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After an arduous decision-making process, one wrought with scandal, debate, and more than a few impassioned missives to save the Fillmore, Miami Beach commissioners selected ACE as the team to redevelop the Miami Beach Convention Center.
What does that mean, exactly? According to the ACE team, it means a whole new Miami Beach, with the redeveloped property serving not just as a center for conventions but as the center of the entire city. If architect Rem Koolhaas and his team successfully carry out the full extent of their plans, South Beach will never look the same.
The details are still subject to change, but ACE's $600 million plan is made reality, here's what's coming to the beach.
See also: Miami Beach Convention Center: ACE and Rem Koolhaas Picked For Redevelopment
A boomerang-shaped hotel
In a constantly developing city built on a narrow peninsula, real estate is precious. So instead of building an 800-room hotel next to the convention center, ACE is gonna plop the whole thing right on top of it. Its unusual design, hugging the southwest corner of the center, will certainly make a statement.
An elevated park
A mini-golf course isn't the only rooftop green space headed to South Beach. ACE intends to hide its truck loading dock and parking garage beneath an open-air park with tropical foliage and walking trails.
A two-block garden extension
Have you ever visited the Holocaust Memorial? It's not an easy task, with major roads cutting pedestrians off at every turn and severely limited parking. ACE's answer: replace those roads and parking lots with more green space, so pedestrians can walk through a landscaped area to get to the memorial and Miami Beach Botanical Garden. If you're driving, well, there's always that parking garage built under a park.
A sister structure for the Fillmore
Not only is the Fillmore safe from demolition, it's getting a buddy -- a new "cultural building" that looks like part art museum, part amphitheater.
Medians along 17th Street
Your days of flipping an illegal U-turn on 17th Street are numbered. ACE plans to install green medians and crosswalks along the street that marks the southernmost border of the convention center property, so it'll actually be possible for you to walk across the street without dangerously scampering in front of oncoming traffic.
Follow Ciara LaVelle on Twitter @ciaralavelle.
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