Alex Vadia, the lucky so and so who basically hit the jackpot when he was smart enough to scoop up half of Midtown Miami and the abandoned Chiquita Banana facility to the east for $60 million and then continued buying up adjacent property, is finally doing something with all those rolling asphalt acres. Yesterday Miami city commissioners approved Vadia's request to close sections of streets and alleys within the site so as to create a more pedestrian-oriented development, according to The Real Deal.
Three years ago Curbed Miami speculated that Vadia would develop the triangle east of the Florida East Coast Railway tracks into a 'Midtown East', similar in a lot of ways to Midtown Miami proper, and it looks like that's exactly what he's going to do. Although Vadia's submission to commissioners did not include any details, his lawyer wrote in a letter last year: "Redevelopment of these properties is a natural extension of the successful Midtown Miami District. The revitalization of this site with development mirroring the urban mixed-uses of Midtown will bridge the gap between Midtown and Biscayne Boulevard."
· Miami's Midtown to Expand [Real Deal]
· Is Alex Vadia building a new Midtown next to the old one? [Curbed Miami]
· Midtown Miami coverage [Curbed Miami]