Genting Group shocked South Florida when it bought up the Miami Herald's current bayfront property and unveiled its ostentatious plans for Resort World Miami. The proposed project looked like a futuristic, alien city, with 10 million square feet of space, two hotel towers, two condo towers, a giant convention center, a manmade river of a pool, the world's largest ballroom, and, yes, that casino.
Well, it's not going to happen. Genting has announced it's scaling back its ambitions and has gone back to the drawing board.
Arquitectonica, the local architecture firm responsible for the original plan, has now been tasked with devising a plan for a much more modest proposal. Of course, anything would look modest compared to the original. Genting's new plans still include a five-star resort, a condo tower, waterfront restaurants, and a bit of retail. The new plan would take up about five acres of the 13.9-acre Herald site, which leaves room for further development down the road.
Genting's original plan for Resort World Miami placed a big bet on the idea that the Florida Legislature would be ready to roll over and approve destination-style casino gambling. Instead, those gambling bills died. Sure, gambling champions might continue to push to widen the scope of gambling in Florida, but many observers thought Genting's proposal was simply too much too soon. The gambling giant came on just a little too aggressively.
No renderings of the new plan have yet been made available.
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