Sonesta Mikado Finally?

The ground breaking was supposed to start June 2010. Now Tibor Hollow says it will be Jan 2011. Let us wait and see. So by 2012 we should have both the Publix and Sonesta Mikado opening simultaneously. With the biscayne bLvd reconstruction also over by then, hopefully we can see great times for OMNI area.

First post-downturn mixed-use project set to rise in downtown Miami
By Yudislaidy Fernandez
The crane is making its return to Miami's urban core.
Close to beginning construction is the first post-downturn mixed-use development, a 35-floor hotel, residences and office tower led by developer Tibor Hollo.
Mr. Hollo, chairman and president of Florida East Coast Realty, said he expects to break ground on the planned Sonesta Mikado Hotel & Residences in January or February.
This site at 1701 NE Fourth Ave. is the last piece of a large mixed-use development the developer planned in the Omni area.
Already finished are the 42-story luxury apartment building Bay Parc Plaza and the 635-unit luxury condominium Opera Tower.
Mr. Hollo said he hopes to begin building as soon as the City of Miami issues the needed construction permits. Construction is expected to take about two years.
Sonesta Mikado's plans haven't changed, Mr. Hollo said.
The Asian-themed hotel, with 250 hotel rooms and 119 suites for rent or sale, is to be managed by Sonesta, a Boston-based company that owns a hotel in Coconut Grove.
This would be the next hotel Sonesta manages in Miami-Dade. Its long-time Key Biscayne hotel was razed for a project that has yet to begin.
The hotel complex also encompasses 50,000 square feet of medical offices, with the concept that visiting patients can stay and recover at the hotel.
Mr. Hollo said he's already in talks with plastic surgeons interested in offices there.
The upscale hotel is to feature two restaurants and a full-service spa. Other amenities include a recreation deck, bar and grill, and 14,000 square feet of meeting space.
Stephanie Sonnabend, chief executive officer and president of Sonesta International Hotels Corp., didn't return calls.
Hospitality consultant Guy Trusty said Mr. Hollo has always been ahead of his time and has the ability to raise financing because of his longevity in the business.
"He knows his market and has the ability to execute on a project," said Mr. Trusty, president of Lodging & Hospitality Realty. "And I think his timing couldn't be better, and the neighborhood can support it."
Existing hotels in Miami's Omni area are the Hilton Miami Downtown, which Mr. Hollo built, Doubletree Grand Hotel and the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. Nearby, 56-room Tempo Miami recently opened inside Marquis Residences.
If Mr. Hollo begins construction in early 2011, Mr. Trusty said, he would open the mixed-use project in two years — hopefully in an improved economy.
No other hotels are rising now in the urban core. But near Brickell, developer Bernard Wolfson is building a 15-story Hampton Inn and Suites with 221 guest rooms.
Mr. Hollo's firm began developing the Omni area in 1977, sparking the transformation that has led to the bustling district it is today.
This latest project, Mr. Hollo said, would complete about 15 million square feet developed in this neighborhood, which is coming alive with residents, restaurants and entertainment venues.
"It's a very vibrant young community that is taking advantage of the Miami Heat and the performing arts center," he said. "Everything is happening there now."

I Love Downtown

Something for all downtown lovers. Click on the link to read the full article with photos:
http://www.biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=489:dwntn-uptrn&catid=46:features&Itemid=162

