New Sunset Harbour ice cream parlor planning soft opening Sunday

Emack & Bolio’s, the high-end ice cream joint with roots in New England, plans a soft opening in the Shops at Sunset Harbour on Sunday.

The owner, Mohamed Elgayar, and his family were getting everything ready at the 1915 Purdy Ave. storefront Saturday afternoon, offering visitors tastes of such deliciousness as Grasshopper Pie (creme de menthe with chocolate chips and oreos), Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup and a fabulous Peach.

Elgayar said folks in the neighborhood could stop by Sunday afternoon while he trains his counter staff, and more goodies could be in store.

Emack & Bolio’s started in Boston in 1975 and now has stores in four states, with three locations in Florida — on Vanderbilt Beach near Naples, at Hawks Cay Resort in the Keys, and at Hard Rock in Orlando.

It’s the first Shops at Sunset Harbour storefront to open that offers something to eat. Sunset Clothing Co. was the first store to open, in November. Still to come: Panther Coffee, Ice Box, Tequitzlan Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar, Fratelli In Toufala, True Loaf Bakery and more.

Sunday triathalon could snarl morning traffic on causeways, Alton Road

Bike and running routes Sunday

The folks behind the Nautica South Beach Triathlon warn that the bike course could cause delays between 7:30 and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday.

The bike course starts on Ocean Drive at Fifth Street, goes south to Biscayne Street and north on Alton Road and east across the MacArthur Causeway. It returns to the beach on the Julia Tuttle Causeway before heading south on Alton road to Michigan Avenue and then Dade Boulevard. Then the course heads back up to Alton, west across the Tuttle, south to the MacArthur Causeway and back across the causeway to Miami Beach to finish near the start.

The MacArthur and Tuttle causeways will remain open, but with restricted lanes, so traffic is expected to be slow on both — and with extra pressure on the Venetian Causeway. Traffic also will be detoured around Alton Road at 17th Street.

So be safe out there.

Ready for Alton Road reconstruction? Get a briefing this week on what to expect

We’re in the final countdown to the massive Alton Road reconstruction project, planned as a 28-month project to repave, de-flood and spiff up Alton Road from Fifth Street to Michigan Avenue.

The work will happen in phases, starting next month, and will include the construction of new pumping stations at Fifth, 10th and 14th Streets to battle chronic flooding in the Alton Road-West Avenue area. It wil also bring new signage, stoplights and street lights.

It also sure to spill traffic toward West Avenue during the construction, which is supposed to start south and work its way north.

The Florida Department of Transportation has scheduled two public briefings on the project this week, so you can get the lowdown first hand:

– Tuesday, March 19,  at 6 p.m. at Miami Beach Golf Club, 2301 Alton Rd.

– Thursday, March 21, at 6 p.m. at the Miami Beach Police Athletic League, 999 11 St.

Miami Beach eases hotel parking rules, puts the brakes on Palau at Sunset Harbour project

After discussions that went late into the night, the Miami Beach city commissioners made two moves Wednesday that will impact our area:

– They approved new rules for hotel parking in historic districts, reducing the requirement to a half space for every hotel room — up to 100 rooms. Because commissioners included a proposed hotel development at 17th Street and West Avenue in the area affected by the change, the proposed 116-room Marriott Residence Inn won’t need parking relief. The vote was 6-1, with Mayor Matti Bower opposed.

– After nearly four hours of debate, they asked the city’s Design Review Board to reconsider its approval of a development called the Palau at Sunset Harbour.  Backed by the Roy Disney family, Palau includes 50 condo units and more than 11,000 square feet of retail space designed by local architect Kobi Karp on the site of the old Mark’s Quality Cleaners and stalled Cypress Bay project at the entrance to two of the four the Sunset Islands.

Sunset Islands homeowners had appealed the October approval by the DRB.

In supporting the project last fall, city planning staff called it “one of the most significant residential projects that will be developed in the city for a long time to come.“

At Wednesday night’s commission hearing, attorney Tucker Gibbs, representing Sunset Island homeowners, argued that the DRB didn’t adequately consider the impact of the five-story project on view corridors.

The discussion of the hotel parking rule was nearly as contentious. It didn’t start until after 9 p.m., and concluded at 10:55 p.m. In the end, commissioners said the change would spur needed hotel renovation in the historic district, and that requiring one space for every hotel unit was unnecessary in areas where most visitors walk to restaurants and shopping, and often don’t rent cars.

Representatives of the Belle Isle Residents Association, West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association and Miami Beach United argued that the parking reduction should not be applied to the 17th Street property, which is owned by the city Housing Authority but is under contract to be sold for development to the Finvarb group, which has developed many Marriott properties.

Scott Diffenderfer, the Belle Isle association president and a member of the city Parking and Transportation Committee, asked commissioners to refer the parking proposal to that group, which had not yet been asked to review it.

“I’m pissed,” Diffenderfer said when he spoke to commissioners after 9:30 p.m. “I think you are trying to wedge a hotel into a piece of property that a developer does not even own yet.” He said he was “furious that this did not come in front of parking” before being voted on by commissioners.

