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Miami Tower
Bank of America Miami 20100206.jpg
Miami Tower in Downtown Miami
Former names CenTrust Tower
NationsBank Tower
TotalBank Tower
Bank of America Tower at International Place
General information
Type Commercial office
Location 100 Southeast 2nd Street
Miami, Florida
Coordinates 25°46′19″N 80°11′28″W / 25.7720°N 80.1912°W / 25.7720; -80.1912
Construction started 1983
Completed 1987
Opening 1987
Owner Sumitomo Corporation of America
Height
Roof 625 ft (191 m)
Top floor 47
Technical details
Floor count 47
Floor area 1,160,000 sq ft (108,000 m2)
Lifts/elevators 19
Design and construction
Architect Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Developer Centrust Savings Bank
Structural engineer Crouse-Honderich
Main contractor The George Hyman Construction Co.

The Miami Tower is a famous 47-story office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It stands tall in the center of Downtown Miami. This building is currently one of the 14 tallest buildings in both Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) of Florida listed it as one of the "100 Years. 100 Places" of Florida architecture.

History of the Miami Tower

Miami Tower cropped
A view of the Miami Tower from the ground.

The Miami Tower was built for CenTrust Bank and finished in 1987. It is 625 feet (191 m) tall, making it one of the tallest skyscrapers in Miami and Florida. The tower is famous for its amazing lights at night and its unique three glass sections.

The building was designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural company. The tower is actually made of two separate parts. One part is a 10-story parking garage owned by the city. The other part is the 47-story office tower, which was built on top of the garage's "air rights." This means they built the tower in the space above the garage.

Planning for the tower started in February 1980. Construction on the parking garage began in November of that year. The garage was completed in February 1983. Building the main tower started a year later. In August 1984, while the tower was still being built, a large fire broke out on the ninth floor. This caused construction to be delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit up for the very first time. It showed Miami Dolphins aqua colors and snowflakes.

By mid-1986, the outside of the tower was finished. The grand opening was planned for the fall of that year. However, the tower's foundation settled unevenly on one side by a few inches. This caused the elevator rails to be out of line. Because of this, the grand opening was delayed until February 1987.

The completed building had some special features. It included the world's only elevated metro station inside a skyscraper, called Knight Center station. It also had very fancy interiors. There was a skylobby on the 11th floor, decorated with marble and gold. There was also a 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) outdoor terrace. Even the indoor gym had fancy mahogany cabinets. A walkway connects the tower to the James L. Knight Center. On the first floor, there is a shopping area with green marble. The tower has 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m2) of office space and a large parking garage with 1,500 spaces.

The Miami Tower has appeared in several movies and TV shows. You can see it in the "Streetwise" episode of Miami Vice, which aired on December 5, 1986. The building also appears in the end credits of the 1986 film Flight of the Navigator. In that movie, you can clearly see the top floors were still being built. The roof of the building was used for Gloria Estefan's 1994 music video for "Turn The Beat Around." The tower is also often shown in the background of the stage on The Tonight Show.

On January 1, 2010, the building officially changed its name to the Miami Tower.

The Tower's Many Colors

The Miami Tower has three main sections that can be lit up in different colors. This allows it to show many color schemes for holidays and different seasons. In 2012, a new $1.5 million LED light system was installed. This new system allows for even more amazing light displays that can change very quickly.

Here are some examples of the many colors the tower has shown:

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Miami Tower para niños

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