DWNTN UPTRN

Written by Pamela Robin Brandt Photos by Silvia Ros

If you haven’t walked around downtown Miami for a while, you’re in for a surprise -- a big surprise Tre Italian Bistro owner José Goyanes with partner Jennifer Porciello. Headline from a January 2006 article in the New York Times: “Downtown Miami: What’s Hot and Trendy and Not South Beach?” The writer of the story, I’m embarrassed to say, was me. That headline, which I did not write, was, to put it kindly, premature. The article was written during the height of South Florida’s most recent real estate boom, slated for a part of the paper’s travel section aimed at buyers of second homes. While the piece itself did make clear this was a downtown Miami soon-to-come, not one already here, it still glowed with confidence that the 3041 new downtown condominium units just completed, plus 13,890 units then under construction in the area -- not to mention plans filed for buildings containing 10,534 more -- would transform Miami’s central city from a strictly 9-to-5 office area into a vibrant, 24/7 high-density urban center where people lived, worked, and played. And soon! The conclusion didn’t seem to be mere hype or pure delusion. After all, buyers were lining up around the block on the days when some luxury high-rise residences opened for pre-construction sales, snapping up $600,000 one-bedrooms like they were Hannah Montana concert tickets. What actually happened, of course, was the recession. The real estate boom turned into a bust, and many buyers turned out to be speculators looking not for homes but for quick and profitable resales, which weren’t about to happen in hard times. Some condo construction stopped cold; some stalled indefinitely. And newspaper stories about newly completed high-rises no longer talked glowingly of bay views but instead about unlit windows in unoccupied condos. But recently I noticed something strange. In my role as the Biscayne Times “Dining Guide” dominatrix, I watched as the Downtown/Brickell listings section practically exploded, nearly doubling in the past 18 months. Odder yet was the fact that most of the new restaurants were not located south of the Miami River, in already restaurant-rich Brickell but rather in the rougher-edged area north of the river. When the trickle of intriguing downtown eateries at the start of 2009 became a deluge by fall, I knew it was time to investigate. Gusman director Margaret Lake: “Truly, I can now walk to get almost everything I need!” Restaurants are renowned as reliable urban-gentrification barometers. Commonly they’re the first retail businesses to open in emerging neighborhoods. Boutiques, snazzy salons, theaters, and galleries rapidly follow. Granted, the downtown cuisine scene had improved since the 1990s, when lawyer friends constantly whined that there wasn’t even one business-district restaurant suitable for a power lunch except the City Club. But to have four such places open in July alone? With residential skyscrapers showing very few lit windows at night, no way could downtown have become so hot again, so fast. You couldn’t help but wonder: Was the owner of Mia at Biscayne out of his freakin’ mind? What was a 14,000-square-foot, ultra-high tech restolounge serving cutting-edge global cuisine till the wee hours doing on the corner of Flagler Street and Biscayne Boulevard, an area that had, for decades, been dead after sunset? Feeding a lot of hungry new residents, according to Downtown Development Authority executive director Alyce Robertson. These were not the affluent, older empty-nesters and snowbirds, nor were they foreign jet-setters with Euros to burn -- the people who, in 2005, were expected to occupy downtown’s new luxury condos. They were young renters. “The perception has been that all of downtown’s condos are empty because of the real estate bust -- that a picture of downtown would look like one big empty condo. But that’s not true,” Robertson insists firmly. “We did a residency study, completed last July, that showed a 62-percent occupancy rate for downtown condos.” The DDA is currently compiling new figures, she adds, which are not yet available. “But based on last summer’s study, which indicated that sales and leasing activity of new units increased over the three-month period from April through June over the first three months of 2009, we expect to find that occupancy is now significantly higher than 62 percent.” That figure, she adds, is an average: “Basically, condos that came on the market after 2008 are still empty. Condos before then have largely been filled.” Why have luxury condos filled up at the same time the economy has tanked? One reason, says Metro 1 Properties broker Tony Cho, who has been active in downtown since 2003, is that condo prices, which developers doggedly kept at boom levels for way too long, finally dropped to an “appropriately affordable” level. “If you look at the prices of so many of the luxury buildings -- condos that were originally going for $600 or more per square foot -- you can now get them for the low 200s, even the high 100s,” he says. “Rents have gone from $2 per square foot a month to between $1.10 and $1.30. Prices have come down elsewhere too, but in downtown there’s been a more dramatic reduction than in South Beach.” In agreement is Realtor and recent SoBe transplant Abraham Ash, who now lives downtown. His own condo, 50 Biscayne, is a new central-business-district high-rise whose features include a full-service concierge, a tropically landscaped “urban oasis” pool deck, a two-level spa/fitness center, a two-level club room, a two-level party room, an outdoor bay-view party deck. You get the idea. Says Ash: “I’m in a luxury condo for half the price I’d be paying in South Beach for a second-floor walk-up in a building with no security and no amenities. I’m stuck in downtown and I love it!” Brian Basti at Ecco Pizzateca: “Everyone who has a business here lives here, and really cares passionately about the neighborhood.” The DDA’s Robertson points out that downtown’s rental market barely existed before the bust, but now it’s proving a boon in developing a vibrant new identity in the area where most renters live: the central business district. “In a way,” she says, “the condo sales bust has been a cloud with a silver lining, because many speculators who bought condos when prices were at the high end want to hold onto them until the market goes up again. Therefore there has been a lot of renting for very favorable prices, and that has brought more young people into downtown than would otherwise have been here. So there’s a lot of youth-oriented energy going on.” Hence the recent explosion of new restaurants concentrated in the central business district. The district’s younger energy is especially apparent at night, in its brand-new, open-late restaurants (as well as some older restaurants, formerly lunch-only, that started serving dinner in the past year or so). A restaurateur who has experienced, and currently caters to, both the 9-to-5 business crowd and new residents is José Goyanes, who has owned businesses in the district for 15 years. Among them are Tre, a new, casual-chic Italian bistro/lounge at the eastern end of Flagler Street, and the more Old World Italian La Loggia, one of the few upscale restaurants in the area suitable for a power lunch when it opened in 2000. “La Loggia is in front of the courthouse,” Goyanes says, “so diners are a lot of judges and lawyers. The atmosphere is more clubby. They like to sit at certain regular tables and be seen. At Tre, which is near the new condos, days go by when you don’t see a judge. We draw a residential crowd.” Locals-orientation is typical of new enterprises in the emerging central business district, even at Mia at Biscayne. Though the mega-restolounge outdoes any South Beach nightspot in ultra-high-tech décor (like an “iBar” with a touch-screen top patrons can manipulate), Mia aims for convivial accessibility in its entertainment, says homeboy chef extraordinaire Gerdy Rodriguez. To reflect downtown’s multicultural population, events have ranged from neighborhood offerings like Monday Night Football to an upscale Latin party running from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. How’s that for a 24-hour downtown? Goyanes feels that concentrating on locals rather than tourists is vital to building a solid 24/7 area. “In the 1990s, downtown businesses were centered on tourists,” Goyanes says. “What was typical to see was, during the daytime, groups of 150 tourists going into discount electronics and luggage stores. That makes you susceptible to the tides of foreign currency. You can’t do that.” Tre actually was a luggage store before Goyanes transformed it into a place locals frequent even on nights normally slow for restaurants. “Monday is often our busiest night,” he notes. DDA executive director Alyce Robertson says the condo bust brought young renters, and their energy, to downtown. But Goyanes did more than focus on locals. He became one, moving from Coral Gables 18 months ago. “I began to be so excited about the new quality of life downtown, I wanted to be more a part of it. I don’t ever leave downtown!” Nor is there practically any need to, according to Loft 1 resident Margaret Lake, director of the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. “It’s got some great stores, and downtown’s easily walkable. Truly, I can now walk to get almost everything I need!” she enthuses. “I didn’t even