MIAMI-Arquitectonica has completed the master plan for Resorts World Miami, a $3-billion mixed-use project Malaysia-based Gentig Group is planning on prime waterfront land in Downtown Miami. The project will become one of the largest development projects in Florida history.

Bernardo Fort-Brescia, co-founder and principal of Arquitectonica, says Resorts World Miami introduces a new vocabulary of architecture to Florida. As he describes it, the architecture is inspired by the ocean and Florida’s coral reefs.

“At Resorts World Miami, building designs echo familiar forms that are part of our identity, including tropical fish and seashells,” Fort-Brescia said in a statement. “When you describe Miami and Florida, you inevitably come back to the water. We have captured that relationship with Resorts World Miami’s design.”

Rising from 13.9 acres of bayfront land currently housing the Miami Herald Media Company, Resorts World Miami is located in the heart of the City of Miami, midway between Miami International Airport and Miami Beach. The project plan includes four hotels with a total of 5,200 rooms. The destination resort will include a super-luxury hotel, a contemporary hotel, a convention hotel, and a family hotel, offering a lodging option for each segment of the market.

Two residential towers featuring 1,000 units. The towers take on sculptural forms that change from every perspective. Each building is designed with outside balconies adorned with LED-lit exteriors, creating a jewel-like effect that will illuminate the Miami skyline each night.

The towers sit atop an eight-story podium where guests can visit a double-story, 250,000-square-foot luxury retail galleria that includes more than 50 restaurants, lounges, bars and nightclubs; a high-tech multimedia entertainment area showcasing the music and culture of Florida and South America; and 700,000 square feet of convention and meeting space. If Florida’s legislature and governor approve legislation, a casino will be in the mix.

“Resort World is going to be hub for tourists and retailers in an underutilized area,” Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. “We have a lot of activity going on in the Brickell area, and this will help spread that activity throughout our district.”

Each level of Resorts World Miami is designed with outdoor terraces offering unobstructed views of Biscayne Bay, Downtown Miami and Miami Beach. The podium’s rooftop features a 3.6-acre outdoor lagoon—a size equivalent to 12 Olympic-size swimming pools—and natural sand beaches that will enable guests to swim from Biscayne Boulevard to the edge of Biscayne Bay, a distance of more than 1,000 feet. Each hotel will also have a private swimming pool.

Resorts World Miami will be the highlight of a three-mile Baywalk beginning at the Miami River and running north to Margaret Pace Park. The Baywalk will link Bayfront Park, Bayside Market Place, American Airlines Arena, Museum Park, the Miami Art Museum currently under construction, the new Miami Science Museum currently under design, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and the Omni Center. All will be connected by new public spaces and pedestrian, jogging and cycling paths that will activate this stretch of partially completed Miami waterfront.

Instant Insights /

Downtown Miami Gets One Step Closer to $3B Mixed-Use Development

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