Construction Underway at the Downtown Rental Tower Formerly Known as Vice

Photo by Sean McCaughan.

Following a “groundbreaking block party” back in June, construction is underway at the apartment rental tower being developed Downtown by Property Markets Group between the Miami-Dade College Wolfson campus and Biscayne Boulevard. The site has been cleared and construction workers are driving foundation pilings now. When news of the building originally went public, a year ago (boy some of these buildings take a while to get going, don’t they?) PMG was planning on calling it ‘Vice,’ and now the are apparently not. The flyer for the launch thing just called it the ‘300 Biscayne Rental.’ The building will have small, pricy units with fancy finishes, meant for high flying, well paid young professional types who aren’t ready to buy yet. Or who like blowing their money.

The tower formerly known as Vice.

Royal Caribbean’s Giant New Cruise Ship Terminal at The Port is Officially A Go

Miami-Dade County Commissioners have officially approved a deal with Royal Caribbean Cruises to build a new terminal capable of handling the world’s largest cruise ships at the Port of Miami. The vote was unanimous, reports TRD, and the architecturally dramatic, 170,000 square foot ‘Crown of Miami’ as Royal calls it is moving forward. Completion is expected by 2018.

Arquitectonica’s Iconic Babylon Apartments Wins Historic Designation With 6-0 Vote

Photo by Phillip Pessar.

This just in from today’s City of Miami Historic Preservation Board meeting! In a unanimous 6-0 vote, the board has voted in favor of historically designating the Babylon Apartments on Brickell Bay Drive, a seminal and very early work by architecture firm Arquitectonica which significantly influenced the firm’s later works as well as decades of modern and contemporary architecture in Miami. There is a 30-day appeals process, but the Babylon is closer than ever to being saved.  To recap what has happened up until now, I wrote a nice summary over at the Architect’s Newspaper. Also, check back here for more info on what’s next for the Babylon after today’s HBP meeting as it becomes available.

Calvin Klein’s $16 Million North Bay Road House is Still on The Market

What’s going on Calvin? News broke over a year ago that fashion mogul Calvin Klein’s North Bay Road home in Miami Beach was hitting the market for $16 million because Mr. Klein was up and leaving Miami and going to L.A. That was May of 2015. Fast forward to now, over 400 days later, and the historic Mediterranean Revival house is still owned by Klein, still on the market, and still listed at $16 million. What gives?

Gorgeous 1800 Sunset Harbour Drive PH Sells for Neighborhood Record Despite Being in Building That’s Ugly as Sin

The twin towers at 1800 and 1900 Sunset Harbour Drive are massive, monolithic, boxy, and blah stucco-slathered monuments to architecture at its most obtuse. They come with a lovely yacht club, but besides that these things are uuuuugly. They’re so ugly, in fact, that when they were completed the City of Miami Beach lowered zoning heights in the neighborhood to stop anyone else from building more like them.

Nonetheless, the owner of 1800 Sunset Harbour Drive Tower Suite 2/3 has just made a modest killing selling his unit to an Italian, listing agents Oren Alexander and Lauren Fitzpatrick told the Real Deal. It was purchased for $3.1 million in 2013 and redone, and now sold by Alexander and Fitzpatrick for $7.5 million. Both transactions were records for the neighborhood. “The 7,500-square-foot tower suite includes two master suites, a total of five bedrooms, a rooftop deck, 4,000 square feet of terrace space and water and city views of Miami Beach.”reports the Real Deal.

God Bless America! New CVS at Marina Blue Opening on Monday, Independence Day

Sometimes it feels like drug stores are taking over the world. They’re like the Starbucks of the 21st century, but really you just can’t overestimate the convenience of a good Walgreens or CVS. The residents of the condo towers facing Museum Park will have to suffer through the inconvenience of not having shampoo, Ex Lax, OxyClean, band-aids, and beer within walking distance no longer! CVS is opening on the ground floor of Marina Blue on Monday, Independence Day. God Bless America!

UPDATE: CVS opened Saturday at 3 PM.

Frost Science Museum to be Completed by the End of the Year. Seriously.

Photo by Lucas Lechuga.

Construction of the Frost Museum of Science has been a long, slow process, but according to the Miami Herald we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Due to a new funding plan put in place, and about $20 million in cuts to exhibits and features, construction on the museum is back on track to be completed by the end of the year. The fish will be put in the aquarium by October to give them time to acclimatize to their new environment, and the Frost Science Museum will open  to the public by early next year.

Once the Frost Science Museum opens, its new director Frank Steslow will be firmly in place (Gillian Thomas is stepping down today), and the museum will have to do without a planned $4 million yearly subsidy from the county which has been reprogrammed into a $45 million construction grant. But Miami’s fantastic new science museum will finally be open, and hopefully that will make all the difference.