buy a car for the first six months. I wouldn’t have bought one ever if downtown had a decent supermarket.” When downtown resident Alex Gonzalez started his social-networking website Miami Urban Life in 2007, “it was mostly just some happy hours listings,” he recalls. “Now I can go way beyond drinking.” Last month’s listings ranged from a DDA-sponsored free concert series in Bayfront Park and “Meet Your Neighbor” events to a benefit for Haiti and, during the cold spell, a blanket/clothes drop for the neighborhood’s homeless. “Plus I try to organize my own creative ways to get people together,” Gonzalez continues. “We’re now doing Friday night happy hour dodgeball events.” Games are at the Downtown Athletic Club, which, says club marketer Rob Aylward, is doing extensive outreach to new residents. “I don’t live downtown. I live on the Beach,” confesses Jessica Wu, a holistic practitioner and dodgeballer. “But I play downtown. It’s less pretentious here. When I go to a club downtown, I don’t get harassed by doormen or wait in lines. I love eating out and there are some great little bistros. I attend a lot of free downtown events like the DWNTWN Concert Series in Bayfront Park, or the free events they have at the Gusman frequently. “In 2006 I did live in downtown for a year,” she adds, “but there wasn’t enough for me to do. Also I found it a little dangerous and seedy at night. Now it reminds me of Philly, where I was raised. There was a community feel and always something to do as soon as you stepped outside your house. It’s where a lot of young professionals lived, and artists, musicians, and up-and-coming entrepreneurs. And now downtown Miami is the same.” “Four years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of living in downtown,” says Realtor Andres del Corral, who was the first tenant to move into the Met 1 condo, in May 2008. “I spent two weeks in an empty building, and downtown still had some ghost-town feel I could sense. After the first month it was 20 percent full. Now it’s 70 to 80 percent full, and the neighborhood has suddenly bloomed. After work there are lots of happy hours in the nabe. The nightlife’s excellent. And there are suddenly a lot of restaurants. I go jogging after dark, too, through Bayfront or along the river on Riverwalk, and stroll the street with a nice watch on and feel absolutely no fear. This is a new downtown! Those who haven’t been here in the past year haven’t really been here.” All that might sound like cock-eyed optimism, and no one’s suggesting that downtown Miami is suddenly New York or San Francisco. It’s just that downtown’s new residents are feeling the pull-together spirit early pioneers had when their gritty clumps of sod finally started sprouting something decent. Two years ago, for instance, when Margaret Lake moved to Miami to revive the historic Gusman, she settled in one of downtown’s few nonbayfront condos, Loft 1, located in the then still-under-construction city center. “I figured, to restore the Gusman to its role as the city’s heart, I had to live there to understand it. And I saw it blossoming. It was phenomenal!” she exclaims. “From my window, I watched the lights in Loft 2 go on one by one as people finally moved in. It was like watching a garden grow -- and participating in it!” It’s natural for people to get excited about revitalizing a blighted urban area when they all live and work in the same compact, densely populated area, says Brian Basti, owner of Ecco Pizzateca, a welcoming alt-culture hangout he co-owns with Aramis Lorie. They were formerly the team behind PS 14, located in the isolated, still-tough neighborhood west of the Arsht Center. “We’ve always been in desolate neighborhoods,” Basti says. “I want to be the first guy in!” But now he prefers doing it in the central business district, where he also lives in one of the new high-rises. “Everyone who has a business here lives here, and really cares passionately about the neighborhood. It’s not like parts of Miami where owners are douche-bag investors who live in some foreign country and only care about making money from their business. Here everyone knows everyone, so you can get credit everywhere. It’s like a small town.” Adds Lake: “We work together to increase the market for all our businesses. Like, I want to encourage downtown people to participate in building an audience for this theater, which should be their home. So I’ve partnered with Tre and Ecco. José told me: ‘Tre does so well when you do shows.’ So I call him and say, ‘We’re having a show next Saturday, you should stay open late.’ And then he’ll distribute my flyers to his customers beforehand. Brian does the same. We’ve been discussing we should do ‘Dinner and a Movie’ cooperatively. It’s all about using community.” That’s the grassroots DIY approach to developing downtown. Meanwhile, the DDA has developed an official approach to attract new residents and businesses, support those that have already migrated to downtown, and sustain the growth. Often the DDA partners with established entities such as the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County, FDOT, the City of Miami Police Department, the Downtown Miami Partnership, American Airlines Arena, Gusman Center, and many more. The list of initiatives -- based on surveys to determine what downtown residents wanted most -- that have already been implemented is mind-boggling. “The revitalization of downtown is like the chess game on Star Trek,” Robertson explains. “Three dimensional. It’s about working on many levels at once. But what residents most wanted was a downtown that looks and feels clean and safe. So since I came on as director in April 2008, we’ve spent a lot of time on beautification -- which is important. The idea is, if it looks broken, it is broken. My orientation is: ‘Clean it up, green it up.’” For example, if you’ve been on Flagler Street recently, have you found yourself thinking: “Hmmm, were those palm trees always there? What about those mammoth decorative planters on the sidewalks? Actually the sidewalks look awfully new themselves. Hey, why aren’t there any cigarette butts in the street? Oh, sorry officer! I swear there wasn’t a crosswalk here before.” Fratelli Milan is one of many new downtown restaurants. Robertson continues: “One idea behind a high-density, high-rise downtown is that it’s a walkable area, not just a place people drive in and out of, so we focused on amenities a pedestrian would want. So we’re landscaped. We installed new sidewalks and crosswalks. We’re pressure-washing Flagler Street at least a couple of times a week, and there’s a Downtown Enhancement Team of homeless people picking up litter. “Better lighting is coming in the next six months; FPL is installing poles now. And the new chief of police committed, in a meeting last week, to putting significantly more police on the streets.” Among the DDA’s projects is a public-transportation treat: a cute, smart-looking, rubber-tired Brickell/Biscayne trolley, modeled after those in Coral Gables. The initial route, only five months from launch, will run from the Rickenbacker Causeway to 18th or 20th Street on the north. And because 67 percent of surveyed downtown residents favored extending the route farther north, to Midtown and the Design District, Robinson promises that’ll happen too -- eventually. “The trolley will help reduce road congestion, air pollution, and parking problems. Mainly, it will enhance connectivity throughout all downtown’s areas.” Walking the streets of downtown, you’ll also notice numerous big, shiny, high-impact glass picture windows instead of old metal shutters. That’s because there are “Façade Improvement and Shutter Removal” grants for storefront businesses to encourage window-shopping and decrease the war-zone feel. To support top-quality retail and entertainment venues, there are “Tenant Improvement Grants” that reimburse for property improvements, but only for businesses that residents have said they want. Yes: Bookshops, music/video stores, home accessory stores of the Williams Sonoma or Restoration Hardware type. No: Dollar stores, electronics and luggage shops, cafeteria-style breakfast/lunch joints. Oh, and about that supermarket? A first-rate supermarket topped the wish list of every resident questioned about downtown’s current deficiencies. Whole Foods, which signed a lease in 2004 but pulled out in 2008 when it seemed unlikely that downtown would have the residential base it needed by its projected 2011 opening, hasn’t yet come creeping back. But there’s hope. Robertson says several markets are now being “actively recruited.” Though she refuses to name names, Fresh Market slipped out after relentless pestering. “I do think the occupancy study convinced them that the area is close to having sufficient population density,” she says. Should Robertson and the DDA need any recruitment incentives, they need look no further than their own survey. Second on residents’ wish list, by an overwhelming margin, was -- no joke -- “two or three dive bars.” Here’s the incentive: Natural foods markets like Whole Foods and Fresh are very self-conscious about their “green” profile. If they’d like to burnish their image by helping to reduce air pollution in a dramatic way, just open a store in downtown Miami -- and sponsor a couple of dive bars. With the market and the dive bars in place, scores of new high-rise dwellers would immediately get rid of their cars. Hell, they’d never leave downtown.

