Resorts World Miami to Put Miami on the Map
September 15, 2011 by Lucas Lechuga
Genting and Arquitectonica held a press conference yesterday afternoon to unveil plans for a $3B mixed-use development known as Resorts World Miami. The development will reside on the 13.9-acre Miami Herald land which was purchased for $236M in May of this year. The 10 million square-foot bayfront resort will have a total of 5,200 hotel rooms distributed amongst four hotels, two condominium towers with 1,000 units, more than 50 restaurants and bars and a 250,000 square-foot luxury retail center. The development will also have 750,000 square feet of convention and meeting space, including a 200,000 square-foot ballroom which would be the largest of its kind in the nation. The focal point of the development will be 3.6-acre outdoor lagoon, the equivalent of 12 Olympic-size swimming pools, surrounded by natural sand beaches. The plan also includes space for a casino but Genting first needs the Florida Legislature to approve expanded gaming for that to come to fruition.
Resorts World Miami is estimated to create 15,000 direct and indirect construction jobs as well as 30,000 permanent positions once construction is completed. Development is expected to start as early as Spring 2012 and could be completed as early as Fall 2014.
There's no doubt that Resorts World Miami will have a huge impact on the city of Miami. "This will put Miami on the map and make it a destination," said Bernardo Fort-Brescia, co-founder of Arquitectonica, the design team behind Resorts World Miami. I couldn't agree more with his assessment. The development will allow Miami to compete with the big boys which includes the likes of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It will turn Miami into a first-rate city almost overnight and have a profound effect on property values as a result. To put everything into perspective, Resorts World Miami is a game changer.
Here's a video that discusses Resorts World Miami more in-depth:
CBS4 - Genting Group Unveils Plan for New Miami Bayfront Resort
Miami Herald - Genting Buys Remaining Omni Debt, Reveals Resort Plans
South Florida Business Journal - Resorts World Miami Plans Unveiled
South Florida Business Journal - By the Numbers
Sun-Sentinel - $3 Billion Destination Casino Plan for Miami Unveiled
I am more in love with Miami then ever! You opened my eyes and make me so thankful for my choice of moving here! Thank you!
Construction workers’ shortage is coming. If Swire and Genting start their projects at the same time – in first half of 2012 – Miami will have the best economy of any major city in the US – and another decade-long real estate boom. This is definitely getting interesting.
Don’t let your panties get so wet already:
1. it needs the full gaming license in order to have any hope of success;
2. anyone ever heard of over-saturation? 50 restaurants? 5200 hotel rooms? We have a demand for that now?
3. good luck filling 30,000 customer service-oriented positiions. I guess the Asians don’t realize that the crappy service is a way of life down here.
4. the architect says “this will put Miami on the map and make it a destination.” If we’re talking about tourism, I think it is already “on the map” and already a “destination,” mr. architect. Someone please tell him Archtectonica should have folded up their drafting tables after they designed the Atlantis Condo.
5. I feel sorry for the Venetian Island residents. What a nightmare they are facing.
A Little bit of positivism will not hurt the project. MG
Drew, is there any person in the world who can stand you for more than split second? I don’t think so.
If tomorrow money was raining on Miami, you’d be sullen about the lack of sunlight.
Let’s face it, complaining is your life’s mission, and being miserable is what makes you tick. Positivity would kill you.
Some people love money, others sex, but you love being pathetic miserable schmuck with “wet panties” fetish.
Needless to say, every one of your 5 points is plain idiotic, varying only in degree, from mild to breathtaking.
f35, I laughed so hard it hurts. You are too much but you are spot on regarding drew.
Cool design but most of the pool area will end up being in the shade given the scale and height of the south and west towers, especially during the key winter months. May want to rework.
The bayfront walkway is good for consumers and for Genting to allow easy walking access to the property. Would really tie the city together.
Miami and more so Miami Beach is on the map of tourism, but thats just it, its on the map! Its hanging on to the Miami Beach mantra that was build in the 80s and slowly developed to cater to the times. Miami started a plan 10 years ago to put itself back on the forefront of the Cities to be, but was halted do to the downturn in real estate and the economy. We have the strong beginnings of an infrastructure built to make Miami what of the top city destinations. And with Swire and Genting coming in to restart that development with the much needed restaurant and shopping attraction along with a massive convention center, it will become a destination! There are a lot of things working in favor of this resorts Miami, including the exclusive agreement the state has with the Indians on gambling(expiring in 2014), The states need for a new source of taxation without affecting the retirees the state so seeks to attract, and lastly the city of Miami Beach residents consistently pushing against the own industry that brought them here decades ago(nightlife/clubs)…puts Miami in the light to be up and coming. Real estate contrary to the rest of the nation, is in high demand, investors from all over are buying into the city and loving the low prices. This city is only a few moves away, from attracting big business into these empty office high rises. Once these commercial buildings start filling, Miami will be in great shape to be one of the top cities in the nation and the best recovery story.
At the end of the day, Miami was one of the hardest hit cities in the depression…but looking at how the rich got richer…investors seek to buy where they can get the best bang for their buck, and Miami was the best bang out of all the major cities. Which in turn is going to only drive the city further in the end! So lets embrace the city, put it on our shoulders and look forward to a bright future as if you sit back, your only going to get left behind!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfnLzgNi3VQ&feature=player_embedded
imo,
Thanks for the link. I added the video at the bottom of the blog post. The development looks amazing!
