It’s back to the drawing board for the Miami Beach Convention Center.
In what Mayor Philip Levine calls a “fresh start,” commissioners unanimously voted this month to terminate their current negotiations with South Beach ACE (short for Arts, Culture, Entertainment), the master development team chosen by the city commission just six months ago to design and build a 52-acre, multiuse project with a price tag of $1 billion.
The ACE proposal, led by national real estate development firm Tishman, Miami Beach developer Robert Wennett and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas, was an ambitious plan to create an environmentally friendly district that included a new hotel, shops and restaurants surrounding the center.
The expansive proposal required a 60% voter approval due to Miami Beach rules that required ACE to lease city-owned land. Last November, Miami voters rejected the incumbent commissioners who had negotiated the ACE proposal and instead voted in a mostly new commission as well as Levine, the founder of Onboard Media, a port marketing company for the cruise industry.
At a recent commission meeting, Levine outlined a proposal to commissioners to consider tossing out the current ACE proposal and focus on renovating the decades-old, city-owned convention center “with 500,000 square feet of existing exhibit space, removing any requirement for retail or other private commercial uses, adding a ballroom, additional meeting room capacity and adequate back-of-house facilities and state-of-the-art technology.”
Levine’s proposal would not require a referendum by voters as required by Miami Beach rules to lease any city land within the convention center district.
Commissioners voted unanimously to scrap the ACE plan and start over with new requests for proposal (RFP) for the renovation of the convention center, due in March.
The city will scout other locations for the development of a nearby hotel, possibly two, and financing for both projects would come exclusively from private sector dollars. RFPs for the hotel portion are due in April.
By essentially going back to the drawing board, the city is in danger of losing millions of dollars in revenue from national organizations canvassing for the best destinations site for their event.
In the highly competitive exhibition and events industry, Miami Beach has been losing to other big cities because of its aging convention center and lack of amenities. The facility opened in 1957 and underwent a massive renovation in 1989.
According to a 2010 census for top convention center bookings conducted by the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE), Miami ranked 25th among selected U.S. convention cities, with a sharp 17.8% drop in bookings from the previous survey done five years earlier.
The quality of the aging convention center is a big concern of meetings organizers, most notably the American Institute of Architects who informed city commissioners that the group’s 16,000-member convention won’t return this year after selecting Miami Beach as its host site in 2010.
“Miami Beach is not under consideration due to the substandard design aesthetic, the abhorrent condition of the convention center, antiquated technological infrastructure, insufficient air conditioned exhibition space and lack of a convention center hotel,” wrote John R. Forbes, president of the institute, according to the Miami Herald.
Cathy Breden, COO of the IAEE, said research shows conferences opting for other attractive destinations, such as Las Vegas, Orlando, and Nashville, for their modern convention centers and hotels in downtown or urban areas.
Local tourism industry leaders stand behind the mayor’s shift in the convention center redesign, saying the project is “very alive.”
“Our board has embraced this approach, and we are supporting his efforts,” said Bill Talbert, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Talbert said Levine met with him and members of the board this week to discuss the convention center project in what Talbert described as his “No. 1 priority.” Talbert said the mayor also outlined plans to meet with planners and other industry leaders to assure them that this new vision is best for Miami Beach and for securing future business.
“For the purposes of getting this project done fast, on time, on budget, it’s unfortunate that we’ll have to make a very tough, challenging decision,” Levine told the Miami Herald. “To some people, it’s a little disheartening. To other people, it’s a fresh start.”