Biscayne Parks Future

Miami’s oldest park deserves better than the future it faces

Looking east toward Biscayne Bay: The towers could be reflected in the grass. BT photos by Jim W. Harper

Is your park smarter than a fifth grader? That probably depends upon which city you call home. When it comes to Biscayne Park, which is located in the City of Miami, we may need to rephrase the question, to lower our expectations somewhat -- say, down to preschool. Even a four-year-old can draw a square and color it green. Add a sun and a pretty rainbow and you’ve got Miami’s oldest and loneliest park.

Not to be confused with the village of the same name, this Biscayne Park is stuck between its long past and potentially promising future. Its current reading on the park-odometer: pathetic.

As the oldest park in the City of Miami proper, and second in age in the county only to Lummus Park in South Beach, you would think that Biscayne Park would be a grande dame. But she doesn’t even qualify as frumpy. She’s invisible. She’s the unwanted grandmother who was put away in a home, locked up, and forgotten. On the other side of the fence are all her friends, enjoying the lovely shade in the historic Miami City Cemetery. Both are managed by the City of Miami’s Parks and Recreation Department.

From within the cemetery, visitors have no idea that another park exists on the other side of the northern fence, because it looks exactly the same as the southern view of an empty lot.

Biscayne Park is a large, monotonous rectangle of almost nothing but grass. Last year concrete benches and immature oak trees were added along the fence’s perimeter, but these additions give it about as much character as a Walmart parking lot.

Parking lots! There are plenty nearby. Two oversize lots and an open field sit in between forlorn Biscayne Park and the nearest main thoroughfare of NE 2nd Avenue. What would a fifth grader do? He would connect the dots, blast away the parking lots, and create one of the largest green spaces near downtown. That is my expansive dream for Biscayne Park. Upgrade the dream by returning the park to one of its original uses as a nursery, and it could rival nearby Margaret Pace Park as an urban jewel.

So what is the City of Miami planning?

A skateboard park.

In fact the skateboard park is a done deal for this neighborhood, as the proposal period ended October 23 and Miami’s Community Redevelopment Agency has already set aside $1 million for the project. The proposal states that the skateboard portion will consume a maximum of one and a half acres, or 65,340 square feet, which equates to roughly one-third of the current grassy field.

A skateboard park might be a good idea if: 1) Miami was not already overrun by concrete, and 2) this particular park offered shade to counteract the heat that will be generated by pouring more concrete over existing grass. Miami is paradise paved over. And no, this park offers no shade whatsoever. None.

The heat wave of October made visiting this Biscayne Park an insult added to the injury of its dull appearance. Perhaps I’m missing some depth of meaning created by grass in a large rectangle surrounded by a white metal fence. Is this a tribute to uber-minimalism and our post-apocalyptic future? Toss in a fire station at one end, dilapidated houses along one side, the cemetery on the other, the offices of the civil rights organization PULSE at the eastern border, and Biscayne Park starts to feel edgy.

The edginess (and ugliness) comes when approaching the park from the east on 19th Street, after passing the beautiful Temple Israel. If approaching the park from the west, the open space offer surprisingly interesting vistas of the high-rises of downtown Miami and Edgewater. It almost feels as if the condos should be reflected in the grass.

But Biscayne Park remains invisible between its strange bedfellows and lack of access to a major street. The only reason I found the park at all was a chance visit to Temple Israel next door. Look over there! Is there a park on the other side of that fence? Or is it just another abandoned condo project? It’s a -- well, it has signs calling it a park, so it must be.

The park’s main patrons are the middle-school students of the Aspira Eugenio Maria De Hostos Youth Leadership Charter School, located adjacent to the park’s northwestern corner. During the week, they play volleyball and soccer on the sprawling fields, unless those fields have sprouted mud puddles that are clearly visible in the park’s center after a rain storm.

While the students enjoy games, nonparticipating (lazy) kids huddle around the benches in the corner near one of the few shade trees (technically outside the park). Before the benches were installed last year, the kids used to sit in the dirt, according to their P.E. teacher.

The P.E. teacher said that his students don’t need a skateboard park, but they could use courts of the basketball, tennis, or other variety. They could also use exercise bars and a basic playground for their younger siblings.

But alas, the fate of Biscayne “Skateboard” Park has already been decided. The redevelopment will undoubtedly bring new patrons to the park, and skateboarders may join the area’s busy street traffic. May God grant them the wisdom to wear helmets.

The most immediate upgrade needed in Biscayne Park is water fountains. Perhaps the fire station next door could extend a hose through the fence and open the spigot. Some restrooms would be nice, too.

The second-biggest need at the park is landscaping -- especially in the corners, where the look tends toward dirt, rocks, and litter. It’s not a good look.

Perhaps the skateboard park, scheduled to open next year, will accomplish the Herculean feat of integrating this patch of green into a neighborhood struggling to define itself.

If you really want to dream about the park’s potential, look at Google Maps and imagine it as the center of a greenway stretching west on 18th Street from Margaret Pace Park to the cemetery and Biscayne Park, and then south along NE 1st Avenue, where there are numerous vacant lots.

This being Miami, it will never happen. But even a fifth-grader has a right to dream.

http://www.biscaynetimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=431:lonely-lost-and-doomed-to-concrete&catid=42:park-patrol&Itemid=158

Revival & Rejuvenation of Downtown

Study Confirms Downtown Miami is Coming to Life

As CPN reported last week, the results of a new residential occupancy and closings study for Downtown Miami defy the perception that Miami’s urban core is a ghost town awash with empty condos.

Conducted by independent research firm Goodkin Consulting/Focus Real Estate Advisors in partnership with the Miami Downtown Development Authority, the report surveyed 80 Downtown Miami buildings erected during the height of the boom and found that (1) a healthy majority of these units – 62% -- are occupied by mainly full-time owners or renters, (2) occupancy and closing rates are trending upward, and (3) equilibrium is probable within three to four years.

