Archive for the 'Development' Category

The Future of Miami Beach, Part 1

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on February 20, 2008
in AC Weinstein, Baylink, Bicycle Parking, Bicycle Sharing, Density, Development, Greenway, Mayor Bower and Miami Beach
. 12 Comments
I had the opportunity recently to sit down an speak with Miami Beach Chief of Staff AC Weinstein, who on Mayor Bowers’ behalf, was kind enough to answer some critical questions for us on the future of Miami Beach. I’ll post the questions/Answers below and follow up with some commentary tomorrow:

TM: The greater Miami area is awash with development, cranes, and construction, a sign of prosperous economic times, without permitting overdevelopment in Miami Beach, what will you do to continue to ensure the economic vitality of one of our strongest engines?

AC: All the development in Miami Beach does not ensure economic vitality; rather the economic vitality will continue to be the proper balance of reasonable development and respect for our residential neighborhoods. Overdevelopment does not ensure economic vitality of Miami Beach.

Referendum questions in height variance above 3 feet must go to the voters.

TM: Recent studies conducted by various planning experts suggests that Miami Beach will be ready (from a congestion standpoint) for an effective public transportation system around 2011. What is your position on improving public transportation on Miami Beach, particularly concerning the Baylink proposal? If you are against the proposal, please share your concerns, reservations, and alternative plans you suggest.

AC: MPO committee member informed the subcommittee will not see baylink in our lifetime. The Mayor has always leaned against the baylink system, because residents want to remove overhead wires. The shuttle buses are more compatible with our historic city and are more reliable than streetcars. The city recently completed a Washington Avenue Streetscape and would not want to tear up the roadway to install tracks.

TM: The environment has become a hot topic both locally and across America. This issue is obviously a concern to Miami Beach due to the possibility of rising seas, extensive beach erosion, and loss of vital fish habitat. What plans do you have to push Miami Beach in a more ecologically friendly direction? (I am specifically referencing LEED certification, reduced vehicle demand, and water conservation.)

AC: The Mayors office has created a green committee to specifically research this issue and looks forward to the recommendations of this committee.

TM: Given the fact that approximately 50% of Miami Beach residents do not rely on a vehicle as a primary means of transportation, what improvements can you foresee evolving to make the city more hospitable to pedestrians and cyclists?

AC: The Mayor has established a Bikeway committee to address this question and with commission approval new bike lanes and greenways will be moving forward. Greenway could be possible along Indian Creek, however, we need ROW from property owners.

TM: How do you feel about a Bicycle sharing program similar to the Velib recently installed in Paris

AC: It is an interesting program that I think would work well with our city. New construction will be required to include bicycle racks.

Transitography 31

Published
by
James Wilkins
on October 13, 2007
in Development, Downtown and Metromover
. 5 Comments

The little engine that hopes it can. It remains to be seen if the Metromover will prove to be, at least the first link in a more effective chain of public transport for the new residences in downtown. The glacial pace of transit progress for Miami seems impossible to influence. But at least we have the little blue train.

Musings on Sun, Ocean and Sky

Published
by
James Wilkins
on August 12, 2007
in Art, CANDO, Development and MAM
. 0 Comments


As politicians come and go. As towers rise and fall. The elemental qualities of a destination like Miami never cease to be a point of inspiration, desire and destiny for many global citizens. Regardless of the whims of of markets, and the pain of mistakes made along the way, Miami is so uniquely endowed it will perpetually blossom. It begs the opportunity to cause the best.

Transit Miami Updates

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on May 30, 2007
in Architecture, Blog Roll, Blog Updates, Development, Miami Beach, Murano and Transit
. 1 Comment
The picture above, taken from the balcony of the Murano on Miami Beach, was forwarded to me by James, TransitMiami.com’s newest author. He’ll be covering the architectural and urban design aspects of the buildings rising in Miami.

TransitMiami is growing and looking for new ways to bring the latest content to you. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or comments, feel free to e-mail us at movemiami@gmail.com.

