The Miami Beach City Commission voted unanimously this week to issue a request for proposal for developers to submit designs and bids for a convention center hotel. The hotel would be built on the same site that a previous hotel design was proposed in 2016, which was ultimately turned down by voters.
But under the new request for proposal, the hotel would be a third smaller than the previous design. It would be no taller than 185 feet and will have between 550 and 800 rooms, according to the Miami Herald.
Commissioners also voted to get the winning proposal on the November ballot, since the renovated Miami Beach Convention Center is planned to reopen in September.
William Talbert, president and CEO of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the city lost $200 million in economic impact from conventions that passed on Miami Beach since the last hotel was turned down, the Miami Herald reported.
Two years ago, voters rejected a previously proposed hotel project by Atlanta-based Portman Holdings. Portman had proposed a 288-foot, 800-room hotel behind The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater. The hotel would have been privately financed but the ballot measure required 60-percent approval from voters and it received only 54 percent. An ad hoc committee in November recommended proposing a hotel capped at 185 feet with up to 1,000 rooms. [