The study provides the first comprehensive picture of the number of people living in Downtown Miami since the start of the construction boom, reinforcing what people living and working here have witnessed for some time. Take a walk along Brickell Avenue or Biscayne Boulevard, two of Downtown’s major thoroughfares, after 5 pm and it’s clear that Downtown is filling up. We are home to a diverse population of residents who are drawn to the convenience of urban living, Downtown’s affordability, its waterfront location, a host of entertainment and cultural destinations, widespread access to public transit, and to our standing as Florida’s largest employment center.

Up to now, much attention has focused on Downtown Miami’s excess inventory of condominiums, but the Study’s findings suggest that we will see a steady increase of buyers and renters move into the market to capitalize on the competitive pricing. In fact, census projections indicate that the area’s residential base has increased from 40,000 to 60,000 since 2000, with more than 10,000 residents expected over the next six years. Adding to the mix are more than 190,000 employees come to work in Downtown each day. In response to this population growth, we are seeing more and more retailers relocating to Downtown Miami. From 2005 to 2008, Downtown Miami welcomed more than 85 new businesses and another 30 are expected to before the close of this year. These include high-end restaurants and retail shops that remain open on nights and weekends to cater to the growing number of residents.

While there is still much work to be done, we are encouraged by the findings in this report, which send a clear signal that Downtown Miami is coming alive. As price discounting continues – for sales and rentals – we will see even more people move into Downtown Miami and live here year-round. The DDA plans to update this study on a regular basis to learn more about the growing residential population. The more we can learn about this demographic, the better positioned retailers and service providers will be to meet their needs. To download a free copy of the full report and methodology employed, please visit www.miamidda.com

Fantasy or future Reality?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U738MYMkk_I

Miapolis will be a metropolis in the sky, self-sufficient, environmental friendly and with a remarkable economic impact leaving no one behind.Miapolis is about innovation and creativity: the impressive Pan-American plaza with dancing fountains offering free daily shows; an indoor theme park for the family; a trade center for the Gateway of the Americas; an exciting amphitheater, and the stunning public promenade 30 ft high overlooking Biscayne Bay.Miapolis will be an economic engine, and a sensible and rational solution for the local economy; resolving the Parrot Jungle debts, producing $1.0 billion annually in tax revenues; the Mega Plan estimated TIF for the CRAs by 2030 will be doubled; and, no taxpayer money, loans, or costs over-runs. More important, Miapolis creates 42,000 construction and 28,000 permanent JOBS.Miapolis will provide constant worldwide exposure of Miami, increasing tourism, international trade, passengers for the airlines, cargo for the Port of Miami and MIA, and benefiting all Downtown by attracting millions of visitors.

Welcome to the 1800 Club Blog

(Click on pic to enlarge)

I have been planning this for over a year and finally it took shape. I think I did manage to put together a decent blog for the benefit of all of the 1800 Club residents.

Hello friends and neighbors, we now have a forum to air our views and opinions. I hope that all the residents of 1800 Club, both owners and renters would use this forum to make a difference and living at The 1800 Club a great experience. Our immediate neighbors adjoining the Pace Park and surrounding areas are also welcome to join and chime in.
I will be periodically posting articles that affect our lifes for good or for bad and hope to create a discussion amongst ourselves.

The articles will be relevant to:

1. 1800 Club & the neighboring buildings such as Quantum, Cite, Paramount, Opera, Bay Parc, Grand, Venetia, Biscayne Plaza etc.
2. Pace Park
3. OMNI and Performing Arts District
4. Design District and Midtown
5. Park West, Downtown, Bayfront Park, Museum Park and AAA
6. Brickell, South Beach & The City of Miami in General.

So If anything of relevance happens between Rickenbacker and Julia Tuttle, East of I 95, you will hear it here from me. If you come across a piece of news that you want me to post here, please e-mail me the link to miamidowntownliving@gmail.com
If you want to air your opinion about our building and its activities, please feel free to do so. Send me your gripe or complaint or that brilliant idea and I will post it as a new post so that everyone can chip in their viewpoint.

Please subscribe to and follow the blog. I am sending it to the initial 40 e-mails I have from the building residents. I am depending on you to forward this blog and the link to your neighbors and friends for a wider participation and success. If you are a new subscriber, please send me an e-mail so that I can update you with any new developments. Thanks.

Enjoy and Live Well.
AJ

Baywalk Plan in Cold Storage

(Click on pic for a larger map)

It has been submitted in 2004 for approval. The plan to connect Pace Park, Museum Park and Bayfront park with a pedestrian walkway along the bay is languishing in some file cabinet. This is a must have and must do project for Miami Downtown and its citizens. Please start lobbying the commissioners and the powers that be of how important this project is for Miami and your neighborhood.

$1.14 Million Skate Park Coming to 19th street at OMNI

(As reported by Adam Mizrahi of Urban City Architecture)
A new skate park is coming to “passive Biscayne Park” (I don’t know if you can really call this patch of grass a park) – making this the first public skate park in the City of Miami. Located at 150 NE 19th St in Miami the funding, estimated at just over a million dollars, has already been approved by commissioners.
As Downtown has grown and people have begun to move in there has been a sharp increase in the number of kids skating through Brickell and Downtown. Every day I see groups (5-30) of kids skating around the corporate plazas and parks of the area. Providing a public, safe, and creative urban space for them is a great idea! What currently is a rather drab and mediocre area of town will get a rather interesting and unique attraction that many people are sure to visit — even those from outside downtown.
Furthermore, this skate park will serve as another attraction for Downtown Miami — meaning this will be another reason to move to downtown and the surrounding areas! A part of town that now lacks enough pedestrians and “eyes on the street” to make the area feel safe (especially at night) will get a valid activity that will have various groups of people out on the streets. This is not just another passive park — it will be an active, unique, and diverse park that will breathe life into the urban fabric. Yet another (interesting I must say) piece of the city is coming together.
As residents continue to move in this trend should continue. New residents moving in will create more demand — just as kids skating in the streets has created a market for a skate park other needs must be fulfilled. Can anyone say diner, bookstore, or movie theater?
Also interesting is the fact that the skate park will be next to the old City of Miami graveyard. While some have voice objections – I think it is quite interesting and rather nice to have a cemetary next to a park — even if it is a skate park. Cities must encourage the diversity, mixing, and varied interactions that make cities great. In San Francisco, the Mission Dolores graveyard is directly next to and in plain sight of the elementary school playground and basketball courts.
In my opinion, within a dense urban environment kids skating next to a graveyard is perfectly acceptable and rather poetic (if I may say). These kinds of interesting urban interactions are what makes dense cities interesting incubators of human diversity, drama, and spontaneity.
For more information, the Biscayne Times has a wonderful article on the story.

