For two years the major players in Wynwood, Miami’s hippest, hottest emerging neighborhood, have been working on plans to jack the old industrial district up to the next level — only to now find themselves sharply at odds over exactly what that means, with the district’s future hanging in the balance.

Even as one group of property owners and developers publicly worked up a plan to control development to maintain Wynwood’s creative vibe and human scale while drawing in more housing, shops and businesses, the area’s biggest landowner, New York moving-company mogul, developer and arts patron Moishe Mana, privately sketched out a blueprint that embraces the same broad ideas — but on a dramatically different scale.

No sooner was the ink dry on the Miami City Commission’s approval of the Wynwood Neighborhood Revitalization District — special zoning rules that limit heights to eight to 12 stories and extract payments from developers to improve streets and create parking garages and public open space — than Mana applied for his own plan.

Mana’s proposed Special Area Plan, which would supersede the new zoning rules on 24 acres of his property, calls for a massive nine million square feet of new development, including towers up to 24 stories, while exempting the developer from the public-benefit programs in the NRD plan, as well as payments to the local business improvement district. In lieu of that, Mana has proposed to build an expansive public plaza and a city fire station and bury obtrusive FPL electrical lines that run through his properties at his own expense.

WynwoodSplit

The Mana plan has provoked some serious balking from a good portion of his fellow Wynwood property owners, including Goldman Properties, the firm credited with launching the neighborhood’s transformation from derelict warehouse district to hipster mecca and a key backer of the NRD plan.

Those Wynwood owners and entrepreneurs say they’re concerned Mana’s mammoth project could overwhelm its modestly scaled neighbors while providing insufficient public benefits and little help in mitigating its impact on traffic, parking, policing and other public services — in effect, they contend, passing on the public burden of his upzoning to other local property owners who agreed to cap development.

“Everything we’ve done is to try to develop a comprehensive strategy to create a great place,” said Goldman Properties managing director Joe Furst, complaining the Mana blueprint is so vague in places there’s no gauging its precise effects on the rest of Wynwood. “There’s too many question marks.”

Mana’s representatives have noted it was no secret that he was working on a big plan for his Wynwood properties, centered around the former Wynwood Free Trade Zone complex, which he purchased in 2010, and that he never objected to the NRD plan. But Furst and others note Mana held details close to the vest and did not brief anyone else in the neighborhood until he filed his application with the city in November.

Everything we’ve done is to try to develop a comprehensive strategy to create a great place.

Mana’s planner and architect, Bernard Zyscovich, called his client’s promised public benefits “very, very significant,” saying their cost will run into the tens of millions of dollars. And he said Mana has also agreed to mesh the zoning along the edge of his property on Northwest Second Avenue, Wynwood’s main drag, with the NRD zoning, creating a consistent urban street front.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount to collaborate and make sure we’re integrated with the rest of Wynwood,” Zyscovich said. “We also have our own objectives, of course.”

How Mana’s proposal fares will play out over the next several weeks, and is likely to have defining implications for Wynwood’s redevelopment. The debate over his plan is the first sign of a serious split in the neighborhood since it began drawing outside developers, investors and speculators who’ve driven up rents and land prices and driven out many of the artists and galleries that characterized its early revival.

The NRD plan, supported by a majority of local property owners, was an effort to guide development before it happened, upzoning just enough to foster construction of reasonably priced housing and new commercial spaces while maintaining a consistent scale, and encouraging a building-design aesthetic that blends with Wynwood’s funky industrial look.

But some are clearly concerned that Mana’s plan, because it covers a substantial percentage of the neighborhood, could upend that carefully calibrated strategy before it has a chance to work.

Earlier this month, the board of the Wynwood Business Improvement District, an autonomous public agency chartered by the city that commissioned the controlled-development NRD plan, declined Mana’s request for an endorsement of his own plan after twice meeting to consider it. Instead, the BID board, which Furst chairs, asked the city’s planning and zoning board to defer a scheduled vote on the Mana plan while agency leaders could study his proposals further.

The planning board put its vote off until Jan. 20 after Mana’s representatives agreed to a postponement. The Mana plan and a companion development agreement with the city will ultimately need to be approved by the Miami commission.

Mana’s attorney, Iris Escarra of Greenberg Traurig, was out of the country through January and could not be reached for comment. At the BID’s Dec. 14 meeting, though, she hinted Mana might be willing to compromise. “It’s possible this is going to evolve,” she said. “Stay tuned.”

Escarra did say that the development agreement will legally require Mana to keep his promises, including building the fire station and every acre of the promised open space. She also noted that city planners have already insisted that Mana meet other elements of the Neighborhood Revitalization plan. Among those: That his new buildings be reviewed by a new Wynwood design review board created under the NRD, and that Mana’s development provide cut-through “paseos” to foster pedestrian flow and connectivity to the rest of the neighborhood.

BID board members, who represent the district’s property owners, say they would like to reach an understanding with Mana. But what they’ve seen so far, they say, doesn’t seem to justify the large increases in scale and density he’s seeking.

And neither his zoning plan nor the development agreement appear to sufficiently hold Mana to building the promised public space in a timely fashion, nor guarantee a high design quality, they contend. Because the project would be built out over 30 years, some Wynwood stakeholders worry Mana might leave the public space for last.

“The vision for the Mana project is a good one,” said Jonathon Yormak, an investor and BID board member who’s planning a mixed-use building on a large vacant lot his firm owns off Wynwood’s main drag . “Everyone believes the underlying premise is a good one. We are all inclined to support it.  To Mana’s credit, he has engaged us. But for what he is really providing, versus what he’s asking for, does that seem like a fair outcome? The initial answer is no. What he’s presented is more to his benefit and to the detriment of the neighborhood,” Yormak added. “If they care to get our support, I believe they can get it. It will require a little bit of consideration and cooperation from them.”

