Above: the Bacardi Building’s campus in downtown Miami (Photo: Midtown Miami Now)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
The iconic Bacardi Building, the signature former US home of the global rum giant, has been sold, Bacardi announced Tuesday.
The property has been conveyed to arts group National YoungArts Foundation at a “significant reduction of its market value,” according to a release. Terms were not disclosed.
World-renowned architect Frank Gehry has been commissioned to design the master plan for the property, which will reportedly preserve the building’s blue-and-white-tiled tower and “jewel box” buildings, while creating a larger arts park.
Bacardi first occupied the building, which was designed by Cuban architect Enrique Gutierrez, in 1964.
It moved to its American headquarters to a 207,630-square-foot building in nearby Coral Gables, Fla. in 2009.
Facundo L Bacardi, the chairman of the board of Bacardi Limited, is officially handing over the building Wednesday.
Bacardi Limited is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.
As Caribbean Journal’s Rum Journal has mentioned, 2012 is the 150th anniversary of the company’s founding by Don Facundo Bacardi Massó in Santiago de Cuba in 1862.