have to fly over the ocean and fly in over the city... Why can't they fly over the Everglades and come in from the west?

It's a marvel, no question, but Dubai's building orgasm has also left the place bankrupt with a collapsed real-estate and office market. I find Dubai to be fascinating in many ways but also the polar opposite of what I would consider a really livable, sustainable city.

I'm with ya a hundered percent.
Though I don't think that you have to be Dubai to have a Burj Dubai.
Any american big city could build a Burj Dubai, they don't need all the extra stuff with it.