Bidders Named For Massive Downtown Miami Metrocenter Development

The developers partnering up for Downtown Miami’s Metrocenter have been named, according to The Real Deal.

A memo from the county in May said that they had shortlisted three prequalified proposers for the project.

The newly named bidders include:

  • A partnership between Terra, Atlantic Pacific Companies, and Sterling Bay
  • A partnership between Related Urban, 13th Floor Investments, and Merrimac Ventures
  • A partnership between Florida Value Partners, Cornerstone Group, and John Buck Company

Multiple county properties are planned to be redeveloped to make way for Metrocenter.

Plans call for around 27 acres in the downtown government center area be redeveloped into a thriving, interactive, 24-hour community with cultural buildings and thousands of residences.

According to an earlier presentation, the top bidder is expected to build:

  • Downtown Miami Transit Terminal (new)
  • Miami-Dade Main Library (rebuilt)
  • HistoryMiami Museum (rebuilt)
  • K-12 school and day care center
  • 2.5 acres of open space
  • minimum 2,000 units of affordable and workforce housing

The existing Philip Johnson-designed Miami-Dade Cultural Center is expected to be demolished as part of the redevelopment. It was built in 1983.

Up to 23.7 million square foot could be developed on the Metrocenter properties, the county has said.

 

Conceptual renderings of Metrocenter:




To be demolished:

 

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Anon
1 month ago

If only they would demolish those spaghetti ramps coming off of I-95 just to the south of metro center. That would free up acres of land for new development and make the whole area more desirable. Right now that whole area with the ramps is a dark ghost town just to save drivers from having to drive 1 or 2 blocks.

Anonymous
1 month ago

Urban planners should turn the sketchy and dirty parking spaces under those ramps into parks like the Underline and Underdeck, with new modern green spaces that connect the CBD to Brickell along 2nd Avenue.

Anonymous
1 month ago

Better yet, build 95 in a tunnel and create a greenway where it is now. A large urban park joining the area instead of dividing it.

Truth Matters
1 month ago

Homeless heaven

John Galt
1 month ago

Urban planners have done that.

Urban planners just plan. They do not do. They do not develop.

They never put their money where their mouth is.

Anunu
1 month ago

Because that’s literally not their job. Property owners use their money to do with their properties what they want. Elected officials spend money and decide on policy. Urban planners recommend and regulate policy based on the interests of the city.

anon
1 month ago

Driving another 1-2 blocks of gridlock and overloading the nw 3 ave entrance rampo even further—no way. Besides how desirable is an area in between a Fedex warehouse and a power grid ever going to be?

John Galt
1 month ago

You should get a new car. A good car.
When you have a good car, with air conditioning, leather seats, and an exceptional sound system that allows you to do important things.
You can conduct business, talk to family, or contribute to a local charity in the privacy of your own car.

When your life has a purpose; when you are doing important things with your time; one or two blocks of gridlock are totally inconsequential.

blek
1 month ago

^^if you were so freakin important then you wouldn’t have time for gridlock

Anonymous
1 month ago

There was a plan over 20 years ago. Unfortunately that ship has sailed and we’re getting Melo mediocrity (i.e., boxes atop parking pedestals) in between the cracks.

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

You are correct sir.
Bernard Zyscovich had an amazing plan to demolish those ramps. Shift a grand Boulvard north a bit, and free up all that Riverfront land for another big green waterfront park. Seems like that was close in 2005, but there was never enough local political will to tackle all the Federal and State stakeholders.

Anonymous
1 month ago

The ramps are so unnecessary and rarely even used, can they remove them in this new plan? Seems like there is consensus among most all and perfect time to incorporate new roadway planning that will be aesthetically pleasing, while remaining functional, without further impeding on the city’s growth and connectivity.

Cover the Podiums
1 month ago

we need a big dig similar to Boston

Anonymous
1 month ago

If that’s not feasible why don’t the ramps get flipped mirror it’s current direction, distribute west of I95 and loop back around so downtown doesn’t feel so dissected into separate parts along the central area along the riverfront?

Anonymous
1 month ago

^Northwest toward the hospital area, which most struggling and could use a direct ramp, I would keep Riverside, ripe for elevation, directly west to the south open for waterfront improvements.

Native Floridian
1 month ago

Those ramps appropriately empty into the historic heart of Downtown Miami. They shouldn’t be demolished, shifted, etc.

Certain [newer] buildings should be demolished located at the base of ramps, never the ramps themselves.

Fetisha
1 month ago

I hope these are old renderings. They look like a modern public housing project.

Dre
1 month ago

They are conceptual renderings.

Native Floridian
1 month ago

Scary concept renderings…

B C
1 month ago

If APC is involved, its highly likely this will have an affordable housing component.

