The Miami Beach Convention Center advisory board, tasked with reviewing both Miami Beach Convention Center redevelopment proposals and making an official recommendation to City of Miami Beach Commissioners, who will then have their vote, has picked the Portman-CMC team and starchitect Bjarke Ingels to redo the convention center. Both proposals, along with the board's official recommendation (Portman-CMC) are now headed to city commissioners, who will cast their votes no later than July 17th.
According to SFBJ, Advisory Board head Stu Blumberg, who cast the deciding vote today, cited parking during the center's construction as one of the main reasons for his vote. Not the architecture of either team's proposal, not urbanism, not the excellence of the design, or the creation of a great urban space, but parking. "The information I was receiving [from South Beach ACE] didn't satisfy my concerns," he explained. "If I'm parking in the p-lot [the surface lot on the west side] are there going to be trucks on the p-lot? Is there going to be machinery? I never got an answer. And, if you are parking in the p-lot and have a show in Hall A and Hall B, how do you get there?" said Stu.
Another reason was ground-level accessibility of the ballroom in the Portman plan as opposed to the South Beach-ACE plan's rooftop ballroom because, you know, taking an elevator a couple flights up is just deplorable.
· Miami Beach Convention Center coverage [Curbed Miami]
· Miami Beach's Convention Advisory Board picks Portman CMC [SFBJ]
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