A Miami review board approved four projects, but shot down two others at its meeting this week.
The Miami Urban Development Review Board didn’t take kindly to the designs of Oak Row Equities’ proposed downtown Miami apartment tower and to Asi Cymbal’s Live Local Act project in the Wynwood Norte neighborhood.
The board approved CMC Group and Fort Partners’ Four Seasons-branded condominium in Coconut Grove, B Group Capital Management’s redevelopment of the former immigration building in Miami, a Live Local Act project in Wynwood, and a condo development in Wynwood Norte.
The UDRB considers projects that would be more than 200,000 square feet. Its vote isn’t final, but is a recommendation to city zoning and planning administrators, who have final say on proposals.
Here are the details:
“Got to go back to the drawing table” : Not approved
Oak Row Equities’ proposal for a 45-story tower with 526 apartments and 7,000 square feet of commercial space was a no-go with the board.
The New York and Miami-based firm wants to build the First & Fifth project on a portion of the 0.8-acre site at 49 Northwest Fifth Street and 50 Northwest Sixth Street in downtown Miami, while preserving the historic Salvation Army Citadel building on the site. Founded and led by Erik Rutter and David Weitz, Oak Row paid $38.5 million in June for the site that’s next to the Brightline station.
ODP Architects drew inspiration from the Salvation Army Citadel, built in 1925, and from Doge’s Palace in Venice that was designed in the Venetian Gothic style, Gadiel Marquez told the board.
“You can see that in the motives, [the] arcade of arches mimicking the arches that exist at the Citadel,” he said.
Board members weren’t impressed.
“With all due respect, the reference to the Doge’s Palace in Venice, I don’t know,” Anthony Tzamtzis said, adding that he studied in Venice and is very familiar with the palace. “It’s not even close to that.”
The main issue for most board members was the difference in design between the five-story podium, which has the arches echoing those of the Citadel, and the actual tower. Most recommended having the historic building highlighted as a standalone building without incorporating its design into the project.
“Your pedestal and your tower have nothing to do with one another, and to me that’s a problem,” said Robert Behar. “That to me is [you] got to go back to the drawing table to rework that. Maybe it’s just as simple as getting rid of those arches.”
Iris Escarrá, Oak Row’s attorney, withdrew the application, saying the team will come back with a redesign at the UDRB’s meeting next month.
“The [main idea] that I see is containers”: Approved
A developer proposing a 36-story, 1,300-unit Live Local Act project in Wynwood got the green light from the board.
An entity led by David Sedaghati wants to build the project, called Ultimate Wynwood, with two towers rising from the same podium with 20,000 square feet of commercial space on a nearly 2-acre site on the southeast corner of Northwest 26th Street and Northwest Sixth Avenue, next to I-95. The podium will feature murals by artist Kelsey Montague.
Sedaghati, through Ultimate Equity, owns the site that spans nine lots at 520, 524, 530, 540, 550, 570, 580 and 590 Northwest 26th Street, as well as 2401 Northwest Sixth Avenue, records show.
At least 40 percent of the units, or 520, will be designated for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income, as is required under the Live Local Act. These apartments will remain income restricted for 30 years or longer.
The Live Local Act, which state lawmakers approved last year, allows developers to build bigger projects than permitted under sites’ zonings in exchange for including workforce and affordable apartments. Ultimate Wynwood is one of five Live Local Act proposals in Wynwood, which altogether promise to morph the historically mid-rise warehouse district with the addition of high-rises.
Ultimate Wynwood is taller than the 10 stories allowed on the site under Wynwood’s zoning code, and it also is smaller than the 60-story, 1,900-unit tower that can be built under Live Local, according to city staff members and the developer’s attorney.
Designed by Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design, Ultimate Wynwood’s towers resemble horizontal shipping containers stacked on top of each other.
“I don’t know if it was intentional, but when I look at this, the [main idea] that I see is containers,” board member Agustin Barrera said, adding that this makes sense given the neighborhood’s character. “Wynwood is industrial.”
“Invokes a Copacabana concept”: Not approved
The black and white, wavy façade of developer Asi Cymbal’s proposed 35-story tower in the Wynwood Norte district didn’t score well with the board.
Cymbal DLT proposes the Live Local Act project with 598 apartments, 4,500 square feet of offices and 18,000 square feet of retail at 3466 and 3470 North Miami Avenue. The site, near Midtown Miami, is home to Cymbal DLT’s headquarters.
Nearly half the units will be for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income, according to a Cymbal DLT spokesperson. Construction is expected to start next year.
The project’s size is 44 percent of the density allowed under the Live Local Act and about half of the floor area ratio allowed under the legislation, Anthony De Yurre, the developer’s attorney, told the board. The site is within a quarter mile of 13 bus stops, half a mile from Brightline’s downtown Miami station and across the street from a trolley stop.
“We are proposing a building that is comparable in scale to the neighborhood,” said Daniel Garcia of Arquitectonica. “We created this façade that is supposed to be dynamic, energetic and created this wave pattern to show the movement.… So that’s the movement of the façade you see here with the wave pattern.”
“I really have a hard time with the way this façade has been treated. With the paint, I think I will get dizzy to see all these colors,” board member Behar said. “For the most part, I have a hard time looking at the waves and the black and white for this project. To me, it doesn’t work.”
