Urban Development Review Board

actually the guy that owns 41 northwest ninth court or 4100, correct? 4100 so he's probably annoyed that people put trash on his property. Correct. I'm sorry. Objection as to what somebody else. Is thinking. Is relevant, your honor. Okay. >> I'm going to sustain I'm going to sustain that objection. She can't. Yeah. In one second I'm going to give you an opportunity. Okay. You're at the point now you're asking the inspector questions [Music] If any were distributed to board members and the administration throughout the day so that the board can consider them prior to taking any action. Additionally, the online comment form will remain open during the meeting to accept comments and distribute to the board members up until the chairperson closes public comment. All comments. All comments will be included in the public record of the meeting. These public comment options established and provided for this meeting comply with section 286.01142 florida statutes. Members, are you comfortable with all the notice. >> provisions set forth. >> in these. >> uniform rules of procedure we have established for. >> this meeting? Yes. Thank you .Please rise for pledge of allegiance. To the united states of america. To the republic for which it stands one nation under GOD, indivisible with. >> liberty and justice for all. Right. I'd like to call this meeting to order. It is 209. Um, can we please do. >> roll call? Member. Baker. Member. >> barrera. Member. Gallardo. >> member. >> lewis. Member. >> perez. Asia. >> here. Member. Maui. >> members. Armistice. Vice chair. Zapata here. Chair. Librado. Present. >> we do have quorum and. Member barrera requested. >> an absence waiver. Um. Can we please have a motion for for the. >> waivers. So moved. Do we have a second? Second. >> thank you. Thank you. Um we . >> please have a. >> motion for. JULY's. >> minutes approval and or comments. Make a motion to approve JULY minutes second. Item number one for. >> today is minute track id 19824. It is MR. Hemingway. Sorry to interrupt. Do we have any public comments online? Thank you. No ma'am. There are. >> no public comments. MAY I please close them? Yes. Thank you very much. You'd be item number one minute track id. 19824 is the approval. >> of the drb. 2027 global calendar for next year. Do we have any comments? Any questions? We have a motion. I can make a motion. >> to approve the. >> proposed calendar for next year. Second. Member gallardo. Yes. >> member perez. Yes. Vice chair. >> zapata. >> chair labrada. Yes. Calendar has been approved. For for next year. >> thank you. Item number. Two minute. >> track id. 19810 liberty square. Phase six location. Model city transit zone t five zero square footage. 374,744ft2 336. Residential units application type waiver waiver pursuant to section. 5.5.1 of the miami. 21 to permit more than. 75ft spacing between pedestrian. Entrances waiver pursuant to table four density. Intensity and parking t five zero for properties located within. Opportunity zones, the parking ratio MAY be reduced within a tod area or within a transit corridor area by up to. 30% or process of waiver requirement pursuant to article seven section. 7.1.1.2.10. >> the project. >> exceeds 200,000ft2. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Andres rivero, attorney here for the applicant I'm joined by my colleague javier vino guillermo from related urban and ivo fernandez from modus who will be walking you through the project in a second. Um I do want to quickly just step back and give a little context. I think most of you were here last year when we presented the prior phase right? And so you can take a look at this board here which gives you the nine block um master liberty square. Redevelopment just to to. Resituate you all the first four phases which are the three on the north and then the um west central block phases one through four those are complete. Those are open. Residents have moved in. Last year this board heard phase five which is the southwest corner and then this one right here which is which was the elderly product that's the liberty square elderly. So those those are both under construction now the block that's before you today is the south. Central block which which faces right onto 62nd street. Um and we're calling it phase six. So this one you'll you'll note is similar in design to phase five. It's a little bit different. It doesn't have the garden style on the back but it's it's very similar to what you all reviewed last year. Um and has the commercial uses and the. Activation along 62nd which ivo will will walk you through in a moment. Just a note on the waivers that that ricky um. Listed this is the one where we've we've put in the fewest requests here. We've really tried to streamline it. Um the pedestrian access waiver is mostly due to the the civic spaces that we have on the perimeter the dog park and the playground. Um and then the parking is a. 30% a standard 30%. Reduction for being in a transit corridor. So um, with that I'm going to turn it over. >> to ivo unless. >> there's any questions. >> on kind. >> of the the entitlement piece. Sure. >> yes. >> into the microphone. I'm sorry you have I have some questions regarding the. Parking you've asked for like two reductions right in this project. So there's there are technically two it's the 30% reduction and then because it's a live local project it also gets a. 15% reduction. On top of that we're still providing. 