Commissioners said the proposal had been discussed at a variety of other public venues, and ought to move forward.

While Diffenderfer and other opponents said the hotel at West and 17th would increase traffic in a very congested area, some residents from Belle Isle said the hotel would be a neighborhood amenity, giving residents a hotel option in the neighborhood when friends or family visit.

Galbut to present 600 Alton Road plans to West Avenue association

Rendering of proposed rental/retail at South Shore.

The owners of South Shore Hospital, the gutted structure at the foot of the MacArthur Causeway that’s been an eyesore since Hurricane Wilma in October 2005, will present plans for a new development on the property at a community meeting on Tuesday at the Miami Beach Golf Course.

The meeting, which starts at 6 p.m., is a preview for the West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association. WAVNA asks residents who plan to attend to RSVP.

South Shore, at 630 Alton Rd, had closed well before before Wilma blew out about 100 windows from the structure on Oct. 24, 2005. In the years since, it has deteriorated further, and owner Crescent Heights has proposed several different plans for development, including a big mall and residential tower.

That controversial plan drew opposition from neighborhood associations on West Avenue and South of Fifth. It also created a controversy when Crescent Heights owner Russell Galbut sought to hold a design charrette at Miami Beach City Hall for the development. He ultimately moved that meeting to the Shelbourne Hotel, which Crescent Heights owns.

The latest plan, is believed to be a simpler proposal with street-level retail and rental apartments above.

 

2011: Lots of construction, some progress and great news ahead

Your Belle Isle Blog would like to thank everyone in the neighborhood who visits here regularly to keep up on what’s going on.

We had a great year in 2011. If you are interested in knowing a little bit about who read what and when, here’s a report from the The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys on the year.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 54,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 20 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Dade Boulevard to close for a month for construction

Sketches of the railing for the path.

We reported work would begin quickly on the elevated bike-walk path along the Collins Canal. How quickly?

Starting next Tuesday — Jan. 17 — road crews will close eastbound Dade Boulevard from where is starts at the 17th Street/Dade Boulevard split near Sunset Harbour to Alton Road. (note: signs on Venetian Way near the closure say it will happen Thursday, Jan. 12, but the city says it won’t be til next week).

The closure is taking place so work can begin on the Collins Canal seawall replacement, which has to happen before the multi-use path is put in place.

“The closure is necessitated for the equipment needed to drive the pilings for the seawall project,” said city of Miami Beach spokeswoman Nannette Rodriguez.

“The closure is only eastbound on Dade Boulevard between the 17 Street Bridge and Alton Road. The bridge will remain open and the closure does not affect westbound lanes. The piling work must be completed before the Boat Show move-in begins.”

The signs warning of the closure on the Venetian Causeway say the closure will last until Feb. 10.

In the meantime, drivers from Belle and other Venetian Islands will have to detour by continuing east on 17th Street and then turning north on Alton.

Belle Isle stays dry while Sunset Harbour, SoBe flood

The continuing rain during the weekend ought to provide the final test on the drainage fix on Belle Isle: finally, finally, it works.

While Sunset Harbour floods in heavy rain (and seemingly no rain during high tide), we had no standing water throughout our rain-soaked Halloween weekend.  In fact, you had bigger puddles in Belle Isle Park than in front of the Grand Venetian, where high tide used to assure a pool of bay water.

Meanwhile, across the bridge near Sunset Harbour, the corner of Purdy and 20th Street had water overflowing the curb Saturday night and Sunday night, continuing early Monday morning. The valets for the trio of Pubbelly restaurants had to move their stand to Bay Road so passengers could exit the cars.

Flooding on San Marco Island left the island almost impassable early Monday.

Monday morning, the Venetian Causeway was nearly impassable at San Marco Island, where flooding related to the rain and ongoing construction left water nearly knee-high.

It took the city several years and at least two failed fixes to stop the regular flooding on Belle Isle, and it cost residents tens of thousands of dollars in rust damage to their cars.

Triathlon will challenge athletes, Venetian Causeway residents and commuters

Route shows biking on Tuttle and Venetian, runners on MacArthur.

There’s a major triathlon Sunday morning that promises impact to Belle Isle and Venetian Island residents even though no part of the race includes  the Venetian Causeway.

Escape to Miami starts at 7 a.m. from Margaret Pace Park, in Miami, on North Bayshore just north of the Omni-Venetia complex. There is a .9 mile swim, then a 24-mile bike ride across the Julia Tuttle Causeway (several times) and includes rides on Alton Road almost all the way to Dade Boulevard. It finishes with a 10K run across the McArthur Causeway.

So, while competitors don’t cross the Venetian, there will be traffic delays on the causeways to our north and south, and disruptions on Alton Road on Miami Beach and around The Miami Herald building and the Arsht Center in Miami.

It’s a major event and a great challenge for the athletes. The entire event should be over by 11 a.m. But if you want to venture out Sunday morning, be careful — and patient.

Miami Beach surveying residents on DecoBike ads

The city of Miami Beach is getting input from Beach residents on whether to allow more advertising on DecoBike kiosks, the Miami Herald is reporting.