Massive New Mall Proposed at Miami International Airport (Aventura, Sunset: condos, hotel)

[perry335654]

Massive mall proposed at Miami International Airport

[FlyMIA]

If they can get funding from PRIVATE developers why not. If no, well the central terminal still will need an upgrade but a large mall might not be the best thing.

[manny118]

Obvious attempt to lure in shoppers from Brazil. American products are very expensive in Brazil because of the high tariffs their govenment puts on our products so their people get on airplanes and go on shopping sprees in the US.

What would happen to this mall if the US were to reach a trade agreement with Barzil and Brazil got rid of its tariffs, or commodity prices tank and take the Brazilian economy down with it, or the Brazilian government just does something stupid and brings down their economy.

This whole dependency that Miami has on Brazil to buy its condos and fill its shopping malls will eventually end badly for Miami. Brazil has done well on the back of commodity prices but this won't last forever. Brazil also overvalues its currency which makes it cheap for them to buy condos and products here. None of this is sustainable.

[hurricaneMan1992]

Isn't half of the new MIA north terminal already basically a mall?

Seriously though, with the Airport Link coming online, it would be the closest transit-accessible mall to downtown, Brickell, and even South Beach. No more risking your life crossing US1 (Sunset Place) or walking a half mile from the station (Dadeland), or sitting over an hour on a bus bus (Aventura) to get to a mall on transit. That is, if they can beat CitiCentre...

[FlyMIA]

Originally Posted by hurricaneMan1992

Isn't half of the new MIA north terminal already basically a mall?

Seriously though, with the Airport Link coming online, it would be the closest transit-accessible mall to downtown, Brickell, and even South Beach. No more risking your life crossing US1 (Sunset Place) or walking a half mile from the station (Dadeland), or sitting over an hour on a bus bus (Aventura) to get to a mall on transit. That is, if they can beat CitiCentre...

Well I am not sure if this mall would have access to the public or just flyers. Right now the north terminal has a good amount of shops but I certainly wouldn't call it a mall. It's a great terminal though, one of the best in the U.S.

Good point on public transit access I just wonder if this is a mall for passengers post security or before security.

[Coconut1]

Honestly I think it's a terrible idea. Offices I could see, you could land and head right into the office. It would be good for international companies, but a mall? The airport is supposed to be a place of transportation, not major shopping. I don't see how a massive mall helps anything.

[jasper12]

Great. More minimum wage jobs. Just what Miami needs.

[Chelito23]

I think it is a good idea if they can get it privately funded. Why not give tourists one last chance to spend their money and create more revenue? People come to Miami to blow money and make impuse purchases...

[hurricaneMan1992]

But is is only limited to the secure area of the central terminal? That could be a severe limitation as American uses the north terminal and most international airlines use the south terminal. Also, within the Central terminal, aren't the different "concourses" totally separate? Seems like you'd need the 3 terminals and all the concourses connected behind security for this to work. The airport doesn't seem to be designed to allow for this connectivity, you'd need some kind of shuttle bus or underground train like at ATL.

Actually, looking at a map of the terminals, it doesn't seem that there's enough space in the secure areas of Central, since most of the space there is taken up by gates. So unless there are some major changes to the airport infrastructure (e.g., north terminal combined 4 concourses into one), wouldn't it have to be in front of security?

[FlyMIA]

Originally Posted by hurricaneMan1992

But is is only limited to the secure area of the central terminal? That could be a severe limitation as American uses the north terminal and most international airlines use the south terminal. Also, within the Central terminal, aren't the different "concourses" totally separate? Seems like you'd need the 3 terminals and all the concourses connected behind security for this to work. The airport doesn't seem to be designed to allow for this connectivity, you'd need some kind of shuttle bus or underground train like at ATL.

Actually, looking at a map of the terminals, it doesn't seem that there's enough space in the secure areas of Central, since most of the space there is taken up by gates. So unless there are some major changes to the airport infrastructure (e.g., north terminal combined 4 concourses into one), wouldn't it have to be in front of security?

Concourse E which is connected to the north terminal as American still uses the low E gates. However the area I think they are talking about is where the airport hotel is now. American plans on continuing to grow at MIA there is no doubt that some of the central terminal will be used by AA.