Planning board considers 17th Street hotel at 5 p.m.; expect a crowd

Rendering of the hotel from the Collins Canal.

The Miami Beach Planning Board has scheduled a 5 p.m.  hearing on the proposed Marriott Residence Inn on 17th Street and West Avenue.

Expect a big crowd and a lengthy discussion.

The Finvarb Group wants to build a 116-room hotel on the property. It’s a sleek five-story hotel designed by architect Kobi Karp, with 66 parking spaces.

The property, owned by the Miami Beach Housing Authority, is tight, tucked between 17th Street and the Collins Canal, west of the apartment building that houses the Vespa store and other retail, and the Boston Market on Alton Road.

A coalition of neighborhood groups — including the Belle Isle Residents Association, the West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association, Venetian Causeway Homeowners Association and six more — are asking the Planning Board to delay approval until the city can better study its impact on traffic. They have also suggested the property should be preserved as green space.

They are urging their members to show up at the meeting wearing red.

In a letter to Planning Board members, BIRA President Scott Diffenderfer said the impact of the planned West Avenue bridge, which will form the west boundary of the hotel property, needs to be considered in the plan, along with the expansion of the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Planning Board members also will hear from supporters of the project, many of whom posted comments during the weekend on BelleIsleBlog. Several praised the design and said a hotel like a Residence Inn — which caters to business travelers and longer stays — would be an amenity to residents who have friends and family visiting. They also argue that the hotel would have less impact on traffic than other businesses that could be built on the property, like a fast food restaurant or a drug store.

In its analysis of the proposal, city of Miami Beach planners recommended approving it, subject to many conditions. The on-site restaurant must be for hotel guests only. The roof-top pool must close by 11 p.m. The hotel has to provide a shuttle for employees who park off-site. And more.

The project still must be scrutinized by the Miami Beach Design Review Board.

Miami Beach to discuss ban on West Avenue hotel developments

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.

 

West Avenue neighborhood group meets Thursday

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.

 

After much talk, Miami Beach Planning Board delays decision on 600 Alton Road

The Miami Beach Planning Board heard  developer Russell Galbut’s plans for his 600 Alton Road residential and retail project (and residents dissection of it) for nearly four hours Tuesday before postponing a final decision on the 444-apartment complex until its April 3 meeting.

“We all agreed that much more time would be needed to hear the board member’s views on the project and then discuss them,” board member Charles Urstadt said after the meeting. “So, the board voted to continue the application to to next meeting (April 3) in order to give the other applicants” on Tuesday’s agenda a chance to have their applications heard.

Several other items were deferred as well, including a controversial proposal to reduce parking requirements at hotels and rules for mechanical parking garages.

In regard to 600 Alton Road, there was a lot to talk about — potential problems with 1073 parking spaces underground in one of Miami Beach’s most flood-prone neighborhoods, how traffic will move through an already congested area, how late to allow restaurants and bars to stay open along residential West Avenue, the possibility of a bar on the rooftop for residents  and more.

The discussion went on from about 4:30 p.m. to nearly 8 p.m., and was tweeted live by The Miami Herald’s Christina Veiga.

In general, the project got a favorable review, with some rough spots. The city planning staff report recommended its approval, with myriad conditions. In Tuesday’s meeting, much of discussion involved the developer’s concerns with the staff report — as well as several areas where residents and the board wanted more information.

But first, here are some vital features and stats on the huge project, which includes property between Alton Road and West Avenue between Fifth and Seventh streets:

– It calls for 60,000 square feet of retail and restaurant uses on the ground floor, 444 apartments, 1,073 parking spaces below ground.

– A new seven-story building will be constructed on the 500 block of Alton Road, and a five-story building on the 600 block.

– The dilapidated South Shore Hospital building, 10 stories, would be rehabbed and included in the project.

– The 60,000 square feet of retail and commercial space on the ground level allow pedestrians to walk open air through the base of the project. Outdoor restaurants on West Avenue side would have to close by midnight.

If the project clears the Planning Board, it would next be reviewed by the Design Review Board.

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.

 

West Avenue neighborhood fights liquor license sought by Bikini Hostel

On its website, Bikini Hostel sells skin.

