SkyRise Miami

SkyRise Miami
General information
StatusNever built
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 proposed high-rise entertainment and observation tower to be built on the shore of Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida, promoted and developed by real estate developer Jeff Berkowitz.[2]

Height

Rising to a height of 301.8 metres (990 ft), it would have been the tallest structure in Florida.[3][4] The Federal Aviation Administration objected to the height.[5]

Original project

It was originally to have a tower called "Solar Universe," developed by a company called High Point Energy. It would have been a self-sufficient, vertical energy structure powered by alternative energies such as solar, wind, hydro, and biomass.[6] It would have had 11 wind turbines to its east and a collection of solar panels covering its southern face.[7] D’Agostino sold the rights to Solar Universe LLC to Jeffrey Berkowitz's Berkowitz Development Group, headquartered in Coconut Grove in April 2012. Berkowitz changed the name, first to Skyhigh Miami, then in August 2013, to Skyrise Miami.[7] It was to have been located on public waterfront land adjacent to Bayside Marketplace, from which it would have sublet land.[8][9] Both the City Commission and Miami voters approved the project in 2014.[10][9] A significant portion of the several hundred million dollar project was to have been funded a program where foreign investors buy EB-5 visas.[11] The project was officially cancelled on June 28, 2021.[12]

Controversy

Developer Jeff Berkowitz pledged repeatedly that SkyRise would be built at no cost to the city of Miami advertising during the campaign for the project's approval vote that "taxpayers win without putting in a cent."[13] He made the same claim with nearly the same wording, "not one cent of Miami money", in a city commission meeting in June 2014.[14] But months earlier, in February 2014, he had quietly applied for fifteen million dollars in economic development funding.[11] 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.[15] Berkowitz responded by threatening to sue Crespo for "false and libelous statements", demanding that he remove from his blog the article that alleged that Berkowitz deceived Miami taxpayers.[16]

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. ^ "Skyrise Miami". The Skyscraper Center. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  4. ^ Robbins, John Charles (February 12, 2014). "State's tallest observation tower advances". Miami Today. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  5. ^ "SkyRise Miami poses problems for planes, FAA officials say". WPLG-TV. September 1, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  6. ^ Crespo, Al (June 10, 2010). "Solar Universe 1,000 foot self-sustained structure coming to Miami". Miami Urban Life. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  7. ^ a b Crespo, Al (November 10, 2014). "PART XXIV - BEFORE IT WAS SKYRISE". Cresprogram Report. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  8. ^ Gomez, Alan (August 26, 2014). "Voters approve SkyRise Miami". USA Today. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Voters Approve Towering SkyRise Miami". CBS Miami. August 26, 2014. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  10. ^ Smiley, David (June 26, 2014). "Miami Commission approves Bayside, SkyRise Miami leases; voter referendum next". The Miami Herald. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  11. ^ a b Hanks, Douglas (October 16, 2014). "SkyRise tower gets early OK for $9 million from Miami-Dade". The Miami Herald. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ Smiley, David & Hanks, Douglas (October 22, 2014). "Tensions over public money for SkyRise are sky high". The Miami Herald. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  14. ^ "NOT ONE CENT OF CITY OF MIAMI MONEY (Speech). June 26, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  15. ^ Crespo, Al (October 20, 2014). "Jeffrey Berkowitz Is a Duplicitous Hypocrite". Cresprogram Report. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
  16. ^ Fiegeles, Julie (October 31, 2014). "SkyRise Miami / Jeffrey L. Berkowitz". Cresprogram Report. Retrieved November 7, 2014.