Miami Beach Convention Center Renovations Are Nearing Completion

The redesigned Miami Beach Convention Center. Courtesy of Fentress Architects

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This past Monday, Fentress Architects released photos of the newly revamped Miami Beach Convention Center.

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
  

click to enlarge

Inside the redesigned Miami Beach Convention Center.

Courtesy of Fentress Architects

For almost three years, the Miami Beach Convention Center has been undergoing renovations. It remained open throughout the process. The redesign — a partnership between the City of Miami Beach and Fentress Architects — was executed with the goal to make the facility “the most resilient and technologically advanced convention center in the U.S.,” according to the release. Fentress collaborated with local architecture firm Arquitectonica on design elements.

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.