U/C: 50 Biscayne

[Urban_Legend]

The project has a really cool website. Check it out:

50 Biscayne

[Fruit Cove]

awesome site! thanks.

[latinposer]

Which building will be the tallest,supposively it was gonna be metropolitan miami,but i read the article you guys put that said something about a 65 story building,something about it being 38 stories but it might be elevated to 65 stories,something like that.I think it might be a close race,i just want Miami to go higher up the charts than what it is,Ive been drawing some buildings,but i exagerate,my buildings are like "2500 ft".I wish Miami could go atleast to 1000 ft.

I did see in http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?s52 that Metropolitan Miami was gonna be the tallest by like 100 ft. on top of Four Seasons.But now that i see this i see that the building got shrunken,which is dumb,they should've left it at 65 stories.

[FLORIDA SKYRISE ORDER]

I really don't like the design. It looks like it has its back turned on the bay and the atlantic ocean; can't they come up with something better like H2K?

H2K would be too ordinary for Miami, but they need to come up with something along the lines and theme of the buildings and skyscrapers going up downtown so this new "tallest" will blend in.

Florida Skyrise

[Aessotariq]

50 Biscayne site, June 2005:

[Roark]

The 50 Biscayne building is great. True, it is surrounded by office buildings and some may want to have more office buildings to add to the office builidngs.

Of the people that I know that work in those office buildings, they live in Pinecreast, Aventura, South Beach, Coral Gables, etc...so on...

It is a beautiful thing to put 500 residential units next door to the highest paying jobs in the county. Please...more residential with ground floor retail where the jobs are! That takes some cars off the street during rush hour.

As for the building...it helps to have a day in Rio De Janeiro to see how they have made these great soapstone sidewalks that are the signature of the beach.

Miami has saluted Rio with the sidewalk patterns in front of Bayside and Bayfront Park. Standing on Biscayne Blvd. in front of 50 Biscayne, you will notice a tip of the hat to the Rio sidewalk, and if you "connect the dots"...you can see that 50 Biscayne is embracing that element with the design on the columns and that killer opaque piece of glass that extends 4 stories tall and half the building long!

Methinks...amazing. It is much better than a hole in a building with a spiral staircase!

Okay...maybe not, but pretty close.

It really helps to walk the site and the area to better appreciate the 50 Biscayne structure. And...to judge the book by the rendering is a crime too often committed.

[Aessotariq]

I have to say that the sidewalk project has to be my favorite component of this... Still would have preferred a glassy office tower at this site but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we'll all grow to love it.

[mercator]

Interesting ideas, Roark. I don't mind the squiggles in the design. What bothers me is the bulk and shape of the building. It will effectively be another tall concrete wall blocking all views from any point west. Sure the residents will have great views, everyone else be damned. I fear this building, together with the rest of the Berlin (oops Biscayne Blvd) streetwall to I-395 will seriously diminish the prospects for creating a lively and inviting downtown/Park West. At the very least, it will add nothing (not even much pedestrian traffic I expect). I hope I am wrong.

I am curious, what do Miami planners think they are creating on this stretch, other than housing for the well off and their cars? Is there any top pedestrian street or district anywhere in the world that is composed exclusively of 40+story condominiums and enormous parking garages? A few street side cafes, banks or dry clearners along one side of the four or five block stretch will not create a new Michigan Avenue. If anything, it will be more like upper fifth avenue (NYC's most sterile area).

As far as renderings, in my experience they ALWAYS flatter the design.