Our sidebars have changed over the past few weeks, some dead sites were removed from the Miami/Transportation blog rolls and a whole bunch more were added…

Paving over the Redlands, One Farm at a Time

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on April 17, 2007
in Agriculture, Development, Environment, Everglades, Farming, Guyed Mast, Industry, Mc Mansions, Miami-Dade County, Real Estate, Redlands, Sprawl and Sustainability
. 6 Comments
I went to Knaus Berry Farm recently in the Redlands to savor Miami’s best milkshake and to buy some fresh, locally grown produce. Although the drive is long, the tastes and sweets are well worth the effort. I’m no longer as phased as I used to be about the amount of new development I encounter along the way. Our land use is absurd and we’re swallowing precious farm land (and the whole Miami-Dade farming industry) at an alarming rate. Part of becoming a sustainable city includes retaining enough farmland so that a considerable amount of our produce can be grown locally. As it pertains to agriculture, sustainable describes farming systems that are “capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely (Definition via National Agricultural Library.) The costs (and tastes) of locally grown produce are far superior to that of any import and the energy wasted in transportation is much less than conventional methods, making the whole process greener for our local economy. I’ve digressed…
So, we’re managing to pave over our precious farm land at an astonishing rate. Cut-rate houses are rising on lots far too small for the house size and whole neighborhoods are springing up around a road network better designed to handle cattle and tractors rather than soccer moms and minivans. The whole thing is quite a mess really and it’s rather disappointing to experience. The lack of infrastructure is incredible and the fact that so much development has already occurred or has been approved is quite disturbing. It’s only a matter of time before strip shopping centers prevalent in America as Suburban eyesores begin to dot the landscape, bringing with them total chaotic growth and congestion.

I was most in shock to see the size of the houses rising beneath the massive NBC radio guyed mast tower. These houses make the houses built in the 1970’s in cocaine alley look like shacks (no, I’m not implying that these houses too are funded by illegal activities.) The fact that anyone would spend the kind of money to construct these multiple thousand square feet houses miles from nowhere was shocking. I took a few pictures which failed to capture the magnitude of these houses, but luckily I found an ebay listing for the lots next door, selling for over $800k and touting the absurd immense houses rising in full view of the property. Here are some pictures and quotes from the listing:

BUILD YOU DREAM MANSION OR TWO ON THIS 5 ACRE PARCEL OFFERED AT $819,000.00, LOCATED IN MIAMI (REDLAND), FLORIDA. INVESTOR’S DREAM! OWNER FINANCING AVAILABLE…

MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MANSIONS ON EVERY CORNER! THIS VACANT AND FLAT 5 ACRE LOT IS ZONED AGRICULTURE AND YEARLY TAXES ARE $244.00. INCOME FROM PROPERTY CAN EARN $250,000/YEARLY IF USED AS A NURSERY, ACCORDING TO NEIGHBORING NURSERY OWNERS. THE LOT ALSO ALLOWS ZONING FOR TWO HOMESITES TO BE BUILT, AS SEEN IN NEIGHBORING PROPERTIES. PROPERTY IS LOCATED MINUTES FROM EXECUTIVE AIRPORT, PRIVATE GOLF&COUNTRY CLUB, MIAMI-HOMESTEAD MOTORSPORTS SPEEDWAY & THE FLORIDA KEYS.
The first of several hideous houses which initially caught my eye, I believe the architecture style is more commonly referred to as gaudy Miami or just plain ugly. This house rests just yards away from the base of the guyed mast and seemingly straddled between two of the anchoring cables. These people will be in shock the day they decide to sell this house and realize it isn’t worth anything near what they expected…
This was just the entrance to the house across the street. King Louis the XIV can be found somewhere in the chateaus (yes plural) in the background… Some of the surroundings, just waiting to be bulldozed and have some more McMansions or “affordable housing” built upon them…Another house, designed in the gaudy Miami style, still under construction…McMansions piled upon each other despite the amount of land available nearby… The ebay listing was far too childish and poorly written to be taken seriously, “Oh, Mansions!” but the construction occurring in this part of the county is undeniably genuine. The area will continue to explode if growth continues to be unchecked, bringing it with it more of the same suburban sprawl that plagues most of our city. The county will have to fund massive overhauls in the area to deal with the influx of residents while damage to the everglades ecosystem nearby and the disappearance of Miami’s farming will continue at an alarming rate unless we pro actively take measures to heed the advancement of greedy development…