Anonymous
1 month ago

These aren’t real renderings. They’re just to show the massing

Native Floridian
1 month ago

The massing is frightening.

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

It is just the massing. But when Commissioner Higgins spoke at the UM Impact conference about this project, she opened with, “I am not a communist, but everything built here should be for the common good”.
Sigh.

Anonymous
1 month ago

I mean it does include “2,000 units of affordable and workforce housing units” so….

walk not drive
1 month ago

Great, hope its not a neighborhood of 15 story parking podiums too.

Urbanist
1 month ago

Build the MetroRail east/west with this proposal, too!

Miapolis
1 month ago

Hopefully this development doesn’t “block” the 1st street alignment where that would go. Even if it doesn’t it might make it harder to build.

John Galt
1 month ago

Who are you commanding to do what you want?

And are you siting in a high chair eating mushed sweet potatoes and wearing a bib when you typed that?

MiamiArchi
1 month ago

Terra and Sterling Bay working together on this would be a dream.
Time tested developers who have deep pockets and consistently produce quality beautiful work.
We can only hope

B C
1 month ago

Sterling Bay dropped the ball big in Chicago, not sure you want them on a development of this size.

MiamiArchi
1 month ago

Oh really tell me more?
Was more familiar with their building in Wynwood and working w/ Ken Griffin before he switched to working with a more local Miami Developer.
Although that could just be the excuse, they gave for switching

B C
1 month ago

Basically the environmental remediation didn’t go as planned and it was overdesigned for office space. First building delivered about a year ago, its still not fully occupied.

https://blockclubchicago.org/2023/08/03/city-unveils-preliminary-details-for-606-trail-extension-but-construction-is-still-years-away/

https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/07/22/sterling-bays-marcey-street-development-still-on-hold-as-is-neighboring-lincoln-yards/

Basically, nothing has been built despite it all going into planning well before Covid hit.

B C
1 month ago

Basically they can’t lease the one building they put up and everything else has been on hold since Covid and no lender in the market wanting to work with them to finance the construction loans on any of the remaining Lincoln Yards projects. Too much of the design is also office space focused so no one wants to touch it aside from the fact that the entire site of the development master plan is an environmental hazard.

.305
1 month ago

My vote is for the Terra team!

Atlas T.
1 month ago

I hope we see a new Metro Rail extension line that successfully connects CityPlace in Doral, Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, Calle Ocho / Marlin Stadium in Little Havana, and Brightline Terminal in the Downtown CBD—as one new east/west extension that unifies the greater Miami metropolitan area.

Miapolis
1 month ago

That would be a lot better than dolphin brt or the csx commuter line. The csx line as a commuter express would be great though.

Native Floridian
1 month ago

The Marlins Stadium should be converted back to the Orange Bowl for UM use.

anonymous
1 month ago

This would be a perfect opportunity to build an Intermodal Hub, a real one not just a brightline intermodal center, with connections to midtown/wynwood and an east/west metrorail line that connects with existing. Include shops restaurants and other necessary retail businesses and you have a thriving living community in the heard of downtown with all the connections necessary to go everywhere. But this makes too much sense..

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

This exists now.
It is there now.
There is a bridge from the Cultural Center to the Gov’t Center connecting the Metromover and Metrorail, and accross the street about about 100 buses per hour.

Anonymous
1 month ago

If the final product looks anything like the new courthouse, scrap the whole thing right away.

Truth Matters
1 month ago

Honestly, I would. not demolish the old library and museum building but move it somewhere else or incorporate it in the new project.

Anon
1 month ago

Move the library back to bayfront park

Dr. Paige Turner
1 month ago

How a new landmark library from Brickell and nearby communities in the middle of Jose Marti Park?

There’s acres of unused waterfront gov. land there, next to unnecessary DOT parking lots.

Plus it would easily connect with bike shares along the Underline, and add a new destination to the PPP.

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

Because…..read the article above….

The 1983 cultural center is going to be replaced by a 2028 cultural center with affordable housing and gov’t offices added in.
This new project will have a MetroMover, MetroRail, Brightline, and about 100 buses within a block or two on Flagler Street.

Native Floridian
1 month ago

Affordable housing/Apartment Housing in general should be concentrated at satellite stations and not the main Government Center Station of Downtown Miami. The arbitrary placement of housing all over is making the county feel like “one big housing project” already.

Open space needs to be planned in a balanced, intentional and humane manner; not just gratuitously provided on occasion given the project.

Miami-Dade could greatly benefit from an actual detailed master plan.

Y. Ally
1 month ago

Exactly as human beings require government intervention to act only when it helps— and create thriving balanced areas where people can live – a mix of affordable, with libraries, police stations, fire stations, parks, etc, all the basics, in each sub division, and free spaces for for free markets so highly successful projects can take off, not intervene to create massive ghettos in the middle of downtown, to divide the city for generations to come, no more bloom 🌼 ✅ and bust, we want to soar into success.

