Universal Studios At Miami's Metro Zoo?

[Sniper]

I was dropping off my two youngest children this morning and when I arrived back at my vehicle, my oldest son said he heard Ron McGill, the curator of Miami's Metro Zoo, saying something on the radio about Universal Studios opening up on Metro Zoo's property. I doubt this is the case, but I would like to try to confirm if what he heard is correct or incorrect.

Has anyone heard anything along these lines???

Thank you in advance for your input!

[dave8721]

I was dropping off my two youngest children this morning and when I arrived back at my vehicle, my oldest son said he heard Ron McGill, the curator of Miami's Metro Zoo, saying something on the radio about Universal Studios opening up on Metro Zoo's property. I doubt this is the case, but I would like to try to confirm if what he heard is correct or incorrect.

Has anyone heard anything along these lines???

Thank you in advance for your input!

The Miami Herald had an article a couple of days ago about a $300 million dollar amusement park/hotel/water park development around the Metro Zoo (the parking lot and Coast Guard base area) and the article refered to it as "Our Universal Studios". It wont be a "universal studios" as far as I know, but something similar to Islands of Adventure. It was from Sunday's paper.

[depechecureguyorl]

^ That's correct. If I remember the article, the developer wants to model the park after Island of Adventure and some of the rides at Universal Orlando. Haven't heard any specifics as to what particular theme the park will be, tho. Either way, this park would be a great addition to Miami.

[Sniper]

Thank you both for the information! I'm going to see if I can dig up a copy of Sunday's paper.

Whatever actually happens over there, the thought of having a theme park type of place in Miami is exciting.

I can't wait to see the look on my children's faces!!!

Thanks again!

[up+down=midtown]

the articles here

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=284166

[Brickell]

or from the source... http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/13218689.htm

It doesn't say much about actually being like Universal, just that it wants to be a major tourist attraction.

Why they're grabbing on to Universial is beyond me as Busch Gardens would seem to be a more apt comparison.

[dave8721]

An article about the Zoo project:

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/060119/story4.shtml

County must get federal OK to develop around MetroZoo

By Deserae del Campo

Miami-Dade County must win federal approval before it can seek a developer to create a $1 billion-plus entertainment district at MetroZoo that would include a water park, a ride-themed adventure park, vacation and resort hotels and improvements to the zoo.

When plans to create a water park between Florida City and Homestead were squashed, county officials set sights on MetroZoo to build a world-class entertainment district.

The county expects attendance at the park of 2.5 million people a year, five times the average 500,000 who have attended the zoo annually.

But before the county seeks a developer, land-use issues on the 740-acre county-owned property must be ironed out.

The federal government gave Miami-Dade 1,000 acres in the south part of the county in the mid-1970s, said W. Howard Gregg, assistant director of planning and development for the county's parks department. "The land is under a federal covenant, which allows the land's use for only recreation and open space. This is a standard covenant in accordance to the federal government.

"Locally, we are working with the federal government to transfer this covenant to another parks space land located near Tamiami Airport," said Mr. Gregg. "The county is looking to remove the public open space covenants on 42.8 acres of the 740 acres at MetroZoo for the water park development."

After the county removes the covenant from the land, it would be transferred to the West Kendall District Park, at Southwest 120th Street and 157th Avenue.

"The county owns the land," said Commissioner Dennis Moss, "and it was given to the county by the federal government. We just have to remove the provisions on the land before we can develop.

"This has been my vision," Mr. Moss said. "I have spearheaded this and am moving forward to get this done and make it our own Universal Studios in Miami-Dade."

Mr. Moss said a request for proposals for a bidder interested in the project is ready to go, but the land-use issue needs to be taken care of first.

"This will be a place for families and tourists to visit," he said. "It would create a tremendous number of jobs. We expect within the next five years to have something done on the land - either the hotel or construction of the water park."

The plan proposes several developments:

[Urban_Legend]

^That sounds awesome! Although the waterpark seems to be lacking quantity of rides, who's to say that they can't gradually build more and more rides year by year!

I would hope that this would become successful, and that all the components of this plan could be fulfilled.