Bank of America Tower

The Miami Tower is a 47-story, landmark office skyscraper in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located in central Downtown. It is currently the 8th tallest building in Miami and Florida. On April 18, 2012, the AIA's Florida Chapter placed it on its list of Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places as the Bank of America Tower.

History

Built for CenTrust Bank in 1987, the 47-story building ranks in the top twenty tallest skyscrapers in Miami and in Florida at a height of 625 feet (191 m) and is known for its elaborate night-time illuminations and its dramatic three glass tiers. Designed by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architectural firm, the tower consists of two separate structures: A 10-story parking garage owned by the city and the 47-story office tower built upon the air rights of the garage. Preliminary planning for the tower began in February 1980; construction on the garage began by November. The garage was completed in February 1983 and the tower began construction a year later. On August 1984, while the tower was under construction, a 5-alarm fire began on the ninth floor; construction was subsequently delayed for several weeks. On December 15, 1985, the tower was lit for the first time in Miami Dolphins aqua and snowflakes.

By mid-1986, the tower's exterior was complete and the grand opening for the complex was set for early fall that same year. Due to the uneven settling of the tower's foundation to one side by several inches, and the resulting misalignment of the tower's elevator rails, the grand opening for the complex was delayed until February 1987. The complete complex featured the world's only elevated metro station in a skyscraper (Knight Center station). It also gained notoriety for its luxurious interiors, including a skylobby on the 11th floor covered in marble and gold and a 10,000 sq ft (930 m²) outdoor terrace. Also its indoor gym features mahogany cabinets. The tower is connected to the James L. Knight Center by a pedestrian walkway and on the first floor is a retail spine covered with green marble. The tower contains 1.16 million square feet (108,000 m²) with 503,000 sq ft (46,700 m²) of office space and a 535,000 sq ft (49,700 m²), 1,500 space parking garage.

The tower can be seen in the "Streetwise" episode of Miami Vice which aired on December 5, 1986.

The building appears during the end credits of the 1986 film Flight Of The Navigator in an aerial shot of Miami. The top floors can clearly be seen still under construction.

The roof of the building was the set of Gloria Estefan's 1994 video for "Turn The Beat Around". The building is also one of many featured on the backdrop of the stage on The Tonight Show.

On January 1, 2010, the building was renamed the Miami Tower.

Many colors of the tower

The tower's three tiers allow it to have multiple color schemes in tribute to certain holidays and seasons. In 2012, a $1.5 million LED system was installed on the tower to allow for more elaborate displays with a much quicker transition time. 

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Miami Tower" and modified on June 3, 2020 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.