John Galt
1 month ago

#1. This project is anything but arbitrary.
#2. You wish is my command! I did the work for you! There are many “actual detailed master plans” Miami Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan (MCNP) has existed since 1989, and is updated regularly. There is a Downtown Development Master Plan which was recently updated. There are Storm water master plans, parks master plans, Art in Public Places master plans, Transportation Plans, Strategic Plans, etc. etc. etc.

All this knowledge, and I haven’t stepped foot in a MD Public Library for about a decade.

All your great ideas have already been implemented by people who do things. Imagine that.

Native Floridian
1 month ago

That makes no sense. The library should remain where it is, basically as is.
No commissioner with any common sense, foresight, human decency…should allow any aspect of these conceptual renderings to come to fruition.

Y. Ally
1 month ago

I would without a doubt Keep it there and add one to Brickell near the new school being built so kids can have a place to check out a book — not cross over busy dangerous highway after highway just to read

Logical
1 month ago

I agree – Why are they demolishing it? They could incorporate it into the project and create a link with history. I think it’s a cool building.

Anon
1 month ago

It looks like a medieval prison

Anonymous
1 month ago

Yes It does lol

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

You like the building???
Okay.
Remove the goose egg. The score used to be 0 to 4 million….but now we have found the guy.

srt
1 month ago

move the library and musuem to ground level.

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

Read the article.
It is a safe bet that along with the 2.5 acre park space, there will be ground level entrances.

Anonymous
1 month ago

Of course ground level, nobody will know it’s there if it’s not ground level, and don’t put all the money into one spot, spread it out and create more
Libraries and have one central one, so we have a library system, not a facade of an education system

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

What?
Have you ever been there?

If you have ever been to an event at the Miami Art Museum, History Museum, or the Main Library, you’d know that #1. It is set up like a fortress with zero sidewalk level interaction. #2. The set up is completely inefficient and dated.

That it has been there since 1983 and very few people have been there should be a clue.
It is not nice.
Moving to another location would degrade that new location, and the buildings would still be not nice.

Anon
1 month ago

This will be our third library. The city is not even 150 years old.

Anonymous
1 month ago

Every neighborhood should have a library. Can we get one in Brickell, so we don’t have to drive or take a train to check out a book?

Anonymous
1 month ago

I agree. And not only a library but also a civic center/multi purpose space and hold cultural events, art exhibitions, etc. Miami lacks community space

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

Miami just has to many uninformed and unaware citizens.

There are 50 branch libraries in the Miami Dade Public Library system. ALL have free Wi-Fi, and ALL have free public computers.

The Miami-Dade Public library is 5 blocks from Brickell and has over 100,000 sq ft of public space and the Miami History Museum and accross the street from the Stephen Clark Government Center.

Miami has a lot of community space. Get out and walk around a little.

Anonymous
1 month ago

‘Uninformed’…haha…you are being overly generous and kind.

Janet
1 month ago

None of those libraries are in Brickell or walkable from here. The closest libraries are in the CBD and Coral Gables. In my opinion, the lack of equal access to libraries across Miami handicaps residents from getting involved civically and reading.

Brickell has one of the largest populations in Miami but lacks the public facilities people expect from their taxes. If we want a pass to one of the museums, we have the be first in line, drive 30-45 minutes out of the way, finding a parking spot, and make it to work on time. It favors residents in other areas, like Coconut Grove.

We should have a public library in Brickell and in each neighborhood. The book drops on the Underline are a good start, but I think we can do better.

Sterling Cooper
1 month ago

1 mile.
If you start in the Brickell Neighborhood at SW 11th Street and S Miami Ave, you are precisely 1 mile from the Main Library, the biggest and best Library in Miami Dade County.

For most people, a one mile walk would take about 15 minutes.

Granted, for those people who expend a lot of energy whining and complaining, a one mile walk is unimaginable, so, for those people, there is a MetroRail that is ONE stop away, or a MetroMover that will get you from Brickell to the Main Library eventually.

In my opinion, the lack of common sense and initiative handicaps residents from getting involved civically.

anon
1 month ago

Checking out books at the library was a cool thing back when I was 10 years old and Dan Marino was over in the Orange Bowl breaking passing records. In 2024/5 with web books—no way.

Libraries are now used as cheap daycare centers and bums hanging out in the AC. There are too many libraries now.

Prospect Park
1 month ago

Hahaa…pretending that people in this place care about reading books. You all could ban 90% and folks in FL would give a collective yawn. Hilarious.

Anonymous
1 month ago

Speak for yourself, loser. Your alabama trailerpark = / = real Florida

Native Floridian
1 month ago

The existing Main Library location is ideal and a key component of the Government Center/Main Metrorail Station Complex. It only needs to treated as the intended plans are to treat MIA – Major Renovation!