Villa Magna Park plans in the dustbin. Brickellites continue to take their dogs to Pace Park.

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Plans to build a temporary park on Brickell's last prime bayfront parcel are all but dead. The license agreement for the project was withdrawn during last week's Miami commission meeting, marking a major setback in the quest for parks in the Brickell corridor. Developer Tibor Hollo, chairman and president of Florida East Coast Realty, and Commissioner Marc Sarnoff announced in December the two had reached a deal for the developer to lease the 2 acres at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive to the city for three years for $1 a year. Mr. Hollo planned a luxury hotel and condo development there but wanted to wait for a market rebound. Mr. Sarnoff said the developer caused plans to fall apart by bringing in an element that wasn't part of original discussions. "They wanted to have substantial change made to the MUSP (major use special permit)," he said, adding he didn't know what the exact change was. Miami requires major use special permits for large-scale developments. The city was to grant Mr. Hollo an extension to his permit in exchange for use of the land. Mr. Hollo denied the park project was halted because he requested a permit change. He added he still plans to develop a luxury hotel and condos there. He said the delays were caused by "the city's legal department" and that his intentions were to ensure the license agreement's language guarantees that the land returns to his ownership. "We want to make sure that the parcel cannot be taken from us because we've given it to the city for nothing," he said. City Attorney Julie Bru said some issues surfaced that weren't part of the original agreement between the parties but said she couldn't give further details. The initial agreement for Villa Magna Park called for the city to build a passive park with a dog park and a children's play area. Mr. Hollo would build pathways and install benches and the city would pay for landscaping and fencing. The developer would pay all ad valorem property taxes on the site during the lease, but the city would cover liability insurance and incur costs of any park-related lawsuits. Ms. Bru insisted her department wasn't responsible for delay. "I do not believe there is anything my department is waiting on for further action on my behalf." She said Mr. Hollo's legal team is still reviewing lease documents and could propose further action. Mr. Hollo said he's not calling off plans for the park, adding he just wants to protect his property. "We are willing to do this as long as the (city's) legal department is willing to protect us," he said. But Mr. Sarnoff said negotiations are over. He was excited about the prospect of giving Brickell a bayfront park, he said, but under the current situation it's better to part ways with the developer. Villa Magna Park was to be the first park built under Mr. Sarnoff's green spaces program, an effort to turn empty lots into parks through voluntary agreements with property owners. But he said he's talking with other developers. Mr. Sarnoff said he planned to meet with his staff Tuesday afternoon to define a "more definite program" to "avoid setbacks" such as this.

Actual Link from:
http://miamitodaynews.com/news/090219/story5.shtml

Rubber Wheeled Trolleys for Miami Streets

Miami is prioritizing four transit projects for its share of the transit dollars: rubber-wheel trolley systems for downtown Miami, Coral Way, Overtown and Allapattah. Each system is estimated at $700,000 to $850,000, a city project list shows. Mr. Gonzalez said one trolley route is to connect Brickell and downtown Miami, a second is to connect the Allapattah area with the Health District, a third is to run from Overtown/Park West to the Health District and a fourth is to serve riders along the Coral Way corridor. City Manager Pete Hernandez said the number of routes the city can fund depends on how much money is available, but the idea is to fund the busiest areas with the biggest transit needs. For example, he said a downtown trolley would connect the bustling downtown and Brickell areas, which are separated by the Miami River. "It would facilitate the movement of the workforce and residential component in that area," he said. The Coral Way trolley route, he added, would link Brickell to Coral Gables. Mr. Gonzalez said to fund the trolley systems long-term — after the stimulus is long spent — the city is looking at placing advertising outside and inside the vehicles and charging a nominal fare of 25 to 50 cents. Before any money is spent, Mr. Hernandez said, the city commission will first have to approve the trolley projects to receive funding. In November, the commission approved a trolley system along the Health District funded by a three-year joint participation agreement between the city and the Florida Department of Transportation, each contributing $374,000. The city's portion is to come from its share of the half percent transit surtax proceeds from the People's Transportation Plan. The city plans to request proposals for a firm to provide vehicles, drivers, fuel, maintenance and vehicle storage for the Heath District route. The city would oversee, monitor and finance the trolley system. The firm's contract is to include an option to add more routes depending on how much is received in transit stimulus money, Mr. Gonzalez said.

Read the full story at http://miamitodaynews.com/news/090312/story7.shtml

Plans for Two-tower residential, hotel and retail complex in OMNI Miami

(Click on Pic to enlarge) A local developer looks at the credit crisis and real estate bust as a perfect opportunity to lay plans to build a two-tower residential, hotel and retail complex in downtown Miami — once markets bounce back. The city commission is to vote today (4/23) on plans for the mixed-use project at 1700 Biscayne Blvd., between Northeast 17th Street and 17th Terrace west of the boulevard. An investor group listed as Biscayne Arts LLC, Brickell North Investments Inc. and Miami Proarts II Inc. plans to build the complex comprised of one 603-foot tower facing Biscayne to hold 261 residential units and 289 hotel rooms, the permit application shows. The 543-foot second tower to face Northeast Second Avenue is to have another 358 residences. The project is to include 140,281 square feet of retail and 1,369 parking spaces. Project investor James Goldstein, CEO of Midgard Development Group — builders of 79-loft condo The Bank at 8101 Biscayne Blvd. — said the property is well-located to fill the needs of a growing, more viable downtown. "There are no immediate markets for the project," he said. "But projects like these are done years in advance." A major use special permit is valid two years, followed by two two-year extensions. The site's current users include a Burger King, an office building and an exposition venue to open soon, Mr. Goldstein said. The plan is to build once the credit and real estate markets rebound and more housing is absorbed, he said. "We will like to be earlier in the (market) curve than later," he said. Construction could begin in two to three years, he said. "No financing is in place at this time," he said, adding jokingly: "I know there isn't any financing in the planet right now."

