Resorts World Miami

Downtown Miami

“Miami is destined to be one of the most prominent cities in the world” states KT Lim, the CEO of Genting Malaysia Bhd. For this reason, Lim shelled out $236 million to buy 14 acres fronting Biscayne Bay, the Miami Herald Plaza, which has housed the newspaper since 1963. Lim plans to build “Resorts World Miami”, a $3 billion, Arquitectonica-designed project that will include four hotels, two condominium towers, more than 50 restaurants and bars and a luxury retail shopping mall. A casino will be included if the governor and Florida Legislature approve destination resort legislation, Genting said in a statement. It is being billed as one of the largest projects in the United States. 

The size of the resort would be 10 million-square-foot inspired from the region’s coral reefs. The centerpiece is a 3.6-acre outdoor lagoon equivalent to 12 Olympic-size swimming pools and surrounded by natural sand beaches that would allow visitors to literally swim from Biscayne Boulevard to the edge of Biscayne Bay.

Economically, the project will be great for Miami and the state, indeed it will allow the creation of 15,000 direct and indirect construction jobs plus 30,000 permanent positions. Genting expects to be ready to begin site work on the Miami Herald land as early as Spring 2012.

There’s really nothing to compare it to,” said Marc Sarnoff, the Miami city commissioner, who quickly added: “The closest thing is Swire.” Sarnoff was referring to Swire Pacific’s proposed $700 million mixed-use CitiCentre project in Miami’s Brickell area, which we talked about a few weeks ago.  As we noted, it’s billed as a pioneering urban retail destination that will ultimately have 4.6 million square feet of space. Arquitectonica is also the architect on CitiCentre. Swire, which developed the high-end enclave of Brickell Key, is, like Genting, an Asian-based conglomerate.

"Resorts World Miami" is expected to change the scope and landscape of Downtown Miami, bringing jobs & entertainment, as well as increased property values for nearby property owners. “It will accelerate Florida’s evolution as a global destination at the crossroads of the Americas,” said KT Lim.