Live! Hospitality & Entertainment has signed an agreement with Miami Worldcenter to bring its nationally acclaimed concept, Sports & Social, to the $4 billion, 27-acre mixed-use development transforming the heart of Downtown Miami. The 20,000-square-foot venue will include an open-air rooftop restaurant overlooking the project’s World Square public park and plaza.
Sports & Social will join Miami Worldcenter’s enticing lineup of recently announced tenants including two food and beverage concepts opening soon by Michelin-star Chef Michael Beltran, Brasserie Laurel and El Vecino; Chicago’s Maple & Ash and etta restaurants; as well as other nationally recognized brands including Sephora, Bowlero, and Lucid Motors. These seven concepts, along with the development’s newest tenant, total approximately 110,000 square feet of leased retail space in Downtown Miami’s ‘city-within-a-city.’
“The addition of Sports & Social to our tenant mix proves that there will be something for everyone at Miami Worldcenter,” said Nitin Motwani, Managing Partner of Miami Worldcenter Associates. “Every restaurant and store that will open at Miami Worldcenter is carefully selected to ensure the ultimate live-work-play experience that appeals to Downtown Miami’s growing residential and commercial population.”
Sports & Social is a premier dining, entertainment, sports viewing, and social concept by Live! Hospitality & Entertainment, one of the largest developers and operators of restaurants and entertainment concepts in the United States. The company’s focus is on delivering signature venues in high-profile entertainment and lifestyle districts, world-class casino resort destinations, and adjacent to professional sports stadiums around the country. Sports & Social has nine locations nationwide including The Battery adjacent to Truist Park in Atlanta; Ballpark Village adjacent to Busch Stadium in St. Louis; Texas Live! in the Arlington Entertainment District; and Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. Additionally, Sports & Social will open another South Florida location at Dolphin Mall in winter 2022.
Located just steps away from Miami’s FTX Arena, Sports & Social’s Miami Worldcenter location will occupy approximately 20,000 square feet within the development’s glass-encased ‘Jewel Box’ retail building and will include an open-air third level and a rooftop restaurant overlooking the World Square public park and plaza. The venue will bring upscale food and beverage offerings including made-from-scratch gameday favorites, craft cocktails and specialty drinks, including its signature Crush selection, and a variety of beer from national brews and local favorites. Sports & Social will host a variety of special food-focused events including a can’t-miss brunch experience on Saturdays and Sundays featuring its famous #brunchtails table drinks and menu favorites like avocado toast, savory breakfast skillets, and its signature Chicken & Bliss.
Sports & Social Miami will feature a variety of live music and special events throughout the week, including one of the best sports watching experiences in the region with its premier game-day Sports Watch activations. Outfitted with state-of-the-art technology, the space will boast an impressive 53-foot LED display at its centerpiece that will show multiple games and sporting events at once. Guests can also enjoy a wide variety of social games such as skee-ball, foosball, pop-a-shot, arcade games, shuffleboard, and Beirut. Each location of Sports & Social is uniquely designed with careful attention to every detail by some of the highest profile firms in the world including ICRAVE, Jeffrey Beers International and Knauer Incorporated. Sports & Social at Miami Worldcenter is being designed by ICRAVE, an internationally acclaimed award-winning strategy, design, and development firm. Based in Miami and New York City, ICRAVE has been leading the design for Sports & Social’s growth nationally.
“Miami Worldcenter Associates and CIM Group are one of the premier development teams in the country and we are excited to work with them to bring Sports & Social to downtown Miami at Miami Worldcenter,” said Reed Cordish, Principal of The Cordish Companies and CEO of Live! Hospitality & Entertainment. “As we continue to expand the concept nationwide, we take great pride in ensuring that each location of Sports & Social is specifically curated from our elevated food and beverage offerings and premier entertainment experiences to our best-in-class architecture and design.”
Retail leasing at Miami Worldcenter is led by CIM Group, partner in Miami Worldcenter, and Miami-based The Comras Company. CIM Group is a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender, and developer. The Comras Company is a leading, boutique real estate firm providing retail leasing, asset sales, consulting, and development advisory services throughout South Florida.
“People are drawn to walkable areas that provide a welcoming environment with beautiful public spaces and a mix of experiences. At Miami Worldcenter we are delivering all of that, and the addition of Sports & Social brings a high-energy and captivating concept to the development that further evolves the premier array of retail, dining and entertainment options that our team has assembled,” said Shaul Kuba, Co-Founder and Principal, CIM Group.
Several phases of the project have already been completed, including three residential towers – PARAMOUNT Miami Worldcenter, Caoba, and Bezel Miami – and approximately 175,000 square feet of retail space. Coming up, a 351-room citizenM hotel is expected to open at Miami Worldcenter by the end of the year, along with another 125,000 square feet of retail space. Additionally, construction is underway at the 52-story Miami World Towers, which will comprise 550 apartment units; at Legacy Hotel & Residences, a 50-story mixed-use tower with 310 branded residences atop a hotel and 50,000 square feet of medical office space; and at the second phase of Caoba, which will encompass an adjacent 40-story tower with 420 apartments.
Planned developments include The Crosby, a 450-unit turn-key condominium by Related Group and Merrimac Ventures; a pair of “supertall” residential towers by New York-based Naftali Group; and a three-tower mixed-use project by The Witkoff Group, which will include up to 2,000 residential units as well as 550,000 square feet of office space and another 50,000 square feet of retail.
Complementing Miami Worldcenter’s open-air retail will be World Square, a 20,000-square-foot public plaza and park. Designed as a central gathering place and outdoor event space, World Square will serve as the heartbeat of the development featuring an abundance of shade trees, works of art by local and international artists, and oversized, pedestrian-friendly sidewalks lined with dining, entertainment, and retail concepts.
Miami Worldcenter’s development team also recently launched a $5 million public art initiative – curated by international art dealer Jeffrey Deitch and Miami-based curatorial collective PRIMARY – that will transform the streets and buildings of the 27-acre ‘city within a city’ into a permanent outdoor art museum. The program’s first piece to be completed is a massive colorful mural by Nina Chanel Abney, which graces the walls of a pedestrian tunnel under the development’s PARAMOUNT residential tower and the exterior façade of its multi-level parking garage. Additional artists confirmed to exhibit pieces at Miami Worldcenter include Woody De Othello, Viktor El-Saieh, Nick Cave, and Trenton Doyle Hancock.