390 spaces. So more than the. 366 units there will be more than one. >> one space. >> per unit here. But yes it is through two separate programs. Okay. Thanks. Yep. >> okay, I'll turn it over to ivo. Good afternoon, board members. Ivo fernandez modus architects. So as part of our continual growth of liberty square um as andres mentioned it is the center block and this is really a continuation and context of phase five which faces martin luther king boulevard. Um as you know the previous phases have been lower scale garden style 4 or 5 stories and then now as we came down come closer down to martin luther king boulevard, we are now doing the step up right? We're moving up and these are eight story buildings similar to phase five. And in this particular case um we you know, we addressed the l-shape buildings, you know, meeting miami 21 code but given the lack of program that we have similarly to phase five where we had our garden styles in the rear and we had this ability really we have our parking to the rear of the project. So we still wanted to maintain this connectability between martin luther king and the. Residents in the middle and and third blocks to the north. So you'll notice that the move even though it wasn't required, the move was still to provide a cross block um. Condition and we've taken it a little bit further in that in phase five, if you remember the the park area was nestled in the center of the parking lot because it catered to the four projects in this particular case since we don't have the. Additional residential to the north, what we did was we brought that public space, that park area and we connected it directly to the two buildings so that there is a direct a direct correlation between the amenity spaces which and lobby spaces that connect to that center portion while the commercial uses are on the. Outskirts on the corners, right so that they have more. Visibility. >> more exposure for. Potential retail tenants and so forth and gives it a little bit more public versus. Private feel, right? So in the middle it's more public I mean sorry more private and the outskirts is more private public and uh, in addition to that, um as you can see the ground floor has been um aside from the requirements of miami 21, we've extended all the glass exposure. Um, unfortunately we do have to create some new walls because of our flood condition. This is one of the lower parts of lowest areas in in the on the site with regards to fema and flood elevations. So we did try to incorporate some of those new walls. Uh, we had to provide a significant amount of um. Stairs and and access points. So we tried to consolidate as many of them as possible. So you'll see where the commercial is on your blow up plans that we've. Consolidated the ramps and consolidated steps to be able to provide. Accessibility to different uses to minimize having, you know, 5 or 6 stairs and 3 or 4 ramps. So we feel we did a good job of doing that blending into the ground level. Pedestrian. >> um, you know. Activity and scale, um, while still providing all the required access. We also have additional access from the from the. >> rear you'll notice that the two commercial spaces. A little closer to me here. So you'll notice that the two the two commercial spaces will have have access to some green spaces that we've provided along the two side streets. So this will be a. Potential. Ability to. Okay. Thank you. Sorry. >> to interrupt you. Can you. >> also. >> project it on the laptop? Yeah um the overall site plan. >> rendered site plan. This is the keep going yeah one more. I think that's good yeah we can do that one. So this one isn't as rendered as the other one. But you'll see here that um the commercial spaces that align with 100 with uh 13th and 14th avenue have more. Connectability to those two green spaces dog park area and playground on the interior corners. And again this is the lower scale area of the site. So we felt that it was appropriate to bring down the scale, create some. Separation and some screening from the parking so it's not right up on the street and you'll see in the center park area like I mentioned that. Plaza and kind of central park area for the development is now closer and connected directly to the two buildings while still having pedestrian. Connectivity um towards the north side of the site. Um again project has. 168 units per building. Um as we mentioned it has more than one for one parking. We have provided parking uh for the commercial. Spaces and um from a scale standpoint, I think we've tried to create some diversity in the. Elevation that complements phase five. Without trying to mimic phase five. So we create some you know, some different elements, um, you know, a part of our. Elevations. >> you know, unfortunately this is a completely affordable 100% affordable deal. So due to budget. Constraints. >> we're limited on the amount of balconies that we can provide based on the client's program. So we've tried as best as possible to create some animation in the facade, create some movements um and still while still. Providing you know, some balconies and. >> some elements that give. >> the facade some, uh, some movement. If there's any. >> questions I can be happy to answer. Thank you. We can get started on our left MR. Perez. Yeah. >> thank you. Um yeah, no, I I like the the site plan makes sense for the site. Um and you know, we always want to see a. Few more balconies but you know, understand the challenges. Yeah. You know, maybe a you know, instead of providing floor to ceiling windows, you provided the panels, you know, kind of give a little more interest. It would be it would be good