WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2016
A Singular Voice in an Evolving City
WWW.MIAMITODAYNEWS.COM $4.00
EDUCATION TRENDS
Higher education focus is key to lure Asian business, pg. 13 GAS BUBBLING UP: Gas prices in Miami rose 6.4 cents a gallon last week to average $2.13 on Sunday, 42 cents a gallon lower than the same date last year but 30.8 cents a gallon higher than just a month ago, GasBuddy tracking service reported.
Builders charter school ready to graduate first class, pg. 14
THE ACHIEVER
A NEW TUNE: The Miami City Commission has accepted the final plat of MELODY from Opera Plaza LLC and directed the city manager to file the documents with Miami-Dade County. The plat is a replat and a subdivision of the property on Northeast 14th Street between Northeast Second Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard. The 42,115-square-foot, or .966-acre, plat creates one tract of land for a multi-use development. The city’s Plat and Street Committee determined it conforms to the subdivision regulations of Miami 21 zoning. Melody Tower, a 36-story mixed-use residential project, was built at 245 NE 14th St., right across the street from the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Along with providing 497 rental apartments, Melody is to have 8,500 square feet of ground floor commercial area and at least one restaurant with some outdoor dining in a landscaped plaza.
BY SUSAN DANSEYAR
CRIME FALLS: Violent crimes in Miami-Dade County fell nearly 13% and non-violent crimes fell nearly 6% in the first two months of this year compared with the first two months of 2015, the Miami-Dade County Police Department reported. The only category of significant increase was homicides, which increased from 14 in January and February of 2015 to 18 in the same two months this year. In all, the county reported 916 violent crimes in the first two months of this year compared with 1,050 in the same two months of 2015. Non-violent crimes fell from 5,984 last year to 5,651 this year. The statistics cover only the work of the county police department and do not include municipal police departments. YOUNG EMPLOYEES: Miami commissioners have accepted a $418,375 grant from Cities for Financial Empowerment Inc. to fund a 2016 Summer Youth Employment and Financial Empowerment Program. It will result in the hiring of up to 150 youths, ages 16-19, residing in low- to moderateincome areas in the city. The CFE Fund works to promote economic progress in communities around the world and focuses on initiatives that expand financial inclusion. The grant is to replicate an existing pilot program, working to improve the self-sufficiency of low/moderate income youth and increase their access to the financial tools and education that are fundamental to economic prosperity and success. Since the inception of the program the city has employed 230 and has generated more than $595,600 in economic impact.
Martin Mendez
Photo by Marlene Quaroni
Spearheads IT change in health care, financial services The profile is on Page 4
Hotels checking in along Northwest 36th Street BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS
Back in the day, before the Airport Expressway, Northwest 36th Street was the major road in and out of Miami International Airport. The freeway changed much of that, leaving the once-thriving corridor a shadow of what it once promised to be. But today, when new growth seems to be popping up all over Miami-Dade, developers are investing big money to build brand new hotels on 36th Street and a revival appears to be in the making. Last week Miami city commissioners preliminarily OK’d rezoning of about a dozen connected lots along Northwest 36th Street. The developer, Rebuild Miami Eden Park LLC, plans to construct a La Quinta hotel on Northwest 36th Street and a companion parking lot on property abutting Northwest 35th Street, according to attorney Iris Escarra. Commissioner Wifredo “Willy” Gort said he was pleased to see the hotel proposal and is encouraged by the rebirth of the area. “Thirty-sixth used to be a main street,
AGENDA
Legislative team tallies a good haul
with lots of major stores. A lot had left the area but now are coming back. This project will help the area,” said Mr. Gort as he moved to approve rezoning. Mr. Gort also noted the significance of 36th Street’s connection to the booming areas of Wynwood and the Design District. The hotel property is about 250 feet from the intersection of Northwest Seventh Avenue and Northwest 36th Street (also known as US 27). In a written proposal for the rezoning, Ms. Escarra characterized the hotel project as “a much needed private redevelopment initiative to serve this area.” The developer promises a restrictive covenant to run with the land that will restrict the hotel to a height of eight stories, she said. The covenant will also tie the back lots to the hotel, restricting the use to accessory parking to support the hotel. “Access to the Parking Property will be through the Hotel Property, so as to limit the impact on the surrounding residential uses,” she wrote. “Northwest 36th Street is a Major Thor-
oughfare which connects from Biscayne Bay on the East to the Florida Turnpike on the West,” wrote Ms. Escarra. The area abutting Northwest 36th Street is no longer suited for residential uses and is better suited for lodging to revitalize the area and create jobs, she wrote. Ms. Escarra told commissioners this hotel is one of three her firm is involved with, staking claims along Northwest 36th Street. The other two are Aloft, a planned sixstory hotel with 125 rooms and about 9,000 square feet of retail and restaurant uses at 7220 NW 36th St., northwest of the airport and Milam Dairy Road (Northwest 72nd Avenue), and Triptych, a 20-story tower housing about 297 hotel rooms, more than 65,000 square feet of office space, 20,000 square feet of retail and a 368-space garage, rising at the intersection of Northwest 36th Street and North Miami Avenue. Ms. Escarra told Miami Today she is proud her firm, Greenberg Traurig, is assisting on these key projects bringing new economic development to the city.
Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation leaders found the past session strongest in a decade, meeting short-term goals that include increasing public education funds as well as continuing cooperative work toward longterm initiatives to put the county in a stronger competitive position. Each session the delegation sets priorities and each year has mixed results, said Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, current chairman. However, he said, this session was the strongest in 10 years with the most priorities met, including allocations defeated last year: $3 million for Ludlum Trail Corridor, $2 million for the Underline, and the final $1.5 million to match the county’s to restore the Miami Military Museum & Memorial. Main priorities each year are protecting Jackson Memorial, securing funding for local colleges and universities and protecting consumers from increased property insurance rates, which Rep. Diaz said were met. Additionally, he said, the Legislature allocated $7 million to complete 3rd District Court of Appeal renovations along with record funding for the Everglades ecosystem and polluted springs through the Legacy Florida Act, which sets aside at least $250 million a year for 20 years for Everglades and springs restoration. Vice Chair Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez said members were very satisfied accomplishing almost all their short-term goals and developing long-term priorities for funding formulas in education, healthcare and transportation to put Miami-Dade in a better competitive position. One of the most important outcomes for the county, he said, was $486 million for base public education funding. “The trend every year has been less state funding and more from increases in property taxes,” he said. “We built on our continuing cooperation and coordination.”
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