Zyscovich said he and Mana’s team plan to meet with BID members in early January.

 

Source: Miami Herald

The real estate investing arm of Prudential Financial just paid a whopping $83 million for the 355 Alhambra office tower in downtown Coral Gables.

355 Alhambra office tower 3An affiliate of Prudential Real Estate Investors, which has an asset portfolio valued at $62.6 billion, purchased the 16-story tower through a deed filed Tuesday, according to Miami-Dade County records. The price breaks down to about $168 per square foot.

The seller is AEW Capital Management, an investment management firm that owned the building on behalf of institutional clients. Records show AEW paid $87.3 million for the building in 2008 — about $4.3 million more than its current price.

The tower, at 355 Alhambra Circle, was first built in 2001 and measures 492,820 square feet. A big portion of that square footage is located in the building’s multi-story parking garage, which affords three parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of rentable space, according to the building’s website. The remaining 224,241 square feet is divided into leasable offices. Tenants include Merrill Lynch, Moore & Co. and Spencer Stuart.

This is the second high-profile office purchase in the downtown Coral Gables area to close in December: two weeks ago, a Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management fund paid $119 million for the Alhambra office complex.

 

Source: The Real Deal

Developer PMG received approval today from the FAA to build a 1,049-foot tower at 300 Biscayne Boulevard, and they fully intend to build to that height.

PMG’s tower will be taller than the Empire World Towers once proposed for the same site:

PMG’s tower will be taller than the Empire World Towers once proposed for the same site

PMG principal Ryan Shear told TNM that the developer “has full intention to use every foot.” The tower would be the tallest in Miami.

The approved height is 1,041 feet above ground, or 1,049 feet above sea level. At that height, it will be taller than the 93-story Empire World Towers project that was once proposed for the same site.

Details of the project haven’t yet been revealed, but it is expected to include about 500 luxury condos.

 

Source: The Next Miami

Little Haiti

Longtime residents, business owners and civic leaders gathered in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood on Thursday to deliver a message about their rapidly changing community: “We want to stay.”

Little Haiti residents say investors and real estate developers are buying property and pushing out the people and small businesses that give the district is distinct Caribbean flavor. (Photo Credit: Daniel Chang, The Miami Herald)

Little Haiti residents say investors and real estate developers are buying property and pushing out the people and small businesses that give the district is distinct Caribbean flavor. (Photo Credit: Daniel Chang, The Miami Herald)

Residents and activists, many carrying hand-written signs declaring “Little Haiti is not for sale” and “Say no to gentrification,” said real estate developers and speculators are buying up land and pushing out the people and small businesses that give the neighborhood its distinct Caribbean character.

“They tried to push me out of this area,” said Wilfrid Joseph Daleus, a Haitian immigrant and owner of the Daleus Museum and Art Gallery on 59th Street and Northeast Second Avenue.

Daleus, 66, said he opened his art gallery in 1980 and loves the neighborhood. But his rent is rising, and he feels that local government could do more to help, such designating the area a historic or cultural district.

“The price goes up every month,” Daleus said, “and I don’t have the support to stay. … But I don’t want to go. I want to stay.”

The Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami — an area broadly defined as running from 38th Street to 79th Street between Interstate 95 and the Florida East Coast Railway — does not have an official boundary, though city commissioners have considered a formal designation in the past.

Little Haiti gained its name as Haitian migrants, fleeing the regime of Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, began to populate the neighborhood in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Longtime residents, business owners and civic activists gathered to protest what they see as the gentrification of Little Haiti. They produced a list of demands, including the creation of a cultural district and the establishment of a trust to preserve and acquire land in the district for housing and businesses (Photo Credit: Daniel Chang, The Miami Herald)

Longtime residents, business owners and civic activists gathered to protest what they see as the gentrification of Little Haiti. They produced a list of demands, including the creation of a cultural district and the establishment of a trust to preserve and acquire land in the district for housing and businesses (Photo Credit: Daniel Chang, The Miami Herald)

Lately, though, art galleries have moved north from Wynwood in search of more affordable rents in Little Haiti. And developers have taken increasing interest in the area, using harassment, intimidation and sometimes inducements to coerce longtime residents and businesses to move, said Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami, a community group.

Bastien told a group gathered in front of the offices of the Haitian American Community Development Corporation on Northeast 82nd Street that “a lot of investors and developers are “organizing to change the name of Little Haiti. They are buying left and right, cash. The Little Farm Mobile Court on Biscayne Boulevard, home to many Haitian immigrants, has been purchased through lawyers by a Chinese investor who doesn’t even live here.”

Joined by representatives from local civic groups and elected officials, including Michael Etienne, city clerk for North Miami, Bastien presented a list of demands for Miami leaders, including the creation of a historic or cultural district and the establishment of a community land trust to preserve existing land and acquire new property for housing and small businesses.

She called for fast action from Keon Hardemon, a Miami commissioner whose district includes the Little Haiti neighborhood. “If he doesn’t act,” she said, “soon Little Haiti will disappear.” Hardemon did not respond to an interview request from the Herald made through his chief of staff on Thursday.

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado said the city has never designated any area in honor of any immigrant group, including Little Havana. But, he said, that doesn’t mean Miami has overlooked the contributions of immigrant groups that have contributed to the city’s history.

“The Haitian heritage can never be erased from the history of Miami,” Regalado said. “It’s still there in Little Haiti, although some Haitians have moved, but still we have the Little Haiti Soccer Park. We have the Little Haiti Cultural Center. We have the Caribbean Marketpalce.”

 

Source: Miami Herald