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Article Courtesy of The Miami Herald
By Joey Flechas
Published January 23, 2017
A year ago, a nasty battle began over a proposed
residential-commercial building in the once-industrial but now-hip South
Beach neighborhood called Sunset Harbour.
Deco Capital Group, led by Managing Principal Bradley Colmer, wanted to
build a 90-foot-high mixed-use building across a swath of properties on the
east side of Purdy Avenue between Dade Boulevard and 18th Street.
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Angry neighbors in the
Lofts at South Beach Condominium and the owners of Beach
Towing, one of two city-sanctioned towing operations in the
Beach, adamantly opposed the development, which would have
been 40 feet taller than the current 50-foot height limit.
At the Jan. 11 Beach commission meeting, the project failed
to win approval on first reading, punctuating a year of
bitter back-and-forth that included a lawsuit, unsuccessful
negotiations and two different attempts to secure the height
increase.
After Colmer withdrew his request last year, he returned
with a proposed ordinance that would allow for a 90-foot
building in Sunset Harbour for lots aggregated to have at
least 150 feet of frontage, which Deco has on the site of
the proposed building. Deco’s partnership team, which
includes billionaire Marc Rowan, bought eight lots in 2014
for $14 million. |
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This rendering shows what Deco Capital Group’s
mixed-use building in Sunset Harbour would have looked like.
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The ordinance cleared the city’s citizen planning board
with a favorable recommendation. On Jan. 11, Commissioners Ricky Arriola,
Joy Malakoff and John Elizabeth Alemán voted in favor. Michael Grieco,
Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and Micky Steinberg voted against. Mayor Philip
Levine did not vote because he owns adjacent property that could have
increased in value if the Deco Capital building went up.
A group of neighbors did not want to lose views. Beach Towing, unpopular but
politically powerful, cited an unusual deed restriction attached to three of
the lots that prevents the properties from being used as a parking lot.
After the vote, representatives for Beach Towing were glowing. Attorney Kent
Harrison Robbins said the vote was a “victory for residents against height
increases.”
Disappointed after the vote, Colmer said the project may be redesigned
within current regulations.
“Regarding this specific project, no options are foreclosed,” he said.
“Given the political situation, however, it’s incumbent upon us to design
other options.”
The fight has been messy. Last year, Colmer’s lawyers fired off a 14-page
legal memo making the case that Beach Towing has been operating illegally
for about 30 years because of a zoning violation. The tow company dismissed
the claim, and so did City Hall.
The question of the deed restriction remains unresolved in Miami-Dade civil
court after Deco Capital sued Beach Towing last year.
Any chance for mediation appears to be gone. Ralph Andrade, a lawyer for
Beach Towing, and Nicholas Machado, the president of the neighboring condo
association, both said negotiations were over.
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