The Residences at 1428 Brickell were officially unveiled last week by development firm Ytech with a bunch of generally similar posts dropping on various real estate and business news outlets around South Florida, based on a press release emailed to everyone by the developer's public relations team slightly earlier that day, just like countless unveilings have done before.
Spaghetti western star Francisco Martinez-Celeiro, also known as George Martin, has gotten his way. One of Miami-based firm Arquitectonica’s first buildings, the Babylon, built in 1982, is being demolished by Mr. Celeiro, its longtime owner. The Biscayne Times says demolition is expected to be completed by July, but just walk past it, and the Babylon, once an icon of postmodernist architecture in Miami, is already a sad sight.
The Continuum, that gigantic duo of residential towers at the southern point of South of Fifth, with its hundreds of units, acres of grounds, and oodles of amenities, is embarking on a multimillion-dollar renovation of its long entrance drive, which ascends two levels from the street to the main entrance, and will include the two roundabouts, the gatehouse, new pavers, a new fountain, and extensive landscaping. ArquitectonicaGEO, the landscape architecture arm of Miami megafirm Arquitectectonica, is handling the reno.
Recently many of Miami's most notable architecture firms have released big, weighty monographs of their work. One of the weightiest is a book by Alastair Gordon about Arquitectonica, the international architecture firm that was founded in Miami in 1977 and is still headquartered in the city, released in conjunction with the firm's 40th anniversary.
Virgin Voyages, Sir Richard Branson's new cruise line sporting the eponymous Virgin brand, just unveiled its new terminal coming to the Port of Miami at a news conference at the Standard Hotel. Designed to look like a grove of minimalist palm trees, it's the third 'high design' terminal to come to PortMiami, after Royal Caribbean's recently completed Crown of Miami and the new terminal that Norwegian Cruise Lines is building.
The newest addition to the cluster of buildings that comprise the University of Miami School of Architecture will be unveiled at a ceremony on November 29th. Designed by iconic Miami-based firm Arquitectonica, the new 20,000 square foot architecture studio building is named after Thomas P. Murphy Sr., father of the founder of the construction firm that built the project, Coastal Construction.
The Miami Beach Convention Center renovation, designed by Fentress Architects (lead architect), Arquitectonica (facade and associate architect), and West 8 (landscape architect) is finally nearing completion, in time for Art Basel Miami Beach this year. The architects released photographs of the completed portions of the transformed convention center, giving an inside and outside hint at what to expect. Elements like the rooftop ballroom, the West 8-designed park, and the grand west lobby are still in the works.
The 13,000 square foot Penthouse I at Oceana Key Biscayne just hit the market today for a whopping $25 million. Surrounded by deep balconies, glass walls, and gorgeous views, the huge unit is Key Biscayne's most expensive listing at the moment, and the only penthouse currently on the market on the island, or so we hear.
Edgewater, the large neighborhood lining Biscayne Bay immediately north of Miami’s urban core, is still booming. Seven residential condominium towers are either under construction or in closings, with multiple rental apartment buildings under construction as well, and a plethora of other buildings have opened within the last ten or so years.
