The Meruelo family and David Martin are proposing land use changes that would allow them to build a larger project on the former site of the Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach.
Recent legislative changes would allow a floor area ratio, or overall project size, of 5.5. The 3.8-acre Deauville site at 6701 Collins Avenue currently has an FAR of 3.0 to 3.15. The Miami Beach Planning Board will vote on a comprehensive plan amendment and development regulations at a meeting on Tuesday.
Current zoning allows for the development of 570 residential units, and nearly 500,000 square feet of floor area.
The developers’ plan would allow for a nearly 900,000-square-foot development with two condo towers and a partial reconstruction of the Deauville with 280 hotel rooms. The historic resort, designed by Melvin Grossman, sustained damage from a fire and Hurricane Irma that forced its closure in 2017. It was declared an unsafe structure and knocked down in 2022.
The Meruelo family, led by Belinda, her husband Homero and their son Richard, were accused of intentionally letting the resort fall into disrepair to the point where it could not be saved.
In 2022, billionaire developer Steve Ross, a North Beach native, entered into a contract with the Meruelos to pay $500 million for the site. The deal was contingent on voters approving a referendum that would have boosted the FAR to 4.5 in a district that included the Deauville.
The Meruelos and Terra’s latest proposal seeks a higher FAR than Ross proposed in 2022. Voters rejected Ross’ Frank Gehry-designed proposal later that year, and his deal with the Meruelos fell apart.
Martin joined the Meruelos in April of this year when he paid $12.5 million for a 25 percent stake in the property.
Also this year, the Florida Legislature passed a bill that eases demolitions of coastal properties and strips local municipalities from requiring replications of those buildings if they are not on the National Historic Register, among other measures.
In the developers’ application, attorney Michael Larkin writes that they plan to “substantially reconstruct” the Deauville hotel, accurately replicating “architecturally significant portions” of the property with the addition of two slender towers. The condo towers would be capped at 400 feet, or about 40 stories at most.
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