NEIGHBORHOOD: Aventura

After publishing our recent post on the Esplanade at Aventura, an outdoor shopping center that to the average person could appear to be an expansion of Aventura Mall, the Big Bubble got an earful from various public relations representatives about how, in fact, the Esplanade is in fact no way connected with the mall, and is merely "near" it. So, the Big Bubble went back to take another look.

Aventura Mall's new Esplanade wing, which is basically a modernist outdoor village of shopping, is almost done, and the first section, a big two-level restaurant named Joey Aventura, opened about a month ago, along with a bit of the pedestrian promenade, but sadly no shops as of yet.

Miami-based architecture firm Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe has shared the latest aerial shots of their almost-complete expansion of the Turnberry Isles Resort in Aventura, a project that will include a 16-story tower containing 325 new hotel guest rooms, 96,073 sf banquet hall space and 32,471 sf office space.

Aventura Mall's huge new wing, designed by architect Carlos Zapata, opened recently. The expansion, which includes two stories of retail and a third containing a food hall, is impressive at almost any scale. It's also the most design-driven part of the mall, with dramatic architecture, soaring ceilings, a towering art slide in the open-ended courtyard.

The news: