Miami Beach gives initial green light to new convention center hotel plan

Miami Beach gave an initial thumbs up to the newest proposal for a convention center headquarter hotel, the city’s third attempt in recent years to select a design capable of getting voter approval.

On Monday, the City Commission unanimously voted to allow city staff to negotiate a lease for the hotel, putting in motion a process that developers hope will culminate in a proposal on the November ballot.

The new design, unveiled in late June, features a 185-foot tall, 800-room hotel connected to the Miami Beach convention center via a pedestrian bridge. The facade includes a 53-foot podium containing parking, meeting spaces and ballrooms, a design developers said was an effort to keep the front of the building consistent with the height of neighboring structures. Two taller wings of hotel rooms stretch behind the podium. The hotel roof contains solar panels and water absorption components, features designers hope will make the building more resilient to the effects of climate change and hurricanes.

In response to concerns raised about previous proposals, the new hotel would be roughly 100 feet shorter than the previous plan, include about six times more space for cars to queue on the property, and wouldn’t impact the Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater, which would remain at its current location. An annex building at 555 17th St. would be torn down.

Developers Jackie Soffer, of Turnberry, and David Martin, of Terra Group, said they plan to hold numerous public meetings to discuss the design. On July 25, the City Commission votes on whether to place the proposal on the November ballot. That date is the commission’s last scheduled meeting before the county deadline to put measures on the ballot.