Comments (0) Best Magic City Icon - 2007

Miami Herald headquarters

One Herald Plaza is among the ugliest buildings we have ever seen. This hulking, squat, cube-shape structure reminds us of the Borg's spaceship. Inside you will find journalists stripped of their free will objectively describing what their Borg masters (a.k.a. the McClatchy Co.) tell them to report on. Construction began in 1960 and the Herald officially moved in on March 23-24, 1963, without missing an edition. For better or worse, the bayside HQ has also become a symbol of Miami's angst, thanks to events such as Jose Varela's brazen takeover of One Herald Plaza and Arthur Teele's suicide in the building's lobby in 2005. The sad part is that one day, we will bid farewell to the newspaper's 43-year-old home so we can have more — whoopee — condos. The Miami City Commission has given developer-lawyer Pedro Martin the green light to build up to three high-rises and a massive shopping center on property abutting One Herald Plaza. Martin also has first dibs on redevelopment of the HQ site, where he wants to erect a 60-plus-story tower.