Central Business District of Miami Downtown Miami | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Florida |
| County | Miami-Dade County |
| City | Miami |
| Time zone | EST |
TheCentral Business District (CBD) ofMiami is the historiccentral business district andcity center of what has becomeGreater Downtown Miami[1] in Florida. Over 92,000 people work in Miami's Central Business District.[2]
The Central Business District is generally bound byBiscayne Boulevard,Bayfront Park andMuseum Park on the east, theMiami River to the south, North 6th Street to the north, and Interstate 95 to the west.[1][3] While it is technically Miami's official "downtown", the term "Downtown Miami" has come to refer to a much larger 3.8-square-mile (10 km2) area along the bay from theRickenbacker Causeway to theJulia Tuttle Causeway. It is also distinct from thefinancial district, which neighborsBrickell to the south.
The Central Business District of Miami has over 5,000,000 square feet (460,000 m2) of office space, including more than fifteen buildings with greater than 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) of floor space.[4]
.jpg)
The City of Miami was officially incorporated as a city on July 28, 1896, with a population of just over 300.[5] Downtown is the historic heart of Miami, and along withCoconut Grove, is the oldest settled area of Miami, with early pioneer settlement dating to the early 19th century. Urban development began in the 1890s with the construction of theFlorida East Coast Railway byStandard Oil industrialistHenry Flagler down to Miami at the insistence ofJulia Tuttle. Flagler, along with developers such asWilliam Brickell andGeorge E. Merrick helped bring developer interest to the city with the construction of hotels, resorts, homes, and the extension of Flagler's rail line.Flagler Street, originating in Downtown, is a major east–west road in Miami named after the tycoon; theJulia Tuttle Causeway, crossing Biscayne Bay just north of Downtown inEdgewater, is named in honor of Tuttle.
The CBD has long beendense with retail and office space, as well as some lofts and apartments, but recently has seen large scale high-rise residential development as during Miami housing market booms in the aughts and continuing again in the 2010s. Though the historically wealthy suburb ofBrickell to the south remains much more popular, downtown has seen urban buildings such asThe Loft,The Loft 2, andCentro Lofts which have no built-inparking as well as more traditional luxury condos such as the bayfront50 Biscayne andVizcayne.Wolfson Campus, the primary (but not largest) campus ofMiami-Dade College is located in the CBD, with about ten buildings around NE 5 Street and NE 2 Ave. The historicFlagler Street, which is the north–south divider of the street grid in Miami-Dade, may undergo a major renovation from the Miami River to the terminus at Biscayne Boulevard starting by 2016. The project was publicized in 2014 and has faced several delays.[6]
TheMetromover Inner Loop is located entirely within the CBD, as isMetrorail'sGovernment Center station, where the rapid transit and people mover systems meet. This is the busiest station for both systems and sees over 15,000 riders on an average weekday. It is located on the west side of downtown in theGovernment Center area, which has a large concentration of city, county, state, and federal offices. The area is also heavily served by theMetrobus (Miami-Dade County) andMiami Trolley, as well astaxicabs,ridesharing companies, andshared scooters. Downtown Miami as defined byWalk Score which includes Brickell and theArts & Entertainment District, is considered "very walkable" and as having "world-class public transportation", as well as being "very bikeable".[7]
25°46′30″N80°11′28″W / 25.775°N 80.191°W /25.775; -80.191