Actual Link from Miami Today:
http://miamitodaynews.com/news/090423/story1.shtml

Island Gardens mega-yacht, 50-slip marina set for launch this summer

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Construction of Flagstone Property Group's Island Gardens mega-yacht, 50-slip marina is set to begin this summer, Miami Beach developer Mehmet Bayraktar says. Investors have secured a $21 million loan for the project, he said. The first step is to dredge, he said, preparing for the marina's docks and piers with room for yachts up to 450 feet. Construction should take about 24 months, lease documents show. Some utility lines that pass through the site will take up to six months to move. Miami city commissioners agreed last Thursday to give the development group a 5-year extension on the construction period, but also committed the group to take over the ground lease in June. Once the lease is in place, Flagstone's monthly rent on the 11-acre Watson Island site is to rise from $51,000 to $83,000, totaling $1 million annually. The project's fourth extension is to allow the developer to obtain syndication from the financial markets for loans to build the remaining components: a Shangri-La hotel with 150 guest rooms and suites and 98 residences, a second hotel for which a management company has yet to be announced, and the retail and parking component. But in preparation for a worst-case scenario, the city — owner of the Watson Island land — has included safeguards in its latest amendment with Flagstone. Miami Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring said if the group cannot get the remaining financing for the retail and hotels by June 2011, the city can step in and take over the marina operation and re-bid the upland components. "You have a world-class marina that the city could very well take over and build upland amenities to go along with it."

In previous news:

Flagstone Property Group's $640 million luxury hotel and mega-yacht project in Watson Island is getting — once again — another chance. This one marks its fourth. But this time, in giving the developer an extension from three years to five to finish the project, the city is erecting legal fences to protect its waterfront investment in case financing for the half-billion-dollar project falls through. Flagstone went in front of Miami commissioners last Thursday asking for a fourth extension to its lease agreement. The group says it needs more time to secure financing on three major components of Island Gardens: two hotels and retail and parking. The milestone dates set in place are: —Begin work this summer on the multi-million dollar marina. —Complete by January 2011 development and construction plans on at least two major components besides the marina. —Close by June 2011 on construction loans for the remaining three components. —Begin construction by January 2012 on the three elements. Under the new arrangement, Flagstone must pay pro-rated phased development rent, in addition to the construction rent of $1 million. Flagstone has to begin paying in June when it takes over the ground lease. Two marina operators who participated in the city's original bid process for the site in 2001 turned out for the meeting to object to the amendment. They say that the change that detaches the marina from the upland components of the project was a material modification. Thus, the original bidders should get a second shot at the project, they said. City Attorney Julie Bru said she has reviewed solicitation documents, which she said "clearly authorize phased development, which is what they (developers) are doing now." Lillian Ser, attorney for Flagstone, said the developer's condition is temporary and was caused by the collapse in the financial markets. Other developers face the same circumstances, she said. "…You are not going to get another viable developer in here to bid on this project," Ms. Ser said. She said Island Gardens developer Mehmet Bayraktar has put $50 million of his own money into the project and it's not even off the ground. Close to 10 years in the making, the development has experienced several delays that Flagstone attributes to setbacks in getting permit approvals and a lawsuit by a former tenant on the property that took more than a year to settle. Watson Island on Biscayne Bay — connected to Miami and Miami Beach by the MacArthur Causeway — has remained underused for close to a decade since removal of earlier occupants. Themed park Jungle Island and the Miami Children's Museum are the only existing operations on the site. Obtaining financing for the more than $500 million project has been a slow process for Flagstone, especially after credit markets began tightening and the economy worsened. Having a backup plan if the mega-project falls through was a big concern for commissioners. Commissioner Angel Gonzalez said he needed assurance from the city's legal department that safeguards were in place. "Eighty-three thousand dollars (in annual rent) is peanuts compared to the potential of that property and what could be at stake from the city's side if that project goes down the tubes and we are not protected," he said. The city has set numerous protections in case Flagstone forecloses on the loan, City Attorney Bru said. Commissioner Marc Sarnoff was also concerned about the city's protection in the event of a default by Flagstone. After taking a break to discuss some legal issues, Ms. Bru returned and told commissioners that language was added to the documents addressing such concerns. In a scenario in which both Flagstone and the lender default on the lease, she said the city will regain the property. "…(The city) will be protected so all leasehold interest will be extinguished and the city can recapture the property free of all liens," she said. Another issue was jobs. With the region's unemployment rate on the rise, employment is a becoming a growing topic of discussion at city commission meetings. Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones said she wanted work such as plumbing, electrical and landscaping to stay local. Ms. Ser, the Flagstone attorney, said local workers are to be hired for at least 40% of the sub-contracted work.

