Bacardi Buildings Are Now Historic Sites
Iconic rum maker's headquarters get designation
By BRIAN HAMACHER
Updated 9:26 AM EDT, Wed, Oct 7, 2009
Miami's iconic Bacardi buildings are now historic sites, less than 50 years after they were first erected in the 1960s.
The city's preservation board voted unanimously yesterday to grant historic designation to the Biscayne Blvd. rum maker's headquarters, according to the Miami Herald.
The designation includes the stunning eight-story, blue and white-tiled tower, completed in 1963, as well as the smaller glass-muraled building.
With the designation, neither building can be changed on the outside, though a lot on the property was left out of the agreement so that a future project could be developed there.
Bacardi, founded in Cuba in the 1860s, plans on moving out of the buildings by the end of the year to a new headquarters in Coral Gables.
Bacardi moved their headquarters from Cuba to Miami after the Cuban government seized its assets in 1960, making the buildings especially important to Miami's Cuban community. The first structure was built by Cuban-born architect Enrique Gutierrez, the second in the early '70s by Coral Gables architect Ignacio Carrera-Justiz.
The company gave its "wholehearted" endorsement to the historic designation, but hasn't said what they plan on doing with the buildings.
First Published: Oct 7, 2009 8:07 AM EDT
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