Miami’s flying car port is almost finished. And the flying cars are not far behind.
A facility that could accommodate a flying-car future is nearing completion atop downtown’s 60-story Paramount Miami Worldcenter luxury condo tower.
Meanwhile, a true-blue flying car just hit the market.
The Paramount’s flying-car port is the brainchild of its developer, Dan Kodsi. He first revealed the port plan last year. Since then, Kodsi says a Jetsons-like future has only become closer to reality. In an email, he singled out Uber, which in May 2018 announced the five manufacturers it will use to test vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL, vehicles.
And Kodsi noted that a surface-to-air vehicle can now be purchased from Dutch tech company PAL-V. Its “Liberty” edition can be pre-ordered in the U.S. for about $600,000; a sport edition is also available for $400,000.
“So it’s happening,” Kodsi said.
Friday at 9 p.m., a special edition of CBS Sunday Morning is set to feature the Paramount and its sky lobby as part of a package on the future of flying cars.
The top of the Paramount, part of the broader Worldcenter complex will first serve as an observation deck for residents.
If and when the flying-car future arrives, the rooftop will be retrofitted with a landing pad., and the observation deck will become a sky lobby for airborne commuters.
“We have built the 60th floor SkyDeck pool so its floor will rise; transforming itself into a take-off and landing pad,” Kodsi said.
Via a glass-enclosed elevator, passengers will be lifted to Paramount’s SkyLobby from where they will take-off and land at its SkyPort high above downtown Miami.
“People can actually fly home; land on the roof and, instead of entering and exiting through a ground floor lobby, they can access their homes from the top of the building,” he said.
The Paramount is 85-percent sold out, Kodsi said, and is expected to open within the next two quarters. The entire Worldcenter project is expected to be completed in late 2022.
