By: Jane Wooldridge
Source: Miami Herald
Once, the Miami Heat played on this five-acre patch. Soon, if all goes according to plan, it will be the construction site for a long-discussed 600,000-square-foot meeting and expo center and 1,700-room Marriott Marquis hotel.
Monday, developer MDM Group announced it has closed on the $45 million purchase of the Overtown land once occupied by the original Miami Arena. Old Arena LLC, led by Miami Worldcenter principal Nitin Motwani, purchased the five-acre tract in 2012 for $35 million.
“For MDM, this is a very real project,” said Javier Fernandez, a partner in the land-use practice at law firm Holland and Knight, and project spokesman for MDM. “The purchase signals to local public partners and the market that this is a project they intend to move forward with.”
