Miami Worldcenter convention hotel to be redesigned

MDM Development Group is reportedly going back to the drawing board for its convention center hotel in downtown Miami.

The $525 million project, officially named the Marriott Marquis Miami Worldcenter Hotel & Expo, was originally planned to house about 365,000 square feet of convention space and an 1,800-room hotel.

MDM was to build the entire project in one phase. But now that the markets have shifted, the developer plans to build the project in two phases, the Miami Herald reported.

The hotel portion will now be split into two towers — one with 1,100 rooms, the other with 600 rooms — so that construction financing can be quickly obtained, an attorney representing MDM told the Herald.

MDM might have to gain new city approvals for the redesigned project, according to the Herald, and is still in the midst of vying for an incentive package that would award the developer $115 million worth of tax credits if it agrees to hire local workers at certain wages.

The news comes two months after Miami Worldcenter scrapped its original closed mall design in favor of “High Street Retail” similar to that of Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road. Developers Nitin Motwani and Art Falcone cited a shifting retail market as one major reason why their plans for a 760,000-square-foot mall were downsized by roughly 400,000 square feet. The project has since broken ground. [Miami Herald] — Sean Stewart-Muniz