In Tuesday’s mid-term elections, Miami Beach, Fla., voters backed a referendum approving a lease between the city and MB Mixed Use Investment LLC for a 99-year lease, clearing the way for the company to build an 800-room convention center hotel. The referendum was the third time in five years that voters considered similar projects, but the first to get the “super majority” (60 percent) required for approval; the project received almost 64 percent.
The future headquarters hotel will be built at the intersection of 17th street and Convention Center Drive, adjacent to the Miami Beach Convention Center, which recently reopened after a $620 million renovation. The upgrade included the addition of a 60,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom, a 20,000-square-foot rooftop ballroom, 125,000 square feet of meeting space, and rooftop parking. In 2019, a six-acre parking lot across the street from the center will be converted into a public park. Since reopening, the center hosted the American Health Information Management Association in September and the International Society of Plastic Surgeons in October.
The new convention center hotel is what’s needed for the Miami area to continue to stay competitive for large groups, according to city officials. “We were fortunate to have early adopters like AHIMA who believed in the destination and booked the reimagined MBCC without a headquarter hotel,” said William D. Talbert, III, CDME, president & CEO at the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We knew they and others like them would not book again without a connected convention hotel. We have a world-class destination and now a world-class convention center package to offer meeting planners and clients.”
