Starting Over in Miami Beach

Last summer OMA edged out BIG in the competition for the $1 billion Miami Beach Convention Center redevelopment. But a new mayor and new commissioners have killed the project, opting to scale it down from 52 acres in and around the convention center to just a renovation of the city-owned center. Mayor Philip Levine wants to get the project done quicker; by scaling the project down, and separating the once integral hotel component into another project, it can advance without the need for a voter referendum, which OMA's design would have eventually needed. Many of the new commissioners ran on platforms that were in opposition to the $1 billion redevelopment, meaning voters are indirectly getting what they wanted: a more affordable but most likely less architecturally significant contribution to the city.