Miapolis, A Dream To Create A New Tallest Tower

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jan 12th 2010 at 11:00PM

Now that the Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest building the battle to top it begins. Potential contenders include the Kingdom Tower and Miapolis. What's Miapolis? It's a 3,200-foot tower planned for Miami's Watson Island. Given Miami's epic condo meltdown and its skyline of half completed buildings can this city support a project like this? The 160-story tower would have an amusement park, observatory, shops, restaurants, condos, office space, a hotel and a marina.

The project has been around for a while but the Miami Herald reports that Guillermo Socarras has been in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration to secure approval for the height of the tower. The Herald article points out that Socarras doesn't own the land. His tower would sit on the current site of Jungle Island, a tourist attraction featuring birds and other animals. The Miapolis website outlines his proposal which includes a plan to pay off Jungle Island's $39 million loan and debts and then create a new 99-year master land lease on the 28-acre parcel to give the city $4 million a year. But the Herald article has a quote from Ronnie Krongold, co-owner of Jungle Island, who says that while he has met with Socarras a couple of times there hasn't been any forward motion in a while. And city officials don't know anything about the project.

The website promises a lot including a dondonation $30 million for college scholarships, $6.3 million for senior centers, new parks and a new light rail station. Is Miapolis yet another pipe dream with a fancy website? At this point getting funding for a multi-billion project in a city that has a surplus of condos seems unlikely. Still, it's an appealing fantasy and one that could be built in stronger economic times.

Tags: miami, miapolis, tallest building in the world, tallest buildings in the world, TallestBuildingInTheWorld, TallestBuildingsInTheWorld

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Andy Jan 13th 2010 1:37AM

There is no such entity as the "Federal Aviation Commission". What you were looking for is the Federal Aviation Administration, which is correct in The Miami Herald but incorrect in your post. (Not exactly surprising given your tendency to post without regard to grammar, spelling or fact checking.)

Deidre Woollard Jan 13th 2010 1:38AM

Thank you for the correction.

GlobalDia Jan 13th 2010 2:40PM

yeah right. if this gets built i'll eat my keyboard.

reallytorkedoff Jan 13th 2010 4:31PM

Can this thing take a Category 5 hurricane?

New Orleans and Galveston couldn't.

I doubt a 3200 foot building sticking up out of the ocean would be a good place to ride out the storm. There would need to be some very thorough aerodynamic studies done even for Category 1 survivability.

hey dude7 Jan 13th 2010 8:08PM

Does any one in his/her right mind even pay attention at such crap?

Rumors and dreams or grandeur of morons with crap for brains.!

jarprops Jan 14th 2010 10:00AM

If you don't have anything positive to say about this project, please don't say anything. Each of us all, have dreams that we wish, could come true. Guillermo has his. Yes, it is a big, big, dream. Is it impossible? No. Will it take alot of cooperation on the part of hundreds of people from Miami and other places? Yes! Will it benefit Miami financially? Yes! Will it affect the real estate market in a positive way? Yes! Will it make Miami the most famous tourist destination? Yes! I believe it will become the "Statue of Liberty" for Miami.