Others on the board questioned the types of materials that will be used and also pointed out that the black paint on the façade will require touchups every five to seven years, which would be difficult considering the tower’s size.
De Yurre said the developer and architect will come back with a redesign addressing the board’s concerns regarding the façade and maintenance.
To him, he added, the project “invokes a Copacabana concept.”
“Carving up the shoebox”: Approved
Faniela Navas-Hezemans of Norwyn Development Group and Rosita Hurtado are partnering on the six-story, 149-unit Rose Wynwood condo project in Wynwood Norte.
Hurtado, through an affiliate, owns the 1.1-acre site at 444 Northwest 33rd Street, 431 Northwest 32nd Street, and 3223 and 3225 Northwest Fifth Avenue, according to Navas and records. Faniela Navas-Hezemans owns a stake in the property, she said.
Miami-based Norwyn Development Group is the sister company of Eindhoven, Netherlands-based Hezemans Development Group, which Navas-Hezemans co-leads with her husband, professional race car driver Mike Hezemans. The duo have projects in the Netherlands and developed spec homes in South Florida, according to the Norwyn/Hezemans website.
Cathy Mai Phung and Fabiana Navas of Clover4 Group are leading condo sales. Prices start at $450,000 and go up to $1.7 million for the penthouses, Phung said in an email. About a quarter of the units are reserved by prospective buyers.
Construction is expected to start next year, Navas-Hezemans said.
Rose Wynwood is designed by Charles H. Benson & Associates, which partnered on the 1111 Lincoln mixed-use garage in Miami Beach, and Antwerp, Belgium-based Binst Architects. The project marks Binst’s first in the U.S., the firm’s Edwin Remmerie said at the UDRB meeting.
“About the project itself, our strategy was basically something called, ‘carving up the shoebox,’” he said. “If you take the zoning regulations from the T5 and T4 [zoning designations], you end up with this very simple shoebox shape as most projects in Wynwood are. We didn’t want to do this because we wanted to bring light into the building.”
The board approved the project with the condition that the design is reworked to create breaks on the back of the building facing east.
“On the back east side above the fourth floor, it’s a very continuous long façade,” Behar said. “I think the way you broke the front into two masses, that the back needs to have a break because I was trying to figure out the length of the building from side to side … This is probably like 250 feet or more continuous. … I think it needs a break above the fourth floor just to break the massing.”
Board members Francisco Perez-Azua and Barrera took issue with some of the design.
“I feel uncomfortable about the selection of these colors. I don’t know what they mean, the gold color versus the white color,” Perez-Azua said.
“Depending on which side of the building I am looking at, it’s almost like I am looking at two different projects because of the difference in materials and configurations of the balconies. Also the modularity of it to me is very monotonous, especially on the long facade,” Barrera said. “It doesn’t talk Wynwood to me.”
Carli Koshal, an attorney for the developer, pointed out that Rose Wynwood will be in the Wynwood Norte district, not in Wynwood.
Wynwood Norte, which has been attracting new project proposals, was designated as a zoning district in 2021. It spans from Northeast and Northwest 29th Street and 36th Street between North Miami Avenue and Northwest Seventh Avenue.
“I love the building”: Approved
A condo project by Ugo Colombo of CMC Group and Nadim Ashi of Fort Partners breezed past the board with approval.
Miami-based CMC and Fort Lauderdale-based Fort Partners plan the 20-story, 70-unit, Four Seasons-branded building at 2699 South Bayshore Drive in Miami’s Coconut Grove. Revuelta Architecture International designed Four Seasons Private Residences.
The project is smaller than the 176 units allowed on the site, said Escarrá, the attorney representing the developers.
“I love the building. You have done a great job,” Behar said. “My only comment that I have … you have a monumental window to the park. and then you are putting your handicap ramp in front of it.”
Luis Revuelta said he’s been working on a tweak to this, presenting the board with an updated design.
Condo sales started this year.
“Amazing that this site is being developed”: Approved
B Group Capital Management also breezed past board approval for its 12-story, 355-unit apartment project on the site of the former immigration building in Miami.
Designed by Stantec, the project will rise at 7800, 7810 and 7880 Biscayne Boulevard, and 516 Northeast 79th Street. It will include 35,000 square feet of commercial space.
The project will replace the brown shell with gaping holes for windows of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service office building. A redevelopment of the site has been in the works for years, but stalled after the previous property owner, Florida Fullview Immigration Building, an entity managed by Fu Jing “Leo” Wu and Wai Kin “Benny” Lam, failed to start a planned hotel. Chinese investors who ponied up for the project through the EB-5 program sued an entity tied to Florida Fullview, claiming the developer misappropriated their investments. The site went into receivership, and the court last year approved Miami-based B Group’s purchase of the property for $23 million. B Group is led by CEO Sebastian Barbagallo.
“This is a real development that is going to happen that will be able to transform the neighborhood,” Neisen Kasdin, an attorney for the developer, told the board.
It’s “amazing that this site is being developed,” board member Perez-Azua said. “You have done a great job breaking up the massing. You have put a lot of thought into it.”
The board approved the project with the condition that a vehicular exit driveway onto 79th Street is eliminated.
