At a glance, the new space is sleek and modern, and looks too expensive to touch. But a news release says there’s more to the $620 million makeover than aesthetics.
The 1.425-million-square-foot redesign will include the following new elements:
- Four ballrooms (ranging in size from 10,000 to 60,000 square feet)
- Meeting spaces (127,000 square feet)
- A food exhibit hall (500,000 square feet)
- Additional safeguards for hurricanes and floods
- Twelve additional acres of green space and 1,287 trees
- State-of-the-art low-voltage electronic systems
- Expanded cell-phone range via a distributed antenna system
- Expanded Wi-Fi
- Digital read boards and signage
The renovations were originally set to be completed by this September, but the date was pushed back to October because of last-minute challenges.
Ultimately, the goal is to be completed before Art Basel in December, which is expected to attract “more than 80,000 people,” according to the news release.