Glass condominium towers rise over private marinas along the Intracoastal Waterway.
What Aventura looks like
Glass residential towers line Island Boulevard on , built between 1985 and 2013 and running 24 to 33 storeys. Floor to ceiling glass panels run the height of each tower, with private balconies stacked one above the next facing the Intracoastal Waterway. A marina curves around the island's edge below them.
The sits at the foot of the towers, a low white building with arched windows and a red tile roof around a swimming pool lined with royal palms. Lounge chairs and umbrellas run the length of the pool deck, with the bridge onto the island a short walk behind.
sits at the corner of Biscayne Boulevard, the largest mall in Florida at nearly three million square feet under one roof and dating from the early 1980s. The begins at its southwest corner and crosses the Intracoastal Waterway toward Sunny Isles Beach.
At , on NE 29th Avenue, two towers of 11 and 7 storeys share the same floor to ceiling glass doors opening onto private balconies. , a 12 acre strip of playgrounds and ball fields on the water, sits a short way south of the mall.
Shot in Aventura
The 1988 television special Bob Hope's Jolly Christmas Show taped a staged snowstorm with Bob Hope and Dolly Parton on Williams Island, with a separate segment at the marina featuring Don Johnson. The 1992 film Folks!, with Tom Selleck and Don Ameche, used one of the towers at 2800 Island Boulevard.
Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie, 2012
The Mediterranean Village
The 2012 documentary Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie includes exterior footage of the Mediterranean Village and the Williams Island Marina. Downey, the talk show host it profiles, lived on Williams Island at the time. Street View
Marina del Rey's harbor was dredged on reclaimed wetland in the 1960s, and its waterfront has since filled with glass condominium towers on Marina Pointe Drive that ring the basin much the way Williams Island's towers ring its own marina. The waterline framing of a balcony over docked boats reads the same in both places. Marina del Rey runs lower and denser, with three and four storey blocks mixed among the towers, so a wide shot needs to stay tight on the taller buildings to hold the match. Try searching glass towers over a marina now.
Puerto Madero's glass apartment towers rise over a dredged dock basin much the way Williams Island's towers rise over their own marina, most of them built from the 1990s onward. Both share the same floor to ceiling glazing and stacked private balconies. Renovated brick warehouses line one side of the Puerto Madero basin and would give it away in a wide shot, so keep the frame on the glass towers and the water alone. Try searching glass towers over a basin now.
Coal Harbour's glass condo towers stand over their own marina full of docked boats, matching Williams Island's pairing of tower and water. Floor to ceiling glass and private balconies run the height of both skylines. The North Shore mountains rise behind Coal Harbour in any wide shot and would give away the location immediately, so frames need to stay low and close on the water line. Try searching floor to ceiling glass towers now.