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Monday Morning News Flash

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on April 16, 2007
in Businessweek, Carnival Center, Developers, Development, Jersey City, LRT, Miami, Open Road Tolling, Shaya Boymelgreen, Streetcar, Transit and Transportation
. 0 Comments
  • The Developer Billionaire partnership Leviev Boymelgreen composed by Lev Leviev and Shaya Boymelgreen, known in Miami for Marquis and Vitri, have decided to split their partnership, citing a difference of opinions towards future development. Boymelgreen sees a formidable future in the Miami market, opted to stay with the Miami land holdings concentrated around the Carnival center, while Leviev maintained ownership of the NYC properties. Besides the developers’ optimistic stance on Miami’s market, it interesting to note that he is considering developing rental units or workforce housing in the CBD, a stance we have long advocated to help alleviate Miami’s recent housing shortages…
  • Miami is ranked 63 in the top 100 most liveable cities by Business Week, down a notch from last year. In browsing through the list I was compelled to notice that all but one of the top 15 cities have Streetcars, Trams, or LRT running through the city streets. Coincidence? I think not…(Via: Spacing Wire)
  • Open Road tolling is coming to a highway near you…
  • Jersey City is quickly becoming the model of the urban future according to this article in today’s USA Today. I should note, on top of existing transit, the city recently completed a light rail transit line to continue to facilitate transit use for the more than 40% of its residents who ride regularly…
  • Blog Update: I’ve somehow neglected to add a link to Cyburbia to the website. Cyburbia was founded in 1994, and is the Internet’s oldest continuously operating planning-related Web site; it functions today as a portal and busy social networking site for planners and others interested in the built environment. Check it out…

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Miami-Dade County Commssion; Dropping the Ball, as Usual…

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on March 7, 2007
in Baseball, CBD, Carlos Alvarez, Development, Downtown, Marlins, Miami, Orange Bowl, Parking, Traffic, Transit and Transit Oriented Development
. 4 Comments
Leave it to the County Commission to screw things up but then again, why should this surprise me, they’ve always had the knack for such dreadful decision making skills. Major League Baseball has been working closely with all parties to create a new home for the Marlins in downtown, in the heart of the city- where it belongs. Like I’ve stated before, Baseball is an urban sport. With the grueling 82 home game schedule, baseball stadiums have to be placed within the densest populations of any city in order for them to succeed. Downtown is the obvious choice for MLB to seek for a new home for the Marlins because it follows the model used in nearly every other circumstance across the country. Marlins games are so poorly attended now because of the stadium location (on the way home for Broward residents who work in Miami-Dade and too far out of everyone else’s way to make the daily trip, regardless of how good or bad the team is playing and once the novelty of the idea wore off after 1993.) Baseball would thirve in the CBD, not out in Pompano, Hialeah, or out by the Orange Bowl. The public transportation already exists; coupled with the downtown daytime population, makes the Government Center site ideal for the needs of Marlins, MLB, and all of us Miami residents.

Just as we thought the pieces were starting to come together, our urban planning geniuses over at the county commission step in to screw things up. Their three reasons to oppose the downtown location include: loss of parking, new site for the children’s courthouse, and the closing of a couple of minor streets. I think they are against losing their cushy surface parking lot spaces just outside the 500 ft Stephen P. Clark Center. Instead they propose reverting to last year’s failed plan of placing a stadium next to the Miami Orange Bowl. No current or future plans to link this area with public transit exist. The immediate area lacks parking and necessary entertainment infrastructure. No easy highway link. What exactly is it that the commission sees in this alternative location for the stadium? Is it that Mayor Alvarez spoke in favor of the downtown location and they are still pouting about his recent power surge and are just choosing to go against his every thought?

Seriously, this is why we have issues in this County. This is why projects are never completed on time. Everything is a disaster when the fab 13 on the county commission step in to make a decision. Placing the public funding issue aside, why not place the stadium in a location which has been proven to work for Major League Baseball since the early 1900’s- in downtown, urban parks. Any venue outside the CBD and without convenient access to highways and existing public transportation will be destined to be a failure and will serve as the next “white elephant” to further remind us of the injustices caused by the members of the County Commission…

Update: Benji and BOB share their thoughts…

Capital at Brickell

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on December 11, 2006
in Brickell, Development and Miami
. 0 Comments


What could possibly be considered the most important architectural contribution to Miami’s skyline in the latest high-rise boom, has finally begun construction. The Capital at Brickell towers will rise to 53 and 57 stories at 1421 S. Miami avenue. The mixed-use buildings will contain residences, office space, and ground level retail which should interact well with the existing street activity in the area. Most importantly, both towers will be capped by a beautiful spire which resembles that of the Chrysler Building…

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on December 5, 2006
in Conservation, Development, Environment, Green Buildings, Miami and Urban Planning
. 0 Comments


Tomorrow, one of the most advanced and ecologically friendly buildings will break ground in Miami; marking the beginning of construction on our first official LEED designated building. The 13 story, green glassed office building will rise alongside Douglas road, adjacent to the metrorail station. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.

