The Miami UrbEx

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Hialeah Park and Race Track

The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest recreational parks in South Florida. It was opened in 1921 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtis and his partner James Bright.

In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in the state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and the Calder Race Track (two other Miami race tracks). Consequently, owner at the time John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public.

On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit after being stripped of permits in 2004 for not being able to hold races. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 Million restoration project was begun in mid-2009. Photos are from today June 8th, 2013, with much of the facilities restored, but still much work to do.

On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run quarter mile races. The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater.On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's status as a National Historic Landmark.

Above and Below: Betting Booths

Betting Booths

Currently the park is set to open to full racing December of this year (2013).

The whole time I was here I thought I was trespassing. The only people around were construction workers. I soon found out that they were simulcasting the Belmont Stakes today. I should have stayed to explore more. I will go back again soon and update. :-)

The Amertec Building

If you're one of the few people that have passed the Amertec building in Hialeah and wondered to yourself "hmmmm what the hell is this hot-mess looking building in between a tile warehouse and another building" well wonder no more people. I have your answers.

The Amertec building was built in 1967 by Chayo Frank, an architect who built this weird looking monster for his family's woodworking business which operated until 2002. Since then the building has sat abandoned, however apparently the word is that a produce company is using it for storage but this has not been confirmed. The inside has been photographed by UrbExers that actually got inside. Since I do not believe in posting others photos on my site you can visit Curbed Miami or AbandonedFL.com to see more photos. You can also visit ChayoFrank.com, the architect.

Above: Front Door

The building is located at 149 SW 21st Street, Hialeah, FL.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Fairchild Botanical Gardens

Fairchild in Coral Gables is a beautiful spot with gorgeous tropical gardens and a cactus area. It's about a 2 hour walk around the whole property. Or they have a team for you lazy people.

Monday, April 22, 2013

16th Century Spanish Galleon

Living in a big city sometimes presents little and big surprises. Frequently there are many surprises to fall upon, but sometimes those surprises fall upon you. As I walked my sisters dog down the long and winding path through bayfront from my building at the end of Biscayne, I start to see a large wooden ship with huge masts. The first question I asked myself......was this an actual Spanish Galleon? Hmm I dont know lets find out together mind. So me and my mind, oh and my sister's dog strolled closer and closer. I could see that this ship was well taken care of and had to be a reproduction (which it sadly was), but still breathtaking.

As we got closer I saw the line of tourists being overcharged to walk onboard and look around, I couldn't deny that I wanted to as well. However, I admired the large galleon from the exterior which was nice.

I couldn't resist a black and white

16th Century Galleon of Spain's West Indies Fleet

Quick Vid

Hope you enjoyed!

Best,

Cory

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Charles Deering Estate

Today I took a little trip down to Homestead and visited the Everglades Outpost and Rescue where they house all sorts of animals abandoned by idiots that bought a tiger because they thought it was cool and then realized that tigers will not be good house pets. I was surprised to find the people who ran the place to be extremely cool and knowledgeable. They even took out two 6 week old wolf cubs for us to play with. After this quick stop we went to Robert is Here for a milkshake and all the other things they sell there such as homemade jams, honey, BBQ sauces, hot sauces, mustards, salad dressing and a farmers market with all sorts of fruits and vegetables. After many recent visits here, I was demanded to get a smoothie by the tourist information lady (Listen tootz, im just asking for the time, not to buy up a fruit stand). I listened to her kind referral and got a milkshake which was the shit, you could taste the fresh fruit, it was awesome.

After our 10,000 calorie milkshake we drove over to The Deering Estate, once owned by Charles Deering (Half Brother of James Deering who owned the Vizcaya Estate). Although much less impressive than his brothers beautifully large mansion and gardens, I must admit that I felt a quaintness to this estate.

The houses are open to the public but are almost completely barren besides works of art around the houses which I couldn't understand. Im here to see the inside of some historic guys house and how they lived, not flower paintings that I can buy from Costco. This dissapointed me because Vizcaya was left the way it was when the Deering family gave it to Dade County (besides the signage all over the place). however the grounds made up for it.

Above: Looking back at the houses from the boat entrance.

Below: Looking out from the houses to the boat entrance.

One of the pathways through the lush property.

A nature path originally built by Charles Deering for guests, employees, and public. He also built a Public Dock on the other side of the property for the public to use.

I SAID NO BOATS!

My final thoughts left me wondering why they didn't preserve the interior of the houses more. The grounds and the houses leave a lot to be desired compared to the Vizcaya estate, but hey Charles wasn't the super-wealthy one in the family-James was. However this should not deter one from visiting this Historic Dade estate.

www.deeringestate.org