though I think if you could. Accentuate or emphasize the corners of those commercial spaces a little bit more, I don't know if maybe you carry the those white maybe a white element I don't know. I think there MAY be something that you could do there to uh especially because those are the commercial spaces and maybe there's an opportunity for you to to highlight those a little bit more. Right. So, um, just like in the top of the building, you know, the. >> the corner is connected maybe there's a. >> way that you connect it at the bottom like a frame almost like a frame to show yeah, to show the continuity of that commercial space. Right. And also that will help you with the separation between the commercial and the. >> residential above and access to it, you know, the commercial podium and allow. >> for some signage as. >> well, right for those. Particular corner tenants for most of his ability. Yeah, yeah. Um and then the the building entrance, you know, I mean I can we see a rendering you have a rendering of the building entrances to the the. Residential entrances. Um I don't know if you have. >> a close up of that. >> so. >> it's hard to see from here. Yeah I can't can you zoom in there but again that would. >> be another yeah. Can you see that on your screen now. Yeah okay there you go. Yeah I mean. Yeah I mean it it's you know probably you don't want to. >> emphasize them too much so I you know I think they're okay but yeah. Okay. Yeah what's lacking there is a sign right? There'll be a really nice. >> uh, sign for the building that'll help accentuate that entry entry point. Okay. Yeah, yeah, I see that column of balconies there and just maybe there is a way to connect that but you know, I don't know. Not so sure. Maybe you can explore. Something just to. >> create more interest and accentuate that entrance but you know understood. Yeah. These are all just. Recommendations really just but. Yeah. >> perfect kind of what I have. Thank you thank you. Sabatini um I think I really like the park at the center. I think it's very beautiful and very modern. I think it's nice. I was wondering if you could explain to us. I might be confused on the trees at the. Front at the main facade you only have a ten foot sidewalk. Um how are you able. >> to you know, do you have enough space to plant trees there as you're showing them? Yeah. So so we have a technically it's a six foot sidewalk plus the ten foot. Separation of the setback. So the base building line is at is at zero which is really six plus ten. So we actually technically have. 16ft from the curb to the building facade based on the miami 21 requirements, the the tree planter sits on the back side of the sidewalk and it comes in five feet so you have six feet on one side. You have five feet up against the building and then you kind of meander through the tree. So in other words the trees create almost like two like a double canopy because you have. >> a pedestrian on both sides of it. >> up against the building and up against the curb and that's happening all the way around, right? Yeah, that's. >> that's all miami. 21 landscape requirements. Yes. Yeah. Um my other comment is the. >> length. >> of the of the actual. >> buildings. >> they're about they're a bit long with um I was wondering if you study opening the corner so you can get some daylight perhaps we always ask this question when buildings are you know over. 250ft long. This is almost. 2727239 yeah. 239 is there any way to introduce daylight. >> at the corner? So perhaps where the stair or I don't know. >> somewhere. Um you. >> have a very long. >> corridor in the. >> residential corridors. I see what you're saying in the residential floors. >> let me see there's also only two elevators for a lot of people so actually we do. So if you look at where it says elevator lobby that's all glass. So there will be natural light peeling into that center space. It won't be exactly at the end of the corner but it is um but it is I believe. >> it's almost ten feet by. >> ten feet of glass. What about the other ends of the hallway at the. It just affects our. >> unit. >> count. >> it it cuts the requirement that we have by. You have a hallway though. >> at the end of the hallways. Yes. There's glass at the end of all the hallways. Yes, yes. So if. >> you can like at the end where the they do they do show glass. Yeah. So let me see if I can can you can you zoom in in the corners. Yeah [Laughter]. >> yeah yeah we have light at the end of every corners. Perfect. Okay perfect. Yeah. So we have it in the center where the elevator lobby is. So when you come off the elevator you have you know, you have daylight and it also shoots daylight into the center of the building and then we have. >> two end caps, uh, glass and it's full glass. It's. >> floor to. >> ceiling glass. Okay, great. That was just one. >> of something other than that. Thank you. Appreciate it, MR. Gallardo. I know I wasn't here for your other phases. Can you. Explain. >> uh, how these buildings. Connect or. Conceptually connect between one another? So how this building connects to the other ones or relates to the other ones, how they relate to each other? Well unfortunately. The program really they were done. Individually because of of um uh, like of what application. Requirements, right? So if you look at for example. So high level because it's a it's a long history, but high level is this was a this this entire nine blocks had were all full of single and two story homes and the first phase had to do with. Replacement housing and reshifting of housing. So