The funny thing is that most of you simpletons don’t recognize the PR/marketing blitz that Genting has initiated, namely with the Miami Herald and including this site (imposters like “Sarah Stevens” and “John”). Curious that the Herald is publishing multiple puff pieces per day on thie project, considering they are the on the receiving end of a huge land deal and has been granted free rent from Genting! In exchange for what? Advertisements for Genting masquerading as news stories.
F-35: Your comments about “construction shortages” and a “decade-long real estate boom” are pure idiocy. Nice prediction. I’m sure you have the expertise in economics and construction to make that statement.
Other news outlets are pretty much publishing the same news and their land wasn’t purchased from Genting.
Besides which the Herald isn’t publishing much opinion at this point. They are simply publishing Genting’s proposal as well as detailing the land they have purchased.
“Genting: We can bring 5,000 jobs to Omni by fall 2012”
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2011/09/15/genting-group-buys-main-omni-note.html
Here is an article from the South Florida Business Journal stating GENTING’S claim that if gambling is approved they can have 5,000 people employed by 2012.
Or as Drew puts it another puff piece. A company spends $236M purchasing the Herald site another at least $150M puchasing both notes on the Omni complex, purchases additional sites accros the street, enters into an agreement with Bayside and then announces a 10M square feet, $3B project that they say will create 15,000 jobs during construction and 30,000 permanent jobs and the Herald shouldn’t be covering this?????
Wow, I am an impostor that works for the Herald or Genting…I love it. Drew, I understand in every big deal there is doubt and a marketing blitz! But, if I am not mistaken, that is how business works, you use marketing to promote your plans and desires! I mean this is business 101, you don’t put billions of dollars into a plan to just build it, and hope people discover it on their own. The simple answer is, millions of people travel to a dessert to gamble, party, and have fun because they have built an attraction…guess what, these dessert businesses have hired lobbyist to fight this in FL. But the zinger is, and the reality, FL is in a dire need to find new ways of providing the state with revenue and a majority of leaders already feel the state has lost the battle with gambling(rated 6th in the nation for money gambled). So instead of continuing to argue its a conservative state, they are more likely to embrace the true nature of the state, and tax these businesses to supplement revenue and actually increase it, when the state is in a major need for alternative funding! And well these Vegas businesses have nothing in comparison to Resorts Miami, to offer the state to fight against approving these special exceptions. The key battle will be found out in the next few months, as gixxer1000 pointed out about the Omni! Drew, the cold hard facts are in front of you, Miami has long been sought after by investors with nothing grand to offer beyond beaches and warm weather. Miami made a stupid move with building the stadium with their own money, the Marlins should have built it themselves, but in the end, a stadium only a taxi cab ride away is a must in a major city, and with 2 now slated to be…the major players are here and ready to play, and investors see the painting on the wall. Its early, but confidence now drives this nation, and Miami should have all the confidence in the world with all the moves being made here and very few other places!!!
Just last year an RFQ was issued to figure out the feasibility of the city building a downtown conference center with tax payer money. Think how much money this was going to cost the city. But now if this project goes through Miami will get a 750,000 square feet convention center while generating revenue for the city instead of taking from it.
This project solves multiple problems with the only drawback being the approval of gambling. And let’s be honest there is already gambling here and it’s not of the same quality. The same poor people gambling away their paychecks at Magic City are not going to be the same customers paying $20 for parking in a downtown resort casino.
“These amazing year over year numbers are not simply the result of being compared to prices during the August 2010 nose dive following the end of the tax credit. They are the real thing. A handful of Florida markets have been leading the Realtor.com hit parade since the end of the first quarter.”
It says Miami is up 24% from August 2010. The drop in foreclosures is leading to the increases, so the fear is increased foreclosures will reverse the trend.
“Just last year an RFQ was issued to figure out the feasibility of the city building a downtown conference center with tax payer money. Think how much money this was going to cost the city. But now if this project goes through Miami will get a 750,000 square feet convention center while generating revenue for the city instead of taking from it.”
— Um, what? If this is a great project, why would it have been a money pit for the city of Miami but a gold mine for Genting?
Convention space is usually built to help the overall economic growth and development of an area. A convention center not only helps to fill hotel rooms but brings conferences that promote other businesses, which in return promotes more development. So when you build a public convention center you really don’t recoup the return directly. For example if you built a public convention center you would only get the return from actually renting out the convention space since the public doesn’t actually own the surrounding hotels and businesses. So the thought is that if you build a convention center then you have to also consider the development that happens in the area because of the convention center and the extra taxes that these additional developments generate.
In this case Genting is already building 10 million SF. A convention center helps them to keep their 5,200 hotel rooms full and isn’t that much of a cost burden considering it’s only 700,000 SF. Not to mention they would have casino profits helping them.
So I wan’t arguing that this would have been a money pit for the city. That is something you always want to infer. In fact if Genting wasn’t planning on this I would still advocate for the city to build convention space downtown. But now if this project happens, the city gets the same economic benefit that they would have gotten from a public convention center, for FREE. Well I guess the cost is allowing gambling which some will argue is eroding the moral fabic of the universe.
Financial Times article regarding the Miami real estate market:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/a25a871e-e05e-11e0-ba12-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1YoZ5qXjJ
From Lucas’ article:
“While the downtown figures reflect a 25 per cent rebound from 2009’s market bottom, they should remain stable for the next few years”
2009 as the market bottom, that sounds vaguely familiar. 🙂
LOL
yes, 2009 was the bottom for Infinity
Congratulations! Can you stop talking about it now?
I see lights in Paramount
Tacky!
Looks like Dubai.
It will be interesting to see traffic downtown when all these monstruosities open!