More transparency could be provided along its west and north perimeter, etc. Its open plaza should remain, but enhanced for greater appeal and attraction.

None of the green spaces on the west side of the Government Center should be reduced or eliminated. In fact, some level of green and open space is needed on the east side of the Main Metrorail Station for balance – (privately owned property that should be acquired by county government).

Proper development requires contextual consideration beyond the immediate site, or site area. The green spaces at the Government Center, and the open plaza of the Main Library are needed to counter-balance the open and green space areas east of Biscayne Blvd. – namely, Maurice Ferre Arts & Science Park and Bayfront Park.

The balance of people gathering spaces is important for the downtown urban core and Miami-Dade County as a whole.

John Galt
1 month ago

The location is fine. The 41 year old fortress is not.

Precisely why these development plans call for a modern Library, Museum, Civic spaces, housing, and a 2.5 acre park on the site.

Build Miami
1 month ago

They need to build something right in front of Government Center. Those giant lots would make for great apartments in the most transit friendly area in the city

anon
1 month ago

is that library building not a historic building? looks like a 16th century spanish fort but probably was built in the 60s, i could be wrong

Miapolis
1 month ago

It was anachronistically built in 1983.

Anon
1 month ago

It’s 80’s garbage. Miami used to have a stunning glass and marble classical library in bayfront park. It was torn down by the city of course.

Anonymous
1 month ago

80s garbage > Any “local” architect garbage these days. Unfortunately, I have a feeling whatever the replacement will be ends up being a box.

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

Phillip Johnson isn’t exactly “local”.
This is probably one of his worst jobs ever.

Native Floridian
1 month ago

Relocated to this (logical) location to help shape a municipal complex.

Post-Modernist
1 month ago

It was built in the 80s, but I’d argue it is actually an important building in Philip Johnson’s evolution, and in the evolution of post-modernism in general.

The upper plaza is actually quite lovely and would be a spectacular asset to the neighborhood if more actively programmed. The biggest issue is how it meets the street, which admittedly is terrible. That’s solvable, and almost any architecture firm in the world would love to solve that problem.

Transfer the development rights, but renovate/transform it instead of tearing it down. Would be a really interesting and layered piece of the city!

Anonymous
1 month ago

Not to mention, some of Johnson’s works have been tastefully renovated to improve street level interaction like 700 Louisiana in Houston and 550 Madison Avenue in Manhattan.

anon
1 month ago

I remember when it was new back in the mid 80s. I think the roofline and cut stone facade and arches are fine, but the windows are pathetically small. Even the circa 1970 built regional library at the South Dade Gov’t. Center is far more airy and modern feeling inside.

Build Miami
1 month ago

They can demolish all those old park garages and such but keep the HistoryMiami building it has a nice Spanish style that is worth keeping

Anonymous
1 month ago

The old Federal courthouse and post office would make a magnificent central library if the county traded it with MDC for a property elsewhere. Instead, it’s being left to fall apart just like Freedom Tower.

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

No it isn’t.
Miami-Dade is doing the asbestos remediation and building out the courthouse to a robotics center and state of the art learning facilities as part of their Innovation Center.

JJ Jackson
1 month ago

*Miami-Dade COLLEGE* is doing the remediation, etc.

ParkingHater
1 month ago

Shoutout 13th street investments. On a good streak of TOD

anonymous
1 month ago

Building a massive intermodal center with a new East to West metrorail line and connections to midtown/wynwood and a link to MB would be epic. For examples look at Osaka Station Japan. It has everything from movie theatres to grocery stores. Surround this with residential and good retail options and this could turn into one of the most desirable places to live in the downtown core.

Downtown Miami Transit Terminal (new)
1 month ago

It’s not really a new Transit center unless there is East West corridor, a new system or significant addition.

Native Floridian
1 month ago

The Government Center should create a building extension on the east side of the main Metrorail Station for scattered departments like DERM, Building & Zoning, etc., to be consolidated in.

Dreamer
1 month ago

Lets follow Boston’s example and get rid of the i-95 south of I-395

anon
1 month ago

Let’s not. And I95 still runs out of Boston.

blek
1 month ago

Make traffic even worse, yeah you’re dreaming alright

Stupid comment ever
1 month ago

Anon

Native Floridian
1 month ago

What’s shown is too dense, and there’s an elimination of too much green space. Chicago, New York and elsewhere shouldn’t be greener than Miami.

Native Floridian
1 month ago

HORRIBLE! Miami is a city the should breathe. The library should main as is with soon modifications. #HavanaIsBetterThanMiami

Anonymous
1 month ago

How about a world history museum, not just Miami history?