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INFRASTRUCTURE WORK FOR AMERICA’S BIGGEST MALL ABOUT TO BEGIN IN MIAMI

An interchange needed for America’s biggest mall will begin construction shortly, with bids from contractors said to have been due earlier this week, according to Miami Today.

Construction will begin shortly after bids are received, a representative said.

Developer Triple Five plans to spend $220 million alone just on roadway and highway changes required for the project.

The mall cannot open until a Turnpike interchange is completed, expected in 2025, the developer’s attorney said. Site plan approval isn’t even on the agenda for the developer until 2020 since infrastructure work will take so long.

Utilities work is also now in design, with construction expected soon at a cost of $7 million. Completion is expected in two years, with the developer covering costs.

American Dream Miami is expected to eventually become the biggest mall in America upon completion, with retail, dining and entertainment. Total cost is estimated at $4.5 billion to $5 billion.

In total, the project will include 7.2 million square feet with towers as tall as 50 stories. It will also have restaurants, the world’s largest indoor ski slope, a walk-through aquarium, a skating rink, an ice-climbing wall, live theater venues for Russian ballet and Chinese acrobats and 2,000 hotel rooms.

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Triple Five Worldwide gets American Dream Mall on road

Canadian developer Triple Five Worldwide says it is on schedule as highway bids due this month will eventually lead to its American Dream Mall. The project is moving steadily after receiving county approval last spring, representatives say.

Triple Five Worldwide is looking to construct the largest mall in the US between Florida’s Turnpike Extension, Interstate 75 and Miami Gardens Drive. Plans are moving since the company first expressed interest three years ago. The project is estimated at $4.5 billion to $5 billion, ultimately producing a mall with retail, dining, and entertainment in 5 million square feet of space.

Triple Five Worldwide says it and other stakeholders are moving forward on the infrastructure changes coming to Interstate 75. The company says it plans to invest $220 million in roadway and highway changes.

Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, a Saul Ewing Arnstein and Lehr attorney who represents Triple Five Worldwide, told Miami Today that the past year has been focused on infrastructure changes.

He said, “There is a massive amount of infrastructure that needs to be placed before we can open American Dream.”

His team coordinated right-of-way agreements with the county, City of Hialeah, Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, Florida Department of Transportation and private property owners near the site. Bids for construction of the interchange of Interstate 75 and Northwest 170th Street went out after

agreements were in place, and are expected June 25. Construction is to begin on the interchange soon after selection of the contractor, Mr. Diaz de la Portilla said.

Mr. Diaz de la Portilla said, “That is one of the critical pieces of transportation infrastructure, if not the most critical piece of transportation infrastructure that is needed for the project.”

Other components to Interstate 75 are moving along in the meantime. Mr. Diaz de la Portilla says other interchange modifications, such as at I-75 and Miami Gardens Drive and I-75 and 180th Street, are in the works. His team has been prioritizing highway changes since receiving county approval in May 2018.

He said, “The project can’t move forward unless the infrastructure is placed first, particularly transportation infrastructure.”

The sooner the roadway and highway changes are complete the closer Triple Five Worldwide will get to debuting American Dream Mall, he said. “The opening date has always been tied from day one to the turnpike interchange. In fact, in our development agreement, we can’t open until the turnpike interchange is operational and the road infrastructure is in place.”

Other components related to highway modifications are also moving forward.

Lourdes Gomez, deputy director for the county’s Department of Regulatory Economic Resources, says her team is overseeing two permits at this time. The first relates to the Division of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) permitting process needed for plans to widen the turnpike.

“There’s a big project going on in terms of the turnpike,” Ms. Gomez said. “It’s not just the interchange. It’s a large swath of the turnpike that is being widened. In order to do that, one of the approvals that they needed was from our Division of Environmental ResourcesManagement.”

The permit will allow a wider highway near county canals. Two of three of these permits have been approved and the third is expected in the coming week, she said.

The other permit in progress focuses on the interchange on Northwest 170th Street.

“It has to do with conveying property to the turnpike that they need because it is impacting the footprint,” Ms. Gomez said. “They call it a limited access, but it’s basically the footprint of the interchange that they are constructing.”

The county’s Water and Sewer Department, meanwhile, is moving forward with its design plans for the necessary sewer lines needed in the area regardless of Triple Five not submitting its site plan or plat. Department Deputy Director Douglas Yoder will oversee the 24-inch line that will connect I-75, Northwest 170th Street and 97th Avenue to the existing system.

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https://www.miamitodaynews.com/2019/...-mall-on-road/