The rating level a project achieves is based on a points system which looks at six categories: sustainable sites; water efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; indoor environmental quality; and innovation and design process.

I do have some reservations about this LEED designation. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do think that it is beneficial to the whole community to construct buildings which are extremely efficient and good for the environment considering that buildings account for 40% of our energy usage, but, shouldn’t the LEED certification take the way people will interact with the building into account? What I’m getting at is that a building that is adjacent to a mass transit station should not have a huge parking component built into the structure, period.

The green glass building will feature a unique L-shaped design allowing each office to have window space, while providing ample parking on the interior of each floor.

I mean, seeing that the average vehicle in the United States pumps out 19.4 Pounds of Carbon Dioxide per gallon of gas burned, shouldn’t the LEED certification take this into account when the building will include sufficient parking for every tenant despite the easy public transit access? I think LEED certification should be contingent on the fact that the building will also “green” the daily lives and habits of a building’s occupants…

Make a Donation, get some Legislation

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on November 6, 2006
in Development, Miami, Sprawl and Tamiami
. 1 Comment

There is something fishy (Pun Intended) going on between developer Sergio Pino and the County Commission. Pino has nearly secured the ability to build 500 homes on land bordering the Tamiami Executive Airport and has even been able to get lawmakers to reduce the airport “buffer zone,” effectively placing homes closer to the runways. Planes will now be able to fly as low as 148 ft over some of the proposed houses.

What a terrible project. Talk about an effective way of curbing future airport and airport related growth. I wonder how long it will take after residents move in, to complain about excessive airport noise. It reminds me of the people living behind railroad tracks which never expected to see trains running along them. But, don’t worry about planes crashing on houses:

“The Century Gardens project includes 24 town houses and a strip mall at the end of a runway. In the middle is a small park requested by county officials — where they said pilots could aim in the event of a crash.”

You know, because that is why we create park space in the County to begin with, for planes to crash land.

Here are some notable parts of the Herald article:

Pino’s group has also convinced the airport that a buffer zone surrounding the airport — where new homes are banned — should shrink. Almost all of the 68-acre Century Gardens project falls within this buffer zone, now zoned for industrial or business use.

Mayol, Pino’s lawyer, successfully argued that the buffer zone was designed to limit neighborhood complaints about noise, and had nothing to do with public safety.

Pino is no stranger to the commission. This year, he and his companies donated $29,000 to the reelection campaigns of five commissioners, records show.

Pino’s companies also donated $25,000 to a political committee challenging a recall effort against Commissioner Natacha Seijas.

In 2004, Pino took Commissioner Jose ”Pepe” Diaz on his private jet for a fishing vacation in Cancún, Mexico. Diaz never listed the trip as a gift in financial disclosure forms he is required to file.

Though the County Commission vote won’t take place until Thursday, bulldozers already have been spotted at work on the land.

Take the Money and RUN!!!

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on July 24, 2006
in Affordable Housing, Carlos Alvarez, Corruption, Developers, Development, Miami, Oscar Rivero, Real Estate and Urban Planning
. 0 Comments
I present an unusual idea on behalf of the citizens of Miami-Dade County: a county-wide class action lawsuit against the developers who stole millions of dollars from all of us when promising to build low-income houses. That’s right, this crack squad more than qualifies to be today’s Maricones; they epitomize the weekly award to begin with. Sure, the developers are just a few of the bad eggs in the rotten Miami-Dade Housing Agency carton, but, they knowingly took advantage of a flawed system and left our neediest citizens out in the cold while they raked in millions either directly or through real-estate dealings.

The Miami-Dade real estate market is rough, heck, we’ve paid out millions and apparently we still couldn’t afford to get a house, let alone enough to give away at a discounted rate to thousands of underprivileged citizens. We’ve given a few politically connected developers they key to accessing millions of mismanaged public dollars, which, if history serves my memory correctly is no different than in years past. Now, I could go into detail on each project and their respective developer, but, I’ll leave the snooping around up to your own personal Google searches and Miami-Dade Property Record browsing. I did my own research and the results weren’t too pleasant, let alone information we would want to publicize about how inept the housing agency controllers really are.

It becomes apparent however, that we have a collective problem when it comes to managing money in this county. The agency has barely been able to build any houses to begin with, yet, they recently completed work on their new $5 Million office headquarters. Apparently they plan on doing some serious work to assist some of the 41,000 families currently lined up to receive some sort of financial aide for housing costs.

