The Florida Department of Transportation has closed all but one lane east and west on 17th Street at Alton Road while Teco Gas crews repair a line.The work is epxected to continue throughout the day Tuesday.
(And thanks to the West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association for the heads up).
Posted in Development, Traffic, Venetian Causeway
Tagged 17th Street, Alton Road, lane clsoures, Traffic
Touting the Lido as “Miami Beach’s only spa.”
As we wait for updates on the next step for The Standard’s proposed renovation, our crack research team cranked up the Wayback Machine for a look at the Lido Spa in its second coming.
A new way to vacation…
Remember, the Belle Isle motel/spa/hotel launched in 1953 as the Monterrey Hotel, designed by noted Miami Modern architect Norman Giller. Second Gen was the Lido Spa, in 1960, when the new owner added the three-story lobby and spa building with the classic sign and gold grille panels.
Out latest postcard find dates back to the early 1960s. The only high-rises visible on Belle Isle in the postcard are Belle Tower, the island’s first high-rise (1958) at 16 Island Ave., and behind it, Belle Plaza, at 20 Island Ave., Belle Plaza was completed in 1962.
Posted in Development, History
Tagged Belle Isle, Belle Plaza, Belle Tower, Lido Spa, Monterrey Motel, Norman Giller, postcards, The Standard
Rendering includes proposed West Ave. bridge.
The developer of the proposed Marriott Residence Inn on 17th Street and West Avenue gave Belle Isle residents a presentation of plans for the 116-room hotel on Thursday.
The project is scheduled for a Planning Board review on April 30.
Here are the vital statistics:
Rendering of the hotel from the Collins Canal.
– It’s a five-story building, the same height as the retail apartment building immediately to the east that houses the Vespa store on the corner of 17th Street and Alton Road. It would have 66 parking spaces in a mechanical lot.
– The development site is tiny, about 25,000 square feet north of 17th Street, east of the planned West Avenue Bridge, and south of the Collins Canal, which parallels Dade Boulevard.
– Residence Inns feature studios and suites with small kitchens tailored toward business travelers and families. It will have a ground floor restaurant for guests only (these hotels provide free breakfasts), a small conference room and a rooftop pool to serve hotel guests only (11 p.m. close). There will be no outdoor bar counter on the roof, and the owner has proposed to agree not to hold any events on the rooftop.
– The developer is the Finvarb Group, headed by Robert Finvarb. The company has a number of Marriott properties in Florida and elsewhere, including the Courtyard Inn on Washington Avenue at 16th Street. The architect is renowned Kobi Karp.
Belle Isle Residents Association members at Thursday night’s meeting at the Belle Plaza condo had lots of questions about how the hotel would accommodate deliveries, the expected traffic impact, and when employees would come and go.
Traffic planner Richard Garcia said his impact study showed the hotel would generate less than half the traffic of some other uses that could be allowed on the property, such as a pharmacy, dry cleaner or fast food restaurant. He projected the busiest hour for traffic to be 5-6 p.m., when about 33 trips would be made in and out of the property.
The project’s land-use lawyer, Michael Larkin, projected that no more than 12 employees would be working at the hotel at any given time, but that did not include parking valets.
So, what do you think?
The Miami Beach Planning Board is scheduled to consider a couple items important to West Avenue residents today:
– The proposed apartment and retail complex that includes the old South Shore Hospital building called 600 Alton Road;
– New rules governing that would ban new hotel uses on West Avenue and in the Palm View Neighborhood.
The West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association has pushed for the hotel restrictions, driven in large part by issues with the Mondrion Hotel, a luxury property at 1100 West Avenue, and the Bikini Hotel, a party-themed property between 12th and 13th streets and West.
The association is encouraging West Avenue residents to attend the hearing, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., and has an online petition residents can access to show their support for the restrictions.
The proposal also addresses the Palm View neighborhood, located south of Dade Boulevard and north of 17th Street between Lenox Court and Meridian Avenue.
In the staff report of the proposal, Miami Beach planners said the Planning Board might want to consider some exceptions to an outright ban. Among them: conditional uses, limits on hours of operations for restaurants, prohibitions on outdoor uses.
Posted in Development, Traffic, City Issues
Tagged 600 Alton Road, hotels, miami beach, Planning Board, WAVNA, west avenue corridor association
FDOT map shows construction schedule.
The long-awaited Alton Road construction project — a $32 million, 28-month effort to reconstruct the key west Miami Beach roadway from Fifth Street to Michigan Avenue — kicks off on Monday.
And the first area where roadwork will happen is the northern section of the project, from Dade Boulevard north to Michigan, according to the construction schedule.
Next week, the Florida Department of Transportation will set up equipment and material and begin removing palms, landscaping and curbing. They may close one northbound or southbound lane.
