SkyRise Miami
General information
StatusOn-hold
TypeMixed use
LocationBayside Marketplace, Miami, Florida, United States
Construction started2019
Construction stopped2020
Height
Roof990 ft (300 m)[1]
Design and construction
Architect(s)Arquitectonica
DeveloperBerkowitz Development Group, Inc.
Website
www.skyrisemiami.com

SkyRise Miami was a super tall entertainment and observation tower under construction on the shore of Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida. It was proposed and developed by real estate developer Jeff Berkowitz.[2] It would've be 301.8 meters (990 ft) tall to its roof, located on public waterfront land adjacent to Bayside Marketplace,[3] from which it will sublet land.[4] The main developer of the project was the American company Berkowitz Development Group, a Florida-based corporation headquartered in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami. The project was approved by the city commission[5] and Miami voters in 2014.[4] A significant portion of the several hundred million dollar project may be funded by foreign investors seeking American citizenship through EB-5 visas.[6] The project was officially cancelled on June 28, 2021.[7]

Height

With an architectural height of 301.8 metres (990 ft),[8] it would've become the tallest structure in Miami and Florida.[9] The height was opposed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at a time when it was proposing a new one-engine inoperative height limit on buildings proposed near airports,[10] but they had already approved it at a height of 990 feet (302 m) above ground level, or 1,000 feet (305 m) above sea level.[11]

Original project

The project was originally proposed as a tower called "Solar Universe" by a company called High Point Energy. The tower would have been a self-sufficient, vertical, energy structure that would have operated using alternative energies such as solar, wind, hydro, and biomass.[12] It was going to be a giant tower with 11 wind turbines on its Eastern side, and a collection of solar panels covering the 1000 foot southern face of the tower.[13] In April 2012, D’Agostino sold the rights to Solar Universe LLC to Jeffrey Berkowitz, who first changed the name to Skyhigh Miami, and then in August 2013, he changed it to Skyrise Miami.[13]

Controversy

Developer Jeff Berkowitz pledged repeatedly that SkyRise would be built at no cost to the city of Miami, and ran an ad campaign during the campaign for the project's approval vote that flatly stated that "taxpayers win without putting in a cent."[14] He also made the same claim using almost the same wording, "not one cent of Miami money", in a city commission meeting in June 2014.[15] But months earlier, in February 2014, he had quietly applied for US$15 million in economic development funding.[6] Local blogger Al Crespo referred to Berkowitz as a "duplicitous hypocrite" for claiming that the project would be privately funded while quietly seeking public funding.[16] Berkowitz responded by threatening to sue Crespo for "false and libelous statements", demanding that he remove the article from his blog that alleges that Berkowitz deceived Miami taxpayers.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Skyrise Miami - The Skyscraper Center". www.skyscrapercenter.com. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  2. ↑ Hanks, Douglas (April 6, 2016). "SkyRise Miami drops pursuit of $9 million from Miami-Dade amid legal challenge". Miami Herald. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  3. ↑ Gomez, Alan (August 26, 2014). "Voters approve SkyRise Miami". USA Today. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Voters Approve Towering SkyRise Miami". CBS Miami. August 26, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  5. ↑ Smiley, David (June 26, 2014). "Miami Commission approves Bayside, SkyRise Miami leases; voter referendum next". The Miami Herald. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Hanks, Douglas (October 16, 2014). "SkyRise tower gets early OK for $9 million from Miami-Dade". The Miami Herald. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  7. ↑ San Juan, Rebecca (June 28, 2021). "Adieu, SkyRise Miami. Developer cancels plans to build 1,000-foot observation tower". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on June 28, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Skyrise Miami". The Skyscraper Center. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  9. ↑ Robbins, John Charles (February 12, 2014). "State's tallest observation tower advances". Miami Today. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  10. ↑ "SkyRise Miami poses problems for planes, FAA officials say". WPLG-TV. September 1, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Berkowitz Plans 1000-Foot Skyrise Miami Observation Deck". The Next Miami. November 19, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  12. ↑ Crespo, Al (June 10, 2010). "Solar Universe 1,000 foot self-sustained structure coming to Miami". Miami Urban Life. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  13. 1 2 Crespo, Al (November 10, 2014). "PART XXIV - BEFORE IT WAS SKYRISE". Cresprogram Report. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  14. ↑ Smiley, David & Hanks, Douglas (October 22, 2014). "Tensions over public money for SkyRise are sky high". The Miami Herald. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  15. ↑ "NOT ONE CENT OF CITY OF MIAMI MONEY (Speech). June 26, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  16. ↑ Crespo, Al (October 20, 2014). "Jeffrey Berkowitz Is a Duplicitous Hypocrite". Cresprogram Report. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  17. ↑ Fiegeles, Julie (October 31, 2014). "SkyRise Miami / Jeffrey L. Berkowitz". Cresprogram Report. Retrieved November 7, 2014.

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