Jodi Mailander Farrell, Director of Foundation Relations at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, brings us the news of a new neighbor:

The arts feed the soul, but you still gotta eat... It may seem odd to get excited about a supermarket, but when downtown Miami opens its first Publix grocery store in a once-desolate neighborhood where few once dared to walk, let alone shop for food, some celebrating is in order.

Hipsters and other downtown condo dwellers and office workers rejoiced, lining the street to get in, when the two-story, 50,000-square-foot store staged its recent grand opening in the convenient location at 1776 Biscayne Blvd. With a large organic section, a wok station and artisan salads, the Publix is the latest sign of new life in the rapidly changing neighborhood surrounding the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.

With an ArtPlace-funded master plan drawn up by renowned architect César Pelli, the Arsht Center has been leading the charge for the thoughtful development of this neighborhood. The plan calls for walkable streets, green spaces, mixed-used buildings and improved mass transit options for the area while keeping a thriving cultural arts scene at its core.
Only three blocks from the Arsht Center and now occupying a once-vacant lot, the new Publix makes living in this evolving urban district even more desirable.

"It used to be a ghost town," downtown resident Franky Arriola, 29, told The Miami Herald. "It's getting better day by day."