Brickell City Centre opens its doors: PHOTOS

Swire Properties packed it in for the grand opening of Brickell City Centre, hosting thousands of people with performances by Pitbull, dancers and other artists last week.

The celebration marked the opening of the last — and largest — piece in Brickell City Centre’s first phase, a 500,000-square-foot outdoor shopping center anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue. About a dozen stores, Saks included, have either opened or were near opening out of a planned 120 stores, including Cole Haan, Pandora, Victoria’s Secret and Sephora.

A night-time bash featuring a live performance from Pitbull was held Tuesday night, followed by a formal ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday.

The shopping center’s retail space spans three levels, with two stories of underground parking. The first shopping level will have luxury stores like Armani Collezioni, Chopard and Kiton, with premium and contemporary retailers on the second and third floors. Check out a full list of announced stores here.

Saks Fifth Avenue’s 107,550-square-foot store offers an open floor plan with a mix of top designers, contemporary fashion, a shoe salon, cosmetics area and a full floor devoted to men, which will include a New York-based John Allan’s men’s salon. The store will also have the first Casa Tua Food Hall, which will open on the first floor.

Cinemex, also an anchor, aims to open CMX theater in time for the holidays. The dine-in movie theater will be the first in the U.S. for the Mexico-based chain.

The project is certified LEED Gold and stars the Climate Ribbon, a $30 million, 1,000-foot long twisted strip of steel, glass and fabric. The shops, developed with Simon Property Group and Whitman Family Development, are part of the $1.05 billion, mixed-use development that also includes residential, hotel and office components. – Katherine Kallergis and Sean Stewart-Muniz