Actual Link from Miami Today:
http://miamitodaynews.com/news/090430/story2.shtml

Three Omni 'catalyst' projects could garner $43M in tax rebates

With one tax rebate agreement approved and two in the pipeline, the Community Redevelopment Agency is banking on these projects — which could receive a combined $43 million in tax rebates — to serve as catalysts for the Omni area's redevelopment. But Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, whose district includes the Omni area, warns that the Omni redevelopment agency has to be cautious in approving these economic incentives. Otherwise, it might overpay for job creation and development, he said. He asked at Monday's agency board meeting for more time to review the agreements before a vote. "I want to see development, but at what cost?" he said in a later interview. "I need to understand what these agreements mean before giving money to millionaires." Mr. Sarnoff says he plans to do a cost-benefit analysis on both projects. Omni Mall owners are requesting a $7 million tax rebate for their renovation project and Miami developer Tibor Hollo seeks a $16 million rebate for the Sonesta Mikado Hotel. The agency has long thought of tax increment funding rebates as an incentive for developers to build within the agency's boundaries, said Executive Director Jim Villacorta, encouraging them to build projects faster and get them on the tax roll. The redevelopment agency fills its coffers by setting a base value for the area's real property and receiving for agency use the tax increment above the base level as property values rise. Omni Mall owner New York-based Argent Ventures requested this tax rebate about a year ago but several parts of the agreement took time to negotiate, Mr. Villacorta said. One delay was getting the developer to offer an easement of the right-of-way to the city for a traffic circle at North Bayshore Drive and Northeast 17th Street, which the capital improvement department is planning, he said. The mall owners were also pushing to include adjacent condo properties they own in the rebate deal, he said, a request the agency denied. Another concern for Commissioner Sarnoff is the future impact the tax rebate handouts could have in the redevelopment agency's bonding capacity. The Omni agency is conducting a finding of necessity study that could lead to a possible expansion of the district's boundaries and allow the issuance of bonds to finance further redevelopment of the area. But Mr. Villacorta said when the agency did bond projections it included in its calculations some of the developments slated for the Omni area — except for the Sonesta Mikado Hotel project, which was announced earlier this year. Once developments rise, he said, the agency is to collect more in tax increment funding than it did when the land was vacant or smaller structures occupied it. "Hopefully, these projects serve as a catalyst to entice other developers to come and build in the area," Mr. Villacorta said. "We are not collecting TIF [tax increment funding] to collect TIF. We need to spend it on things that will help the [local] economy." Developer Hollo is requesting a $16 million rebate for his $100-plus million, 36-floor Sonesta Mikado Hotel to rise at 1701 NE 4th Ave. The project is to employ about 600 during construction, Mr. Hollo said, and another 300 to run the upscale hotel. Omni Mall owners are asking for a $7 million rebate for the $140-plus million Omni Mall revamp the property is undergoing. The project encompasses a 350,000-square-foot, mixed-use office development, 16,000 square feet of retail and renovation of a 527-room hotel, located at 1501-1701 Biscayne Blvd. The renovated complex is to create 700 full-time office positions within five years and 100 full-time retail jobs within three years, the incentive agreement shows. The completed hotel component already employs 245 people and is to add 17. Developers are not to receive the tax rebates until the promised investment and job goals are met. If target investments and deadlines are not reached, the rebates are proportionally reduced. The agency's board last month approved the redevelopment agency's first tax rebate agreement. Local developer Ignacio Garcia Du-Quesne is to receive a $20 million rebate following completion of Bayview Market, a $200 million retail and office project at Northeast Second Avenue and 17th Street set to begin construction next year. Area developers and business owners are often knocking at the agency's door for economic incentives, Mr. Villacorta said. "Developers come in every day asking for incentives." But for now, he said, no other projects are in the pipeline to receive tax rebates. "None are definite enough to bring to the [CRA] board."

Actual Link from Miami Today:
http://miamitodaynews.com/news/090521/story3.shtml

The transformation of Omni-Pace

Some great news I have been waiting for has finally arrived. I have been lamenting the lack of a true nightlife anchor in the Pace-Omni area around which everything else would coalesce. The impending arrival of St.Marks Place at 19th st on Biscayne Blvd is just the catalyst needed to jump start this area. This multi Million Dollar Lounge/restaurant will do to Pace-Omni what Mary Brickell Village did to West Brickell. This area is just waiting to happen. I strongly believe that the center of gravity will shift from else where to the corridor between Adrienne Arsht center (15th st/Biscayne) to Midtown (36th st/Biscayne or NE 2nd ave).The best part is that this corridor will become unrecognizable in 2 to 3 years time. That is because I believe the entire area East of North Miami Avenue between 15th and 36th st is a blank canvas that can be transformed into anything with very little investment and we are seeing it happening in front of our own eyes even during this economic downturn. Have you seen Biscayne Blvd between 19th and 25th street? It is already looking super and one day not too far, I hope the entire blvd in this corridor will be transformed into a mini version of Paseo de la Reforma or Avenida 9 de Julio.

Brickell is already what it is. What you see now is what you are going to see 2 or 5 or even 10 years from now. Ditto Downtown/CBD. There is very little left to develop or transform.

Regarding Park West, the area East of NW 1st Ave shows immense promise but it requires millions if not billions in investment to make some changes. The rough neighborhood nearby will not help either to make a quick transition. The planned Miami World Center will be life altering for Park West but who knows when that is going to happen. 2020 maybe?

$200 million Bayview Market is closer to start

$200 million Bayview Market with Lowe's as anchor closer to start
By Yudislaidy Fernandez Construction is to begin in six to eight months on the $200 million retail and office project Bayview Market in the Biscayne corridor at 17th Street, developer Ignacio Garcia Du-Quesne says. The developer is getting a push from Omni's Community Redevelopment Agency board, made up of the five city commissioners. On Monday they approved making Bayview Market eligible for a 50% tax rebate once completed, totaling up to $20 million. This is the first tax rebate development agreement the agency has signed with a local developer, said Community Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Jim Villacorta. Mr. Garcia Du-Quesne is committing to build up to 535,000 square feet of retail and office space and 1,200 to 2,160 parking spots on 7.35 acres at Northeast Second Avenue and 17th Street. The retail component is to bring big-box retailers and a supermarket to the neighborhood, including a long-announced tenant, home improvement giant Lowe's. The retailer is to occupy 135,000 square feet. Mr. Garcia Du-Quesne said other tenants are to be revealed after groundbreaking. The project's financing is in place, he said, adding that the next step is to finish construction documents, which is to take six to eight months. Construction is to begin in the first quarter of 2010 and take about 18 months, he said, adding that once complete, the project's value will rise to $200 million. With the tax increment financing arrangement, once the development is built — reaching an investment of $110 million — and 380 jobs are created, the redevelopment agency rebates the developer 50% of tax increment funding, or TIF, generated above the base year, Mr. Villacorta said. The redevelopment agency is funded by capping the taxable value of real property in the area and collecting the tax increment above the cap as property values rise. "It's to promote development, to encourage developers to get projects done quickly to get them on the tax roll," he said. "We are not giving them money up front. If they don't build, they don't get anything." If the promised investment and jobs goal aren't met, the rebate would be proportionally reduced. "We don't get any advantage out of the taxes until we have a finished product," Mr. Garcia Du-Quesne said. "We are committed to invest a minimum of $110 million of our capital before we get funding out of the tax increment program." The 800-plus job creation will also have an economic effect in the emerging district, he said. "We'll have a ripple effect on the surrounding properties and it will be a catalyst for additional development in the immediate area," he predicted. If Bayview Market is not completed by 2015, Mr. Villacorta said, the tax rebate the developer is eligible for drops, and if not completed by 2017, the agreement would be canceled.

Actual link from Miami Today:
http://miamitodaynews.com/news/090430/story1.shtml