Born and raised in Miami, Lorrie-Ann Diaz remembers when the downtown was a “wasteland, for many, many years, just empty lots.”
“Brickell was like Gotham City — that’s what I called it,” Diaz said of the urban neighborhood of downtown Miami that is now its glittering skyscraper-laden financial center.
At a recent Miami Heat game, Diaz, who is the NBA team’s vice president of business communications and social responsibility, shared the transformation of downtown Miami around AmericanAirlines Arena from a pass-through to South Beach, to a destination unto itself.
“Ten years ago, all this was flat,” she said. “It is really remarkable just how everything has gone up. It’s really pretty if you’re coming from a boat or plane.”
Next week, what thousands of people touching down in downtown Miami for Super Bowl LIV will see is not Gotham City, but a Super Bowl city. Super Bowl LIVE, the Miami Super Bowl Host Committee’s fan festival, is activating at Bayfront Park in the downtown rather than in Miami Beach, which was the epicenter when the city last had pro football’s biggest game a decade ago.
While Super Bowl LIV at the Hard Rock Stadium 15 miles north of downtown is financially out of reach for many Americans, Super Bowl LIVE is a free event with interactive activities and concerts, open from morning to night Saturday, Jan. 25 through Feb. 1, the day before Super Bowl Sunday. The host committee’s decision to hold it in the downtown shows Miami’s draw has grown from just sand and sea to city life.
“It’s really transformed and we’re excited to show the level of sophistication. People are used to partying on the beach and that’s it,” Janelle Prieto, the host committee’s vice president of communications, marketing and community partnerships, said from the office in Miami Tower with a panoramic view of the area. “I think downtown has become the hub of Miami.”
The host committee passionately pursued approval to play on Super Bowl LIV for its slogan, “LIVE It Miami.”
“It’s the first time the Roman numerals even say something,” Prieto explained. “It’s a really clear call to action we feel, which is come and live it in Miami, which is different from anywhere else.”
While Super Bowl LIVE is shining the spotlight on the downtown, there will still be plenty of activity in Miami Beach, including media spots.
“I think the idea of this Super Bowl is that everywhere, it feels like there’s something to do,” said Gloria Garcés, the host committee’s senior director of corporate communications and public affairs.
“Really, the way that we see it is the game is the icing on the cake,” Prieto concluded.
Those partaking in the icing are sure to be delighted. Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Miami Dolphins, recently wrapped up a three-year, $755 million renovation that was privately funded by Dolphins board chairman and managing general partner Stephen Ross. The investment paid off — after years of trying, the stadium was awarded Miami’s record 11th Super Bowl.
The stadium features more than 20 different types of seating, improved food and amenities, five new premium clubs and remodeled suites. Suite rental with private servers were priced at just under $700,000 each for the big game. Guests desiring to make a Miami-style entrance can arrive via a private lane into the stadium.
“Our vision from the start was to make this a global entertainment destination,” said Jeremy Walls, Hard Rock Stadium and the Dolphins’ senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “We want to create something no one’s seen before in Miami — that’s what some clients want.”
Miami accommodations for Super Bowl weekend have been booked solid for months, but last-minute travelers may still find places to stay as far north as Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach and take the Brightline train to downtown Miami to partake in the “LIVE” festivities. The privately owned rail system provides a premium ride experience and is advancing South Florida’s transportation connectivity efforts with planned service to Orlando.
“We feel like we’re able to regionalize the event so it’s not just a Miami event — it’s a Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale event,” Brightline spokesman Mike Hicks said during a recent ride into downtown Miami as the train whizzed past the future Miami Worldcenter, one of the biggest private master-planned mixed-use projects in country.
Visitors who booked accommodations in downtown Miami will experience what is shaping up to be the city’s hot neighborhood to live in. A five-minute walk to AmericanAirlines Arena and a 15-minute walk to Bayfront Park, The Gabriel Miami, Curio Collection by Hilton, offers modern rooms overlooking the downtown and Biscayne Bay and first-class dining.
“It’s an up-and-coming area,” the hotel’s general manager Neal Spivack said. “We’re about a year ahead of what people are going to be doing in this area.”
Since the Magic City last hosted the Super Bowl in 2010, the Miami Downtown Development Authority has traced at least 10 makeovers the city’s urban core has undergone.
No longer a 9-to-5 business district, the downtown has become a 24/7 neighborhood with 92,000 residents, up 38 percent from 2010, according to the development authority’s 2018 demographics study. The authority projects the downtown will have 110,000 residents by 2021, as it becomes more attractive to young professionals and families alike. That represents a starkly different picture from Super Bowl XLIV in 2010, when downtown Miami was ground zero for the U.S.’s real estate crash.
Miami’s downtown has built a reputation as the “Wall Street of the South” and in 2016 debuted Brickell City Centre in its financial district, a luxury indoor and outdoor shopping, dining and entertainment center with an innovative climate ribbon.
The downtown is also building its reputation as a cultural center with museums including the Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, which boasts a massive aquarium oculus lens that’s become Instagram famous.
“It’s fun to watch. Now it’s a matter of sustaining the infrastructure,” the authority’s deputy director Christina Crespi said of downtown Miami. “I call it like we’re a teenager about to go into adulthood.”
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/01/24/travel-downtown-miami-comes-alive-for-super-bowl-liv/
By JESSICA KWONG PUBLISHED: January 24, 2020 at 4:20 pm | UPDATED: January 24, 2020 at 4:59 pm