Downtown Miami

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625. The 42nd largest city proper in the United States, with a population of 399,457, it is the principal, central, and most populous city of the
South Florida metropolitan area, the most populous metropolis in the Southeastern United States. According to the US Census Bureau, Miami’s metro area is the seventh most populous and fifth-largest urban area in the United States, with a population of around 5.5 million.

Miami is a major center and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked thirty-third among global cities. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami “America’s Cleanest City”, for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets and city-wide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, and the world’s fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power.

Downtown Miami and South Florida are home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and is home to many large companies both nationally and internationally. The Civic Center is a major center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers, and biotechnology industries. For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the “Cruise Capital of the World” has been the number one cruise passenger port in the world, accommodating some of the world’s largest cruise ships and operations, and is currently the busiest in both passenger traffic and cruise lines

 

Real estate development

Since 2001, Miami has been undergoing a large building boom with more than 50 skyscrapers rising over 400 feet (122 m) built or currently under construction in the city. Miami’s skyline is ranked third most impressive in the U.S., behind New York City and Chicago, and 19th in the world according to the Almanac of Architecture and Design. The city currently has the eight tallest (as well as thirteen of the fourteen tallest) skyscrapers in the state of Florida, with the tallest being the 789-foot (240 m) Four Seasons Hotel & Tower.

During the mid-2000s, the city witnessed its largest real estate boom since the Florida land boom of the 1920s. During this period, the city had well over a hundred approved high-rise construction projects in which 50 were actually built. In 2007, however, the housing market crashed causing lots of foreclosures on houses. This rapid high-rise construction, has led to fast population growth in the city’s inner neighborhoods, primarily in Downtown, Brickell and Edgewater, with these neighborhoods becoming the fastest-growing areas in the city.

 

- source: wikipedia. org