It’s because of situations such as this, that Miami fails to gain the positive recognition it could garner. It sickens me to see that so many people are willing and able to essentially steal from tax money earmarked for struggling families. Last time I checked, we didn’t need to create a welfare fund for developers, they should be doing just fine…

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Moment of Clarity

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on July 19, 2006
in Commission, Community, Development, Gabriel J. Lopez-Bernal, Miami, Opinion, Public Works, Transit, Urban Growth and Vision
. 0 Comments
Unfortunately, I believe it has come to that time where I must clarify my position on certain community issues in order to prevent and dispel the skewed misconceptions which have been swirling around in a few comments lately about me. This article does not apply to the vast majority of you, but, I have to post it in order to preserve the integrity behind my name and my website.

First off, I am not a development happy, x-box playing, geek, who prances around gleefully whenever a new shiny glass skyscraper is unveiled in Miami. I do not own or wish to own an X-box, sorry Microsoft. Furthermore, I cringe when I see most of the planned buildings and developments slated to rise in Miami because I know full well that the current infrastructure (Transit, Electrical, Water, Educational, etc.) is not equipped to handle such growth. I cringe because I know that most of the developers are taking advantage of Miami in order to earn quick buck and in the end do not care about the impact their buildings will have on the community or the residents who purchase them. The politics behind much of this growth sickens me and is definitely not anything I stand for. The archaic development codes in this county and city are not suitable for such expansion and our public works sector is not familiar with the concept of sustainable growth. We lack the vision and foresight across all levels of government to plan anything properly and accordingly and in a timely fashion.

With regards to the people of Miami, I believe we all need to become more involved in what is going on in our community. I implore my readers to get involved in community meetings or even by leaving comments on my blog so that we can address issues together. We must hold ourselves as well as our elected officials accountable for the policies which govern us. Republican or Democrat? I say, who cares, we must all be concerned with how our tax money is being misappropriated and we need to first make sure that elected officials are designating our interests as their priorities. We need to enhance our educational system and improve our graduation rates from high schools and universities. We must build stronger communities to come together better in times of need and keep an eye out to lower crime and vandalism.

This is how I truly feel about development and life in Miami. I write my blog with passion daily to try and instill some of that heart into all of my readers. I genuinely care about Miami, not some other country, like many of our residents seem to do. I try to call things the way I see them and avoid sugarcoating topics so that my readers may come to their own conclusions. I believe growth is important for this community to continue to be a player in the global market, however, we must first learn how to grow in a method which will benefit future generations to come.

This is a glimpse of what I stand for and what my site is all about…

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Office Boom Could be a Boon

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on July 17, 2006
in Construction, Density, Development, Miami 21, Office and Skyscrapers
. 0 Comments

The following is a guest article written by Ryan. This article was written before the Herald’s article yesterday regarding the potentially impending office boom we could soon be witnessing and therefore bears little reference to it. Enjoy.

Greetings and Salutations. I’m Ryan, The Sprawl Hater, and I’ll be dropping by Transit Miami once a week or so to offer my perspective on the oft-frustrating, always complex, but never dull journey that is Miami’s growth and development.

Has anyone noticed something conspicuously missing from the explosive high-rise boom in and around downtown? If you guessed low vacancy rates, you’re probably right. If you guessed a legitimate, centrally located transit hub, you’d probably be right, too. Nevertheless, I’m talking about office buildings, people.

Last I checked South Florida had the worst office sprawl in the country. That’s right folks, worse than sultans of sprawl Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas. A Brookings Institute study in 2003 found that of the 13 largest metropolitan regions, South Florida’s major downtown (MIAMI!) had a mere 13% of the metro’s office space. Even worse, virtually ALL office growth in Miami-Dade since 1987 has occurred out of downtown. HOW COULD THIS BE? Or, more importantly, what is being done about it?

Unfortunately, not enough is being done. With nearly 100 new high-rise or mid-rise buildings finished, approved, or planned between Wynwood and Brickell, you can pretty much count the number of new office buildings on one hand. It’s possible we could have 70,000 more condo units here in only a few more years, so where are the new office buildings to compliment 100,000+ aristocrats professionals living in our city’s elongated, coast-hugging core?

The building on the right in the picture above is Met II, the largest and most noteworthy office building currently approved for construction. It will be between 31-46 floors and is set for completion by 2009 (I’d be willing to take bets on that.) A couple others have been proposed in the Brickell area, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be built – and it still isn’t nearly enough.