By the week of April 8,work crews will begin excavating the roadway, installing the new water main and setting up temporary street lighting. One southbound lane may be closed and the southbound left turn lane on Alton Road at Dade Boulevard will be converted to a through travel lane. By the end of April, the excavation work will extend south to 17th Street
Meanwhile, the first work on the south part of the project will involve checking for underground lines on Fifth, 10th and 14th streets in preparation for drainage work. Lanes may be closed between Alton and West Avenue and West and Bay Road.
Ah, the fun begins.
Posted in City Issues, Development, Traffic, Venetian Causeway
Tagged Alton Road, construction, drainage, Flooding, miami beach
The developers of a Marriott Residence Inn proposed to be built on a sliver of land between 17th Street and the Collins Canal will present plans to members of the Belle Isle Residents Association on Thursday, April 4.
The 116-room hotel is proposed by the Finvarb Group, developer and owner of at least seven Marriott properties across the country, included the Marriott Courtyard on Washington Avenue in South Beach.
The land where the hotel would be built, north of 17th Street between Alton Road and West Avenue, is owned by the Miami Beach Housing Authority. Finvarb has negotiated to buy it, assuming the hotel project is approved by the city.
On March 13, the Miami Beach City Commission relaxed parking requirements for small hotels in the city’s historic district, and added the 17th Street parking to the the more generous rules. That controversial decision was opposed by the Belle Isle Residents Association and the West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association.
At the meeting BIRA representatives complained that the city Parking and Transportation Committee was not asked to review the parking policy change, and the hotel project had not been presented to Belle Isle homeowners. Michael Larkin, the lawyer representing Finvarb, said there had been a meeting scheduled with Belle Isle but it was cancelled because of a death in the Finvarb family.
The project still must be approved by the Miami Beach Planning Board.
WAVNA — the West Avenue Neighborhood Corridor Neighborhood Association — holds its March meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens with a host of issues on the agenda:
– An update on the long-awaited (and somewhat dreaded) Alton Road reconstruction project, which is scheduled to start Monday — April Fools Day.
– The status of the 600 Alton Road project, which would put retail, restaurants and a 440-unit apartment complete between West Avenue and Alton Road north of Fifth Street. The project includes the South Shore Hospital site.
– Efforts to combat neighborhood nuisances, including the Bikini Hostel, the party-themed youth hostel at 12th Street and West Avenue.
The Botanical Gardens, 2000 Convention Center Dr., is a cool venue, and the meeting kicks off with a little social. The association would appreciate an RSVP.
Posted in City Issues, Development, Events
Tagged West Avenue Neighborhood Association, WAVNA, Bikini Hostel, 600 Alton Road
UPDATE BELOW
After almost 10 years of planning, delays and funding challenges, Miami Beach voted Wednesday to hire a contractor for the $11.4 million Venetian Island Streetscape project.
The Venetian Island Homeowners Association has pushed for the improvements to Rivo Alto, DiLido and San Marino islands since at least 2003.
Streetscape drawings show great detail
The project includes storm drainage, road construction, sidewalks (on DiLido and Rivo Alto, electrical wiring, lighting and landscaping. The contract — and nearly $11.4 million in work — was awarded to Lanzo Construction Co.
Back in October, VIHA president Jürgen Brendel told homeowners they would see a “spade in the ground” by early this year.
He may be right. Work should start soon. Because the work is focused on the internal island streets, the impact on Venetian Causeway traffic is expected to be minimal.
Update: Here is a note the VIHA president sent to island residents Thursday morning — project roughly 14 months of construction starting in June or July.
Hello Fellow Venetians
The Board of VIHA is pleased to announce that the Miami Beach Commission has today given the go-ahead for the VENETIAN ISLANDS INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.
We were told this is a 14 months construction period (please don’t hold me to that) and it would start in June/July.
To field any questions, we will hold a membership meeting in late April/early May.
After so many years, we are glad this is finally a reality and it was a team effort of the Board consisting of Debbie, Paula, Emmanuel and myself.
With best regards,
Jürgen Brendel
President VIHA
Posted in Development, Traffic, City Issues, Venetian Causeway
Tagged drainage, Flooding, streetscape, venetian islands
Miami Beach commissioners are scheduled to vote Wednesday on new parking rules that would reduce the number of parking spaces required for hotels in historic districts.
The proposed change, as approved by the city Planning Board, would only apply to the retention of historic buildings — with an exception specifically designed to enable the construction of a new hotel on the north side of 17th Street and West Avenue.
What’s so special about this hotel? A good question for the city commission to answer. Because the parking rules on the agenda for Wednesday seem to be written with that one project in mind.
