Downtown
Downtown Miami is the central business district of Miami, Miami-Dade County, and South Florida. Brickell Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard are the main north-south roads, and Flagler Street is the main east-west road. Downtown is the historic cultural, financial, and commercial center of South Florida, tracing its history back to the 19th century. In recent years, the area has grown to become the fastest-growing area in Miami. Downtown is home to many major museums, parks, schools and colleges, banks, courthouses, government offices, theaters, shops and historic buildings.
As of 2009, there are approximately 71,000 year-round residents in Downtown (including neighboring Brickell and Omni), with close to 200,000 residents living in the immediate Downtown area.[1][2] Recent mass construction of high-rise residential buildings and office towers, Downtown has been revitalized with new shops, bars, parks, and restaurants opening up, attracting many new residents. Along with Brickell, Downtown has grown from 40,000 residents in 2000, to over 70,000 in 2009, making it one of the fastest-growing areas in Florida. It was estimated in February 2010, that about 550 new residents move to the Downtown area every month.[1] As of 2009, over 190,000 office employees work in Downtown and Brickell.[3]
Parks
Downtown’s largest and most popular parks are Bayfront Park, Bicentennial Park, and Pace Park. Bayfront Park is host to the free DWTWN Concert Series, put on weekly in the park’s amphitheater, as well as various other annual events such as the Orange Drop for New Year’s, Bike Miami, and the “America’s Birthday Bash at Bayfront Park” for Independence Day. Bicentennial Park hosts many large outdoor concerts such as Warped Tour and Ultra Music Festival. Bicentennial Park is currently planned to be redone, and is to include the new buildings for the Miami Art Museum and the Miami Science Museum.
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, the second-largest performing arts center in the U.S.
St. Jude Catholic Church on the corner of Brickell Avenue and Broadway.
Bicentennial Park during Ultra Music Festival 2010.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools operates area public schools:
- Downtown Miami Charter School
- Southside Elementary School
- Ada Merritt Elementary School
- Frederick R Douglass Elementary School
- Riverside Elementary School
- Miami Children’s Museum School
- Bridgepoint Academy of Greater Miami (Charter)
[edit] Private schools
- First Presbyterian International Christian School
- Gordon Day School (Jewish)
- Prima Casa Montessori School
[edit] High schools
Miami-Dade County Public Schools operates area public schools:
- Law Enforcement Officers Memorial High School
- Young Women’s Preparatory Academy
- New World School of the Arts
[edit] Colleges and universities
- Miami Dade College (Wolfson Campus) – public college
- Florida International University (Metropolitan Center) – public university
- Miami International University of Art & Design – private college
[edit] Cultural
- Miami Art Museum
- Historical Museum of Southern Florida
- Miami Children’s Museum
- Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
- Ziff Ballet Opera House
- Knight Concert Hall
- Florida Grand Opera
[edit] Libraries