This could be a big problem, people. The building boom in and around downtown has been mostly good (sans affordable housing, BayLink, and a delayed Streetcar), but without the offices it runs the risk of becoming a high-density bedroom community. This ultimately defeats the purpose of living downtown: easy pedestrian, taxi, and/or transit access to work and home. An office shortage means demand for parking downtown will remain high (stay tuned for a later post on this quagmire). The last thing we need is people living on Miami Ave. and commuting to Doral office park cities out in suburbia.

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Not Going Anywhere For A While…

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on July 11, 2006
in Commission, Construction, Development, FDOT, Krome Avenue, Miami-Dade County, Palmetto and UDB
. 0 Comments


It wasn’t a rhetorical question, more of a declaration. You can still grab a Snickers bar if you’d like, I did.

For anyone who is wondering what the heck the FDOT is up to on the Palmetto and Dolphin Expressways, they created a little website to answer many of your questions. Personally, I love the way they shut down all but one lane at night forcing me sit idle while cars merge psychotically upon me, or the way the left lane of the palmetto is usually blocked off with Bob’s Barricades for no apparent reason. I find Rick’s blog’s name to be one of my saddest weekly experiences as I sit there gazing at all the other frustrated drivers who, like me, are stuck on the Palmetto.

In any case, the mess they have started now, isn’t slated to be completed until 2012 (I’m assuming this date is flexible in one direction only.) As the dolphin expressway is expanded westward to accommodate the sprawl we have all grown to embrace, the FDOT decided to finally fix the terrible interchange between the Dolphin and Palmetto Expressways Slow moving Parking Lots. Simultaneously, the Palmetto is being widened slightly at some key points both North and South of the Dolphin as well as receiving new noise barrier walls and exits, you know, so that cars can flow quicker onto the already clogged Bird Rd, 8th st, Coral Way, etc. Meanwhile the Dolphin is also being widened as it receives a new toll plaza to pay for the current project. Forget Okeechobee, they are currently in the process of depressing part of its roadway to allow the FEC tracks and Hialeah Expressway to cross without impeding traffic (can’t have those damn trains get in the way of our cars…)

Someone also decided that it would be a bright idea to enhance Krome avenue south of where it meets with Okeechobee. I’m assuming this measure was taken to help accelerate the development of land outside the UDB; precisely what the “very-well” educated members of our county commission desired seeing that they are always looking out for the best interests of the citizens developers.

The above picture is of the new interchange which will one day “seamlessly” whisk you from the Palmetto to the Dolphin or vice versa…Until then, idle away in traffic, I’ll be at the Palmetto, Palmetto Metrorail station that is…

Jorge Perez’s Take on Miami’s Growth

Published
by
Gabriel Lopez-Bernal
on May 8, 2006
in Developers, Development, Jorge Perez and Miami
. 0 Comments
Great Article from the herald by Miami Mega Developer Jorge Perez:

Jorge seems to have some of the same opinions as Miami Transit. Here are some key excerpts as to what our city needs to work on to continue to boom as it has in recent years. We agree with Perez’s assessment of the situation and are glad that the developers realize that they too have to work hand in hand with government officials to make Miami a more accessible place for all of us to live in.

So, what can go wrong when everything seems to be falling in place?

• Despite the huge surge of residential and hotel construction in the past few years, economic development has lagged way behind in attracting medium and large corporations that will lead to an expansion of the downtown office market. And without strong growth in downtown office employment there will be little need for further downtown housing, unless we become a city of second homeowners and tourists.
• We need to seriously invest in our public-transportation systems. It is imperative that we minimize our every-day dependence on the automobile and provide viable linkages between urban nodes. This will again require public-sector vision and strong political will.
• Cities will become the place where the very rich and a few of the very poor will live. Today, we see only condominiums that start at more than $300,000 (and those are fast disappearing). Rental housing in the urban core has almost ceased to exist as it is highly uneconomic to build rental properties, and existing rental buildings are either being torn down or converted into condominiums. With land scarcity and increasing construction costs, housing affordability could become our most pressing problem.

So, while I am very concerned with the oversupply and reduced housing demand that we are experiencing, I believe that urban job growth, transportation and affordable housing are the three issues that will affect our city most over the long run. I hope, as in the recent past, that the private and public sectors can team up to
aggressively address these issues.

-Jorge Perez