Proposed Residence Inn site north of 17th Street
Some background: The Miami Beach Housing Authority owns the pie-shaped sliver of land south of the Collins Canal and just east of the proposed West Avenue bridge, which would extend West Avenue north across 17th Street, the canal and Dade Boulevard, linking with the Sunset Harbour neighborhood.
The Housing Authority has a contract to sell the land to the Finvarb Group — a company headed by Robert Finvarb that owns and operates a slew of Marriotts in South Florida and across the country.
Finvarb has proposed building a five-story Residence Inn by Marriott on the property. Designed by architect Kobi Karp, it would have five floors, 116 rooms and only 66 parking spaces in a mechanical garage.
The land sale is contingent on the approval of the hotel project.
And the hotel project can’t go forward without the change in the city’s parking rules.
The developers have repeatedly asked the Planning Board to defer consideration of the hotel because the proposed number of parking spaces assumes the city will lessen parking requirements.
And the parking ordinance analysis the city will vote on Wednesday actually singles out the Finvarb project to be exempted from the requirement that the reduction be “only applicable to retention of historic buildings.”
There are areas where the parking reduction won’t apply at all, because of concerns about parking shortages and traffic congestion. One is the neighborhood south of Fifth Street. Another is the West Avenue corridor, which they city contends ends at the doorstep of the Finvarb property — at West Avenue and 17th Street.
The Housing Authority/Finvarb property is across the street from the West Avenue corridor (and you could argue, that when the West Avenue bridge is built, it will be on the corridor.
Nevertheless, specific language in the staff recommendation to the city commission mentions Finvarb and this exception to the rule: the proposed hotel would get the .5 space per unit break as long as the hotel agrees it will not have a restaurant, pool, bar or special events open to the public.
The Residence Inn’s restaurant and pool will only be used by hotel guests.
The Belle Isle Residents Association, the West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association and and Miami Beach United have opposed the new parking rule, and the new hotel. They argue that 17th Street between Alton Road and West Avenue is one of the city’s most congested areas, and adding the hotel — in fact, creating special rules to accommodate the hotel — just makes no sense.
In a letter sent Monday to the Miami Beach mayor and commissioners, Belle Isle Residents Association President Scott Diffenderfer asked that a decision on the parking rule be deferred so the city’s Transportation and Parking Committee could review it.
Diffenderfer is a committee member, and noted that the group typically reviews ordinances that would change parking requirements.
“I have been a member for five years and I am insulted that an amendment as important and controversial as this has not been presented to us,” he wrote. “There is clearly a breakdown in the process.”
The Belle Isle residents group has been seeking a presentation from zoning lawyer Michael Larkin for months. Larkin has met with selected island residents, but not in an open meeting that anyone could attend.
The Adams estate made way for Belle Towers, Belle Plaza and Costa Brava.
Ever plumb through the historical magazines and newspapers at the Sunday Lincoln Road market?
One of our neighbors from Belle Towers found a gem Sunday.
“I walked up to talk to the magazine lady at the flea market and this guy asked about this house. He lives in Belle Meade and thought this was a mistake! I said no its where I live. He was buying it. I said can I buy it? Lol. He said no. So I took a picture at least.”
You can click on the photo to read the description, but the highlights are: The main house had 11 bedrooms, eight baths, a 75×35 foot music room with a Aeolian pipe organ, and an eight car garage. Oh, and 650 feet of water frontage. All for $350,000. Such as deal!
The Adams estate on the southeast end of Belle Isle.
Joseph Adams owned a big chunk of Belle Isle back in the day. His sprawling estate covered the property where developers built Belle Tower (16 Island Ave., in 1958, Belle Plaza (20 Island Ave., 1962, and Costa Brava (11 Island Ave., 1972).
Adams was a millionaire who came to Florida in 1924. He was an author and inventor who developed something known as the “oil-cracking process,” a way of making larger volumes of gasoline from crude oil by applying continuous heat and pressure. In 1919 and 1920, he obtained patents for the process and machinery that were sold to the Texas Oil Company (which became Texaco) and Standard Oil. He later had a $1 million tax battle with the IRS over income from the patents.
He was one of the founders of the University of Miami, and the boathouse on his Belle Isle estate was the first location of UM’s Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. He willed it to UM in his estate (he died in 1941 at age 74).
This photo shows the Adams and Penney estates
When President-elect Herbert Hoover stayed at the J.C. Penney estate (now 9 Island Avenue) for four weeks starting on Jan. 22, 1929, some 30 staffers and journalists stayed at the adjacent Adams estate, thanks to an agreement between Penney and Adams.
Hoover stayed on Belle Isle before his inauguration (back then, presidential inaugurations were in March), and went fishing on Adams yacht, the Amitie.
The house briefly served as the home of Miami Beach’s first Episcopal Church (All Souls, now on Pine Tree Drive), which was allowed to hold services in the massive music room after Adams death in 1941.
Miami Beach News
