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.
Omega, the luxury watch brand, is celebrating the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, which began today, by dressing up their store in the Miami Design District and scattering big Olympic-themed kchotchkies around the neighborhood. One of those is a diorama-like display near the shape of a giant fake pool meant to be an ode to Olympic swimming. Out in the sweltering Miami heat, without water, is it just a big blue tease?
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.
It's literally a bank AND a cafe, along with a WeWork-esque workspace in the back. I noticed it a few months ago while it was under construction. Since then, it just opened, preceded by another location on Miracle Mile as well. Read on for more pictures.
Boy, Lincoln Road has really jumped the shark. Look what's coming: Capital One Bank, known for its silly but rather jarringly un-Lincoln Road-ish "What's in Your Wallet?" commercials is apparently opening a cafe on Lincoln Road. Signage with the bank's logo and the word 'cafe' is clearly visible at the construction site.
The much talked about new Ross Dress for Less has opened on Lincoln Road in South Beach in its dramatic but rather mall-like new building, and here it is. Some people think it's just the latest symbol of the mall-ification of Lincoln Road, others a great place for inexpensive clothing in the middle of expensive Miami Beach, better than the abandoned frontage that had occupied that site (the long-gone Caribe Theatre) for years, or a cheap tourist magnet. Whatever you think, check out these photos of the new place. Yay or nay? Let us know in the comments.
