Paul Cejas, the chairman of PLC Investments and ambassador to Belgium under Bill Clinton, is planning an apartment project on Lincoln Road.
Cejas’ proposal for the site 1600 Washington Avenue and 1601 Drexel Avenue in Miami Beach will be considered by the city’s Planning Board at its Sept. 9 meeting, the South Florida Business Journal reported. Cejas’ 420 Lincoln Rd Development LLC is requesting to rezone the 1.6-acre site at that address, to replace the 15,340-square-foot commercial building at 1600 Washington Avenue with a planned 15-story, 210-unit multifamily development, the outlet reported.
The apartments will span nearly 217,000 square feet, including 7,000 square feet of retail, a pool deck, 36 studio units, 144 one-bedroom units and 30 two-bedroom units. Units will range in size from 560 square feet to 1,100 square feet. The design team includes Mexico-based architect Enrique Norten of Ten Arquitectos and Miami-based Beilinson Gomez Architects.
Local attorney Neisen Kadsin is representing the project, and told the outlet the new zoning would increase the floor-area ratio and up the allowable height to 150 feet.
“Everyone in the city has identified this as a need, not luxury condos but market-rate residential,” he told the outlet. “It’s a realistic project that could be developed in a relatively short period of time for a much-needed market-rate rental product that will be affordable for many of the people who work there.”
The rezoning requires two votes of approval from the City Commission and for the Historic Preservation Board to review the site plan.
Records show Cejas bought the majority of the Lincoln Road block for $14.5 million in 1997. Cejas, a longtime Democratic fundraiser, was ambassador to Belgium from 1998 to 2001, according to published reports. In 2020, he sold his waterfront Star Island mansion for $20.1 million. In April, he dropped $8.4 million on a Park Avenue condo in Manhattan, Crain’s New York reported.
–– Kate Hinsche