You may not know it, but there’s a youth hostel down the street on West Avenue with a name you might expect more for a soft-core movie than a lodging residence: Bikini Hostel.

If it sounds a little scandalous, here’s a snippet from the About section of the Bikini Hostel website:

Party! Party! Party! You will be able to party all night long and then sleep any time in quiet and comfort…Staying at the Bikini Hostel Resort, you are across the street from the intra-coastal water way views of Miami Beach—tropical palm tree islands, downtown Miami— nightly lit up skyline and the weekend DJ pool parties at the Mondrian Hotel – where the hottest beautiful bodies groove to the sexiest music and play in the sun all day long!

Well, then.

The Bikini Hostel is comprised of an apartment building at 1247 West Ave., and two adjacent homes, at 1255 West Ave and 1234 13 St.

More from bikinihostel.com

The West Avenue Corridor Neighborhood Association isn’t exactly thrilled to have the hostel in their hood. And even less thrilled with the prospect of the place getting a liquor license.  What to do?

They are petitioning to block the request. The petition says, in part:

The Bikini Hostel is a nuisance as it is but adding a license to alcohol will only make it worse. The hostel is incompatible with this highly residential and stable community. We oppose the Bikini Hostel’s application for a liquor license.

Of course, there are several places to buy beer, wine or hard liquor near the hostel — certainly within a three block walk.

Looking into 2013: What’s coming to Belle Isle, the Venetian islands, Sunset Harbour and West Avenue

As we cross into 2013, it’s a good time to recap the major neighborhood issues of 2012 and what to expect in 2013.

In 2012, we survived the trauma of Venetian Causeway construction, frequent flooding in Sunset Harbour and and along West Avenue and Alton Road, sidewalks lost to work on the new parking garage and shops and the new bikeway along the Collins Canal.

We saw Miami Beach and the Florida Department of Transportation push forward plans for a bridge over the canal at West Avenue.

Our culinary options expanded with the rise of the Pubbelly empire on Sunset Harbour. We’ll have PB Steak in mid-January 2013.

And what else will the new year bring?

New road projects that will create short-term inconvenience, and hopefully long-term benefit. More development pressure. And discussion of how to resolve the flooding headaches caused by rising sea level. Some key issues:

Location of drainage construction corridors.

– Alton Road Construction. The city of Miami Beach will take on a major road improvement and drainage project, starting in April, along Alton Road. The work will extend from Fifth Street to Michigan Avenue, working from south to north, and it’s expected to last two-and-one-half years.

The $27.5 million project will include the installation of a new drainage system, with new pumping stations at Fifth, 10th and 14th streets. It also will include new signage, stoplights and street lights. There will be road closings and detours for the pumping stations (on 10th and 14th streets) and the diversion of traffic to West Avenue.

– Streetscape on Venetian Isles. Work will begin on the long-awaited streetscape project that will bring new landscaping, lighting, sidewalks and drainage to Rivo Alton, DiLido and San Marino Islands. It should have little impact on Venetian Way, and will greatly prettify the islands themselves.

– The Sunset Harbour boom. We’ve only seen two stores open in Sunset Harbour shops, but in the first quarter of 2013, we’ll see more stores and restaurants and the area turning into an even more attractive destination. How will it accommodate the traffic? And what happens when the streets flood. It’s great to see all the activity, but a little worrisome at the same time.

– Sunpass on the Venetian. By May 2013, the Venetian Causeway toll system is supposed to switch to Sunpass, though the county is far behind schedule in converting the Rickenbacker Causeway away from C-Pass and there’s been slippage for the Venetian as well. Many worry the change will encourage more traffic on the Venetian. We’ll keep you posted on the timeline for this change.

Rendering of proposed rental/retail at South Shore.

– West Avenue development. There are a number of important development proposals on the table for 2013 on West Avenue: a renovation of Southgate Towers, including a 200-seat restaurant; replacing the old South Shore Hospital with a rental project with street-level retail, and a Marriott Residence Inn north 17th Street off Alton Road. There’s a Jan. 15 presentation on the South Shore Hospital plan.