Euclid Avenue Plaza Extension of Lincoln Road Pedestrian Mall Opens to the Public

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Photos by Sean McCaughan.

In the heart of South Beach. the new Euclid Avenue pedestrian plaza, beginning where Euclid terminates at Lincoln Road and extending almost a city block south, is done. The Euclid plaza, which we had just included in our Lincoln Road construction roundup last week, is now effectively an extension of Lincoln Road’s famed pedestrian promenade.

Technically, however, this is also Lincoln’s first completely new pedestrian mall expansion ever, since the road was initially closed to cars in 1960 by architect Morris Lapidus. (the 1100 block, which was also recently totally redesigned to remove traffic lanes that had crept back in, was not an expansion but a reclamation)

Miami Beach city bigwigs first decided to expand the mall at Euclid in 2014, when the city commission agreed on a public-private partnership deal with an adjacent developer, as the Herald reported at the time. With work beginning, the contracting job was awarded to Edge Construction, which from then on beautifully documented the project’s progress on their Facebook page.

Great Moments in Miami Architecture, as Seen in Original Newsreels

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Miami’s most iconic architectural landmarks and styles have stood the test of time, making their lasting aesthetic values and design excellence evident through the lens of history. It’s easier to judge a building’s importance with a few decades to think about it . Art Deco wasn’t always loved, but now it’s prized above almost everything else as some of the most innovative and imaginative stuff ever designed in Miami. The Mediterranean Revival Freedom Tower was almost knocked down too, and now it’s probably Downtown Miami’s most iconic landmark. A symbol of Miami.

So, what did we Miamians think of our architecture when it was new? Check out these old newsreels preserved in the Lynn & Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives, at Miami Dade College and preserved on YouTube, and see for yourself.

Nobu Hotel, a Boutique Hotel Inside the Eden Roc, is Anticipating an October 2016 Opening

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Nobu, the Eden Roc Hotel’s firmly established marquee restaurant, is growing into a characteristically Nobu-ish boutique hotel-within-a-hotel, with new Nobu-ified guest rooms, a Nobu-licious lobby bar, Nobu-ed up pool area, and now the world’s largest Nobu restaurant and lounge. Called the Nobu Hotel Miami Beach, it’s sort of like the old Howard Johnson’s model, except luxurious, glamorous, and very Miami Beach. Now that construction must be nearing completion, the hotel has launched a teaser website announcing its opening (along with a Facebook page) scheduled for this October.

This is the second Nobu Hotel, following the brand’s first foray into hoteling at Caesar’s Palace, in Vegas. Naturally, this being Miami, they’re coming in a little behind schedule. An article last year in Forbes had pegged the opening for this spring. Along with 210 guest rooms, and the 15th floor penthouse level suites, Nobu guests will have access to the Eden Roc’s spa and other amenities, and their own discreet VIP entrance. Yet despite all of this, the Rockwell Group, which is handling the design, is reportedly preserving and paying homage to the Eden Roc’s original postwar MiMo design, by the great Morris Lapidus. According to Forbes, it’s personal for actor Robert De Niro, one of the trio behind the project, who has fond memories of staying at the old hotel. Being an old-school New York City kind-a-guy, there’s a solid chance he bummed around the joint wayyyy back in the day.