The state of Florida is moving forward with a standard 30-day review of American Dream Miami, which means plans for the mega-mall are heading to a final vote by June.
A regional planning board, the South Florida Regional Planning Council, will meet again on Friday to provide its input on the 6.2 million-square-foot development planned for Northwest Miami-Dade.
The board, made up of elected officials from Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, rejected a staff request on Monday to label the project “generally consistent” with local goals, citing insufficient time to review the plans, the Miami Herald reported. But despite concerns members have about traffic the mall will create in nearby Broward County, the board is expected to endorse American Dream Miami.
Miami-Dade County commissioners approved a comprehensive master plan amendment for the nearly 195-acre development site in late January after nearly seven hours of testimony from representatives for developer Triple Five Group, its competitors, municipal officials, tourism boosters and residents. The state’s review is the next step for the project, which was first proposed about two years ago.
Triple Five plans to open the mall all at once in 2022, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, who represents Triple Five, said at Monday’s meeting.
As proposed, the $3 billion entertainment and retail development would include several amusement parks, 2,000 hotel rooms, a 16-story indoor ski slope, a 20-slide water park, a submarine ride in a man-made salt water lake with an artificial reef, a climate-controlled theme park, a 14-screen 3-D movie theater, a performing arts center and more.
Triple Five is no stranger to mega-malls. The firm, led by Iranian-Canadian developer Eskandar Ghermezian, developed and owns Mall of America in Minnesota, and is in the midst of building an American Dream shopping mall on a 90-acre site in the Meadowlands area of northeastern New Jersey.
The Miami project has spurred nearby development. The Graham Companies, which sold the land to Ghermezian, also plans to build a $1.55 billion mixed-use development near American Dream. [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis
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