The developers of the massive, multiblock Miami Worldcenter complex are asking the city to turn over sections of three downtown streets for inclusion in the project, raising sharp objections from some nearby business owners and activists who call the proposed deal a giveway.
Miami Worldcenter representatives say they need control of the streets to create their promised pedestrian-friendly city-within-a-city in what is now a desolate stretch north of downtown, the city’s former Skid Row. All three street sections, they say, would be returned to public use once the project’s first phase is finished — two of them as urban pedestrian promenades lined with shops and restaurants à la Lincoln Road Mall.