MIAMI—Cinemex, a Mexico City movie theater brand, is opening its first US-based location at Swire Properties' Brickell City Centre in 2016. The 35,677-square-foot dine-in cinema aims to meet the demand for movie theatres in Miami's Brickell district.

Swire is starting to fill in its $1.1 billion mixed-use mega project. The Cinemex deal comes at the heels of news that Saks Fifth Avenue will anchor a 565,000-square-foot shopping complex.

“As the sixth largest cinema chain worldwide, our main focus is to bring the success of Cinemex to downtown Miami,” says Javier Ezquerro, vice president of concession for Cinemex. “We believe Brickell City Centre will create the perfect setting for Cinemex. As our first U.S. theatre and part of our expansion plan, we could not have chosen a better location.”

Cinemex is partnering with Mikel Alonso, chef of Biko, named the best restaurant in Mexico and one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, to curate a 622-seat, dine-in theatre experience with oversized leather seats in 11 viewing rooms. Cinemex has also tapped celebrated Mexico City mixologist Mica Rousseau. Miami-based Loguer Design will bring its experience in designing iconic residences, yachts and private aircrafts to the Cinemex at Brickell City Centre. 

“Cinemex, along with last month's announcement of Saks Fifth Avenue, underscores Brickell City Centre's importance as an international world-class destination,” says Stephen Owens, president of Swire. “Cinemex advances our vision of Brickell City Centre as a new urban destination that promotes live, work, play and stay. Brickell City Centre is about firsts, so what better place for the US launch of this cinema giant.”

We caught up with Paco Diaz, a senior vice president of CBRE, to get his take on the retail activity in Downtown Miami. He told us, interestingly, most of the development action is in the urban core.

"There are four mega- projects under construction and two in the final planning stages that will bring around 1.8 million square feet of new retail to the city," Diaz says. "Those projects are Brickell City Centre, the Design District, The Mall at Miami Worldcenter, and MiamiCentral."