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Hialeah is changing again, with a focus on the arts. What the Amelia District offers

Entertainment is at the heart of the new Amelia District in Hialeah, a project that seeks to expand the city’s arts and culture scene.

On the west side of Amelia Earhart Park, the 16-acre district is trying to revitalize a part of the city that borders Miami Lakes.

Prestige Companies, a residential building firm behind the district, , wants to innovate with events and entertainment venues. First on the list is La Romanita, a fusion Cuban-Italian restaurant.

But it doesn’t end there.

One wall of La Romanita has a mural of Rome and the Coliseum.
One wall of La Romanita has a mural of Rome and the Coliseum.

Right next to the restaurant, in Plaza Amelia, Prestige will soon open LR Privato, a membership venue that will be available for private events.

A few blocks away, at the site of an old warehouse at 7445 W. Fourth Ave., a new entertainment complex, Amelia Live, will be built.

Prestige Companies plans to cover the Amelia District in an entertainment area in Hialeah, where there will be a rooftop lounge, a coffee shop, a Craft Barbecue restaurant, a Cigar Bar and an art gallery.
Prestige Companies plans to cover the Amelia District in an entertainment area in Hialeah, where there will be a rooftop lounge, a coffee shop, a Craft Barbecue restaurant, a Cigar Bar and an art gallery.

Alexander Ruiz, director of Prestige, told el Nuevo Herald that Amelia Live will have 500 to 700 square feet, with a rooftop lounge, a coffee shop, a Craft Barbecue-style restaurant, a cigar bar and an art gallery.

Amelia Live, the new project that promises to expand the cultural and artistic scene of Hialeah, located in the heart of the Amelia District, west of the city.
Amelia Live, the new project that promises to expand the cultural and artistic scene of Hialeah, located in the heart of the Amelia District, west of the city.

The company recently also acquired the Valsan department store, which will be partially modified. One area will keep the character of the store, and the rest will be carved into mini-stores.

Although Ruiz said he doesn’t like comparisons, his plans shadow the Wynwood Art District in Miami. But he emphasized that each area has its own “identity.”

For Ruiz, “it is an organic project that has been growing. The area has given us the opportunity to bring something to the city that we didn’t have.”

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The district, near Amelia Earhart Park, also connects to Red Road. It joins several other efforts.

More than seven years ago the Leah District was proclaimed as an entertainment and arts area. The district, centered at 1055 E. 15th St., also tries to emulate Wynwood.

In the last year, Factory Town, a collection of outdoor warehouses and industrial buildings that have been set up for bands and DJ raves, has come on the scene. These projects have made it possible to reactivate the eastern part of the city for young residents.

Developer Avra Jain, who revived the Vagabond Motel and half a dozen other Miami Modern historic district properties, is turning a former mattress factory in east Hialeah’s industrial district into a music, food, and events venue called Factory Town. Jain walks through a gallery of murals by Hialeah artists painted on the walls of an old warehouse whose roof has been removed as it’s converted into an open-air music, exhibition and performance space.

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An experimental exhibition

Now, Prestige plans to open the first Amelia Live x Art exhibition during Miami Art Week 2022. The Porsche Exhibition Private Collection will feature curated works of art and a private collection of one-of-a-kind Porsches in what Ruiz described as “a private and experimental event.”

Flyer for the first exhibition of Amelia Live x Art, a Private Porsche Showcase Collection that will feature curated artwork from a variety of artists and a private collection of Porsches
Flyer for the first exhibition of Amelia Live x Art, a Private Porsche Showcase Collection that will feature curated artwork from a variety of artists and a private collection of Porsches

The first exhibition of Prestige art gallery will feature more than a dozen local and international artists, among them Eric Alfaro, who recently painted aviator Amelia Earhart in one of Poe’s Lofts company buildings, where the district begins.

Painting of the aviator Amelia Earhart at the beginning of the Amelia District, located to the west of the park, which borders Hialeah. The artist in charge of the work is Eric Alfaro.
Painting of the aviator Amelia Earhart at the beginning of the Amelia District, located to the west of the park, which borders Hialeah. The artist in charge of the work is Eric Alfaro.

Miami artist Alex Mijares will also be there. Mijares was the artist in charge of designing the official poster of the Calle Ocho festival in 2017. More recently he has had exhibitions at the Milander Center in Hialeah. He also has exhibited his colorful handbag designs at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science. In 2022 he was the creator of the Cuba Nostalgia poster.

Alexander Mijares, creator of the Cuba Nostalgia poster.
Alexander Mijares, creator of the Cuba Nostalgia poster.

The exhibition will feature the works of Fredy Villamil, a painter and cartoonist who, with his art, transports the viewer to a unique world of emotions and memories.

Also included in the event will be self-taught artist Robert Blanco of Miami, who specializes in street art and is influenced by his environment and how he experiences it. Recently, he painted a mural in the Garden of the Arts in the city of Hialeah.

Artist José Luis Bermúdez also is participating in the exhibition. Bermúdez concentrates on portrait painting. Juanma García, a contemporary painter, will also be an exhibitor, among others.

Miami Lakes-based Prestige Companies builds residential and mixed-use developments in Hialeah, with more than 17 projects, including several that will soon be included in the eastern area of the city: Flamingo Village in Hialeah Park, and Market Station, near the Tri-Rail station.

In the Amelia district alone, Prestige has seven projects, with more than 700 rental apartments. Ruiz said the company wants to buy all the sheds and warehouses in the area to diversify the area.