we started in this top corner here and as we knocked we moved people from here very there were very few occupants in this corner. So these folks were moved into rehab rehabilitated units. This block was knocked down. 260 units were built, 220 units were built here and then people were moved from this block to this block to their new homes. And little by little we did this scenario and that's why I stayed at a garden style product because we had to commit to. 660. Units on the first. >> phase to clear the rest of it. These buildings I'm sorry upper unit. Upper line I guess. How do they relate? I know you're shifting one you know one another or whatever. How do they relate to each other either. Uh in terms of walking or well yeah, I mean we're we're taking an entire so first of all the grid that was here was very. Underdeveloped, right? The sidewalks were very small. There was no connectivity between I'm familiar with. >> that, you know, with that area. >> because I did some. >> some some work for dade county and architecturally speaking you mean demolishing a lot of these old buildings that were. Non-conforming, right? Recertification and so forth. So we had to demolish you know, I don't know how many blocks and still going on. So I just I know what I'm saying. I know what kind of buildings are in the area is what I'm saying is how high were those buildings up in the upper level that are that are. >> already built. >> the. >> ones on the top line how high how tall are these are three stories. Yeah, they're all three stories and and if you notice just like with typical what miami 21 tries to instill is transitioning right? So you have three stories abutting two stories. Then we have four and five stories abutting three stories and then we have eight stories abutting five. So we have this the natural. 2021 transition going down. So. >> heavy density was brought down to martin luther king boulevard on the commercial corridor. Now understand that how is the landscaping. Related you know in terms of your project now how's it relate to the other projects? I know they're independent but do they have do you have like a master. >> plan and. >> master. Concept that ties everything together? So. Again again. Typology that ties everything together I'm sorry a. Typology or some type of. >> urban. Uh goal in terms of community. Well yes. So the master plan is that these are these are the lower skilled properties like I mentioned these are seniors community center athletic field right seniors here as well. Commercial and then all. Multifamily uh higher higher density residential. So as a block as a as an entity, we're trying to reinstitute a mixed use concept, right? We're bringing in. Educational we're bringing in athletics community buildings, um, uh, daycare centers commercial, which is non-existent in the area. Right ?All commercial along here. So in essence, what used to be. 700 isolated apartments has now turned into. 2000 mixed use, uh, mixed use community a neighborhood. Okay. I understand all the everything you're saying. I'm just trying to take it to let's say one more level of discussion. I agree with everything you said so far uh, stepping up and providing different uses for different ages. How does the. Architecture relate to the community in terms of. Materials or. Conceptual or uh, how did the form develop. >> instead of just maxing it out like a block? Well I'll let you answer that. We certainly have not maxed it out though just just to be clear, right? Like I think evo can walk you through how we decided to do, you know, we wanted to to activate the street fronts with the parking internalized. So you'll notice all the blocks have that kind of design and even can walk you through that. I mean under certainly under the live local act this could go I mean. >> thousands of units we could put on this block. So it's been done intentionally I guess what I'm what I'm trying to say how did it become a block instead of something different? I know you could maybe go to the sky with it. You could go on to a. Rectangular block whatever 50 stories or whatever it is. How did it come to be a block? Because the block is so rigid. It's not. To me it doesn't really relate to. The meaning why. >> why is why has it been developed block by block? Yeah. Why didn't it take a different shape? I guess a big part of that is is just just the the financing requirements right? So each of these blocks has a separate set of. Affordability requirements. >> it's all part of a county rfp right? That was that was approved originally. And so some of it is efficiency in the sense that you know, the like phase one, two and three had their own income mixes with, you. >> know, a lot of different stakeholders that have to come together. The lenders. >> know I know everything. >> I know is I know you have a lot of yeah. So so that people to please and so that's that's the reason right? Like if if we and I'll actually give you an example, the elderly um product here did not do the whole block. So we only did part of the block and then the rest. >> of the block is going to be a homeownership lower scale piece. So it's kind of case by case. I guess what I'm getting at is not that you took over the whole you didn't take out the whole block but that block became a block you know uh white cone that building had been a little bit more uh I don't want to say innovative but a little bit more less blockish I. >> guess. >> more more a little bit more soft. Uh, what materials I think I think that's governed by the code. I mean maybe 21 is very specific to your building sits on on the on the ten foot line. There's no given of that. So and I've had this question many times in front of this board is why does the building look the way they do? Why is it parking in the back that's that's strictly governed by the code I we cannot deviate from that. I can't pull that building three feet behind the property line. I can't put a 45 degree angle on the on that building I need to meet. Frontage and I need to meet glass. >> frontage and those are all tied in specifically to the transit code requirements. Okay. Another question is I think you mentioned in your letter of intent that basically you created all these landscape areas for the. Community to have. >> a community feeling unless I'm wrong I guess maybe right in the middle. Yeah right exactly. Or in the corners too. I'm just. >> I'm asking this. >> just as a question. Uh. Central park is a big area. Could you have a united a little more into the mic? wasn't it possible to unite all these let's say green areas, landscape areas, dog parks closer together so. >> that. >> community could enjoy it without having pieces instead of so I can answer that. So so part of the master plan of this thing is that you have we looked at so first of all the block area the block distinction or block breaking down that's an existing grid right? So these blocks were there. This was not one. Master public housing site that was subdivided. These are lot blocks platted. These roads have public public right of ways and that's that was given to us. So we had to work. >> within each block independently. Okay. >> so I don't know if. >> that that was part of your no I have a question regarding. >> just what you're saying you could have. >> that was a given you. >> could have closed some of these streets or not. >> not no because then you exceed the block lengths that are required by miami 21 no, I'm talking about let's say the top the top three joining with the with the middle three joining with a with the bottom three. >> so. >> they would basically. Communicate, you know, better together but they do from a pedestrian. Standpoint cross block streets running through you know the other way again remember these are affordable housing projects that are dictated by the county and. >> we're given the criteria and the criteria is you have to live within the block right. So that was kind of never tried for. >> that I guess you never tried for any. >> suggestions. >> to close. We were not part of those those those. >> were decisions made by the developer and the county. Yeah we were we were not we have this is part of the. Original right? Yeah. >> evo was operating in the sandbox that's created by that right so county so then as we designed the project and we made this presentation prior to you being on the board is when you look at this, you have to look at this from a micro and macro perspective, right? So from a from a from a neighborhood. Perspective you have a macro level, uh, amenity green space and this serves the community as a whole, right? This is where you have your community project or community buildings for after school care where you have your um, little league baseball game on a saturday. Then when you come into each block, then you then you start dealing with a micro, uh, micro level amenity space which caters to the people that live within these blocks to create a sense of community and a sense of ownership. Right? So and and I and I'm going to give an example because I was born in new york and I lived in my neighborhood and all my mom wanted to see from the eighth floor of my apartment building is where I was was I safe and you know, did I run away on my bike? So this creates a micro level amenity and community space that falls within this block. Then these. Blocks are connected to the bigger space in the middle. So creating a micro and macro level your statement there is your statement there almost contradicts what what what you were saying because your mother wanted to be able to see you from the window or whatever. Right? >> but you're putting all these green areas in different places so how well because this one caters to these buildings, right? And this one caters to the whole development based on the use that you're doing right? So this is where I hang out. >> after school. This is where I hang out on saturdays and sundays for baseball or football. But what was the reason. >> you could not unite these. >> green areas within this to unite the areas? Yeah, unite the green area because they had to live. >> within certain blocks. These were all lawton blocks. They were all uh yeah like the playground for example on the on the top left of the screen right now you know, I evo part of the the intent there is. >> to help serve the garden style that's to the to the. >> west of it. Right. >> because there wasn't. No the garden styles each have. >> public gardens inside as well. Yeah. And on phase five there's also you know every every. Block has a separate private I won't say private but a separate I guess that's the. >> answer that that green. >> area. >> serves. >> the. >> building on the. >> other side. Yeah has one this one has this one this one. >> this. >> one yeah yeah okay I got it. It's it's hard to see on the on the aerial. Yeah. >> I couldn't understand it just by. >> this parcel alone. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um look I think the affordable housing. Addresses you know first obviously the fundamental needs um without. Compromising the. Esthetics um I think it provides both. Functional and a. Dignified um design. Um I would say because I saw your. Previous um phase five your corners and I do agree with MR. Perez I think you have a void on on the base and I would love to see you know, maybe a a solid base that would kind of tie in the building it those. Balconies that come along the um. >> the edge. >> seem that they're floating. It just seems like they're they're missing something. Yeah. Got it. Um and then I would also. Encourage for you to either. Find a bigger awning or something that accentuates the entrance a little bit more because right now it seems like it has the same language as the other kind of side entrances. And so it's tough to identify like where the main entrance is. Um but other than that I think your design your you know, your. Massing works, um on the that would be the south elevation. Um you know, I saw how you use the parapets to kind of break up the the roof line. I would love to see it a little bit more accentuated. Um because I think right now it almost looks like it's broken. >> up but you know, from afar it might be um a little too too similar to the. Adjacent um massing so but other than that I think it's a. >> wonderful. Project and I love the the way. >> you've laid out the central park. Appreciate it. Thank you. So we don't have any other. >> comments are we ready to make a motion? I can try to put together a motion here but I move to um approve the project as submitted with the following. Recommendations. >> number one um the connect the the the explore connecting the podium at a commercial level um to to tie that that corner together as discussed during the meeting, um provide a little more emphasis on different entrances to the building um with either a. >> canopy. >> or or other element. Um and it so it has a. >> little additional hierarchy .And um. You want to add. >> something for the top of the building or it was just a minor. Comment but it's not a we're good. Yeah. Okay. Yeah that's it. And we need we need a second do we have a second I can second. Ready to vote. Member perez yes. Vice chair zapata yes. Member gallardo a soft yes. Uh, chair. Labrada yes. Congratulations. >> thank you. Appreciate it. >> thank you. You are item number. Three minute track. >> id. 198199. >> address 3100. Biscayne boulevard. Project named nema location wynwood. Edgewater transit zone. T636a0 square footage. 1,588,223 east tower. 49 stories. West tower 21. >> application type waivers waiver pursuant to article five section. 5.6.4 to permit a long secondary frontage above ground. Parking to extend into the ground layer beyond. 50% of the length of. Frontage if an art glass or. Architectural treatment of a design. Approved by the planning. Department planning director waiver pursuant to article four. Table four to allow up to. 35% reduction. Of required parking of commercial space in a. Development within one half mile of a transit. Oriented development. Or one quarter of a mile of a transit corridor waiver pursuant to article four. Table four to allow up to a. 35% reduction. >> of required parking of. Residential units in a development within one half mile of a transit. Oriented development. Or one quarter mile of a transit corridor waiver pursuant to article four. Table four to allow up to. 35% reduction of required. Parking of residential. Units in a development within one half mile of a transit oriented. Development or one quarter mile of a transit corridor waiver pursuant to article five section. 5.61 c of miami. 21 of the minimum pedestrian entrance. requirement exceeds. 3075ft above along. 32 along 32nd street waiver pursuant to article seven section. 1.25.29 b of miami. 21 north tower setback required to be. 20ft requesting. >> a 10% reduction to. 18 waiver pursuant to per act five section. 5.6.1 a minimum of. 75 excuse me. 70% of the length of each principal frontage requesting. >> 10% waiver. >> for requirements along biscayne boulevard. Waiver pursuant to per art five section. 5.6 point. 1ea minimum of. 70% of the length of each principal frontage requesting. 10% waiver. >> for. Requirements along. >> northeast second avenue. There are. 1030 residential units and there are. 991 parking spaces. Udb requirement pursuant to article. >> seven. >> section. 7.1.1.2.10. The project exceeds 200,000ft2. Thank you. Thank you. >> good afternoon, members of the board ethan wasserman with greenberg traurig, 333 southeast second avenue here on behalf of the applicant uh, we're very excited to to be here before you all um, this is a great project in the edgewater. Neighborhood where we we we own from biscayne to second avenue with our north boundary on 32nd street on the south is former 31st street. Some people think it's a public roadway. It's actually a private roadway. Um and we'll we'll walk you through that in a minute. But this is a live local project. We are bringing over 400 workforce housing units into the edgewater neighborhood, which is something we're proud to be a part of. Uh, you'll notice our pd number is. 24. >> so it's a relatively old application. Staff has been very patient with us. We've worked through a lot of different things on this project live local changes, zoning code changes. We've replatted the entire property. We've worked with the fire department to make sure 31st street is accessible. There used to be a private uh guard booth or guard house on 31st that's been eliminated. So fire can now use 31st street uh, two tower design. I'll let christina villa, our project architect, walk you through the. Design. >> but we are, um, we worked very hard with staