Miami Today: Week of Thursday, November 26, 2015

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2015

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

WWW.MIAMITODAYNEWS.COM $4.00

ART BASEL

COMMERCIAL / OFFICE SPACE

Art buyers from around globe arrive to seek offerings, pg. 11

Commercial land prices rise at double-digit levels, pg. 15

MORE EURO-WINGS AT MIA: Miami International Airport has secured yet another route this year. German low-cost carrier Eurowings will begin service to Cologne, Germany’s fourth-largest city, on May 1, 2016. The airline’s first-ever Miami service will operate three weekly flights (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays) on a 310-seat Airbus A330 aircraft. This will be the airport’s third German carrier, its fifth German destination and its 20th European destination.

THE ACHIEVER

BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

HOSPITALITY JOBS UP, AGAIN: Miami’s leisure and hospitality industry grew by 6,400 jobs in October, up 4.9% compared to the same month last year, the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau said. The industry generated the highest percentage of job growth among all industry sectors in the county for the seventh consecutive month. A total of 136,500 jobs now exist in the local leisure and hospitality industry, according to the bureau. JOB CREATION: Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo Jr. announced support for Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to fully fund Enterprise Florida, saying it will promote job creation and economic growth. In a written release, Mr. Bovo said the plan calls for a $250 million competitive Florida Enterprise Fund; having the trust fund replace the existing escrow account, allowing the state’s investment to accrue more interest; increasing the Legislature’s role in competing for job creation projects by requiring that any deal over $1 million win approval of the speaker of the house, senate president and governor; reforming the return on investment requirements by eliminating the use of waivers and requiring a 10% annualized return on top of the original investment in a company; and streamlining state approval while continuing to ensure that no tax dollars leave the trust until a company meets its specified job creation goals. Details: www.enterpriseflorida.com NEW GREENWAY: The county’s Building Better Communities Bond Program Citizens Advisory Committee has recommended allocating $500,000 to create the Southwest 144th Avenue Linear Greenway to run along Southwest 144th Avenue between Bird Road and Southwest Ninth Street. The project would add more recreation space and non-motorized connectivity in West Kendall. The committee forwarded its Nov. 6 recommendation to the Miami-Dade County Commission for action.

Photo by Marlene Quaroni

Brian Schriner

Gearing FIU students for innovation-based economy The profile is on Page 4

Ugly local face put on beauty academy complex BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

Project blends into area, architect says, pg.18 details for developing the 30 acres in the

The first phase of a sweeping development of about 30 acres in the Wynwood Arts District has gained support of a city review board, but developer Moishe Mana hasn’t won over Wynwood Business Improvement District board members. Miami’s Urban Development Review Board conditionally approved a plan Nov. 18 to build a 200,000-square-foot combination of a beauty academy, boutique hotel, restaurant and 300-seat auditorium. The first phase, labeled on the agenda Mana-Wynwood SAP Building One, is planned for 2337 SW Fifth Ave. The structure would become corporate headquarters for Luxury Brand Partners, a firm that is partnering with Mr. Mana to build the academy. It’s the first part of a much larger development coming from Mr. Mana that encompasses 30 acres. His company has applied to the city for a Special Area Plan (SAP) designation. The purpose of a Special Area Plan is to allow sites greater than nine acres to be master planned to better integrate public and private improvements and infrastructure.

David Polinsky, developer of 250 Wynwood and a member of the Wynwood Business Improvement District board who chairs the district’s planning and zoning committee, spoke to the city’s review board last week on behalf of the improvement district. While expressing excitement about Mr. Mana’s overall plan to bring development to Wynwood, he voiced concerns about “the process and substance” of the project. Mr. Polinsky said the improvement district and city planners just completed a nearly two-year process to bring a new zoning overlay to Wynwood that includes Mr. Mana’s properties. One goal was “to bring down the scale,” he said. “We volunteered to go a maximum of eight stories, to preserve the character of the neighborhood,” Mr. Polinsky said. Phase I of Mr. Mana’s plan calls for a nine-story building. “We do object, I guess,” Mr. Polinsky said, after referring to the proposed height. This month, the design firm for Mr. Mana’s overall plan, Zyscovich Architects, announced

AGENDA

2 hotel flags ‘set to sign’ at yacht hub Flagstone Property Group has lined up two major hotel chains for its Island Gardens mega resort along with major stores and restaurants, says Brian May, representing CEO and Chairman Mehmet Bayraktar. Flagstone is developing a corner of city-owned Watson Island into a resort that includes a deepwater marina for mega- and super-yachts called Deep Harbour. Mr. May’s status report to Miami commissioners came Nov. 19 at the request of the city’s Department of Real Estate and Asset Management. After more than a dozen years of inaction, work began in 2014 with marine mitigation and dredging and the start of a seawall. Mr. May told commissioners that dredging and the seawall are done. The marina piers have been installed, he said, showing photos of the progress. Flagstone is now working on the water, sewer and utilities that will connect to the marina, he said. “I’m also happy to announce that the hotel development is well under way,” said Mr. May. “Flagstone has executed term sheets with two major hotel chains to be the flags on the site for both hotels, both the four-star and the five-star, and we are expecting to announce those by the end of this year. “So an announcement will be forthcoming. I didn’t say this, but you might expect one shortly, around Art Basel, somewhere in that time frame,” he said. “In addition to that, we have term sheets for a major anchor retail tenant that has been executed, as well as a major dining and restaurant anchor tenant,” he said. “Both of those will be unique in nature and we expect to announce those in the first couple of months of 2016.” The Island Gardens marina is to host mega- and super-yachts Feb. 11-15 for the 28th annual Yacht and Brokerage Show.

southern end of the warehouse district, from Northwest Second Avenue to I-95 between Northwest 22nd and 24th streets. “Mana Wynwood’s new area plan also calls for the development of taller, mixeduse buildings near the edge of the I-95 Expressway to create a buffer zone between the elevated highway and the adjacent neighborhood,” according to Zyscovich. Part of the changes approved for Wynwood in September included creation of a Neighborhood Redevelopment District, or NRD. “The Wynwood NRD-1 will establish a series of protective regulations to guide the transition from an industrial district into a diverse, mixed-use area to include industrial, retail and residential components,” the legislation says. “We ask that [the developer] follow the NRD process,” Mr. Polinsky said. Attorney Carlos Lago told the review board the Mana development team is looking forward to presenting the beauty academy plan to the Business Improvement District’s plan Mega-resort completion date is ning and zoning committee Nov. 30, where pushed back another year, pg. 22 they will “work on pending issues.”

NEW RAIL LINE EYES COUNTY HALL SITE FOR BUS DEPOT ...

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COUNTY LOOKS AT REVERSIBLE LANES TO EASE TRAFFIC ...

8

TAILSPINNING BRAZIL OFF CHAMBER’S MISSION AGENDA ...

2

LITTLE ROOM AT THE INN: HOTEL RATES RISE FOR BASEL ... 11

AWAITING NEW COMMISSIONER, MIAMI IN DELAY MODE ...

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MORE JOBS, FEW NEW BUILDINGS PUSH OFFICE RENTS UP ... 17

VIEWPOINT: CRUISE LINES SAIL TOWARD VITAL GROWTH ...

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CITY-OWNED SPACES GO INTO PARKING POOL FOR HEAT ... 23


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