Take your pick: A) positive growth and development, or B) ruination

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Wilfred Michael Porter
5 years ago
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1 Take your pick: A) positive growth and development, or B) ruination A lan Macken delivered newspapers in his youth. The stop that made the greatest impression on him was a two-story office building, with parking on the roof, at W. Dixie Hwy. in North Miami Beach. During the 1980s, it was the headquarters of Young Stern & Tannenbaum, an influential north Miami-Dade law firm. It has a wonderful history, Macken says. It was a trophy when I bought it. Macken, a developer who also built Sky Lofts on Miami Gardens Drive in Skylake and many projects in Broward, renamed the 39-year-old office building the Macken Aventura Professional Building when he bought it for $2.2 million in June Macken says he invested a substantial amount of money restoring it to its former glory. He even keeps a Florida Architecture magazine from 1975 that includes an article about the building and the law firm that once occupied it. But Macken s affection for the building only goes so far. I like the building, he explains. I love the location. Macken is asking the City of North Miami Beach to change the zoning of the 32,000-square-foot parcel on which his 20,000-square-foot building now stands. He wants it upzoned from B-1 to B-2. New buildings constructed on a B-1 parcel are capped at two stories. But on parcels zoned 1 / 5

2 B-2, developers can build up to 15 stories, or 150 feet. Macken admits he has no firm plans for the site, should he get the zoning change. But he insists he has the drive and experience to spark more development in the area where he was raised. Someone has to fix W. Dixie Highway, he says. Why not someone who went to Sabal Palm Elementary, Highland Oaks Middle School, and North Miami Beach Senior High? W. Dixie Highway is a faded thoroughfare that zigzags from NE 119th Street in North Miami up through the unincorporated area west of Aventura known as Ojus, and on to the Dade-Broward County line. It winds past strip malls, industrial areas, condominiums, apartments, a cemetery, the Florida East Coast Railway, and the eastern entrance of the county s 250-acre Greynolds Park. The two-lane road also hosts the Ancient Spanish Monastery, located at W. Dixie Hwy. Built in 1141, the monastery was transported in pieces to America and reassembled in North Miami Beach in the early 1950s. Macken s zoning request is currently in limbo. That s because the North Miami Beach City Council is interested not only in rezoning Macken s property, but also the area surrounding it acres of land on both sides of W. Dixie Highway between NE 170th and 171st streets that 2 / 5

consists of parking lots, retail, and low-rise office. Like Macken s land, the parcels are zoned B-1. City officials are examining the possibility of formulating a new B-1.

3 consists of parking lots, retail, and low-rise office. Like Macken s land, the parcels are zoned B-1. City officials are examining the possibility of formulating a new B-1.5 zoning category that would allow buildings somewhere between two stories and 15 stories. Macken is fine with the delay, as long as the city creates the zoning that will allow him and young bloods to come here, beautify the area, and give responsible developers an opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the city. The notion of developing properties along W. Dixie Highway has drawn its share of critics. Some of them believe the upzoning talk is actually designed to enhance the prospects of a 658,500-square-foot commercial complex on a four-acre parcel at W. Dixie Hwy. The proposed complex is being developed by Braha Dixie LLC, a partnership headed by New York-based real estate investor Ralph Braha. Called the Parkview Business Center, the project, if built, will rise to 130 feet at its tallest point and include 275 Hyatt hotel rooms, Class-A offices, retail, restaurants, and a 739-space parking garage. The property is is right next door to Greynolds Park s W. Dixie Highway entrance. Activists from around the nation, who formed a Facebook group called the Save Greynolds Park Committee, fear the project could ruin the park s ecosystem and aesthetics. (See Green Piece June 2013.) In an effort to derail the project, Charles Baron, a land-use attorney and resident of the seven-story Greynolds Park Club Condominium at W. Dixie Hwy., has filed a lawsuit challenging the city s rezoning last year of Braha Dixie s parcel from CF to B-2. Without that zoning change, it would be illegal to build the Hyatt-anchored complex. Only 35-foot-tall nursing homes, hospitals, museums, or government buildings are allowed on land zoned CF, or community facility. 3 / 5

4 Opponents of the Braha Dixie project fear that the noise, shadows, and traffic from the Hyatt project will also degrade the quality of life for residents living in the nearby Sunray East neighborhood. Michael Horton, a Boca Raton-based property appraiser hired as an expert witness by the Save Greynolds Park Committee, believes that residential property values near the Hyatt complex will plummet, thanks in large part to the vehicular traffic. When you live in a residential area, you want to be away from things that attract so much traffic, Horton explains. That s why they generally build subdivisions away from commercial properties. Baron doubts that narrow W. Dixie Highway will be able to accommodate increased traffic resulting from the high-rise Marina Palms condominium (now under construction at Biscayne Blvd.), the proposed Parkview Business Center, and upzoned developments in the vicinty of Alan Macken s property. It s like a little village street now, Baron says, and they want to make it like Biscayne Boulevard. It can t be a Biscayne Boulevard. NMB elected officials, however, were emphatic in their support of a Hyatt Hotel on W. Dixie Highway when they unanimously approved Braha Dixie s site plan during a late-night council meeting on August 22. Members claimed that the project would bring jobs, tourists, more development, and excitement to the NMB area. Once things start moving in this city and things get exciting here, your property values are going to go up, Councilwoman Barbara Kramer predicted during the meeting. I m really excited by this project, excited to see North Miami Beach finally blossom. Councilwoman Phyllis Smith says North Miami Beach needs additional tax-revenue sources to pay for constantly rising city expenses and pension costs. It would be a wonderful utopia if things were the way they were 150 years ago, she tells the BT. But the truth of the matter is, the cost of living has increased. There is no sustainability unless we move forward. Peter Zalewski, a real estate consultant and founder of CondoVultures.com, believes W. Dixie Highway is in fact moving forward, that its time has finally arrived. There is little land remaining in Aventura available for development, he points out. Plus office and retail rents in places like Aventura, Brickell, and Coral Gables have become so expensive that businesses are on the 4 / 5

5 hunt for cheaper locations. When the developers do come, they ll knock down what s there now and build anew. It s a sleepy area that s ripe for tear-down, Zalewski says. Macken hopes that city officials will maintain their pro-development momentum, especially along W. Dixie Highway. Don t you think it s time to clean up the area? he asks. Aventura looks good, and it s about time North Miami Beach follows that city s lead and move in the right direction. I think that we have to create a new identity for the Dixie Highway corridor. Feedback: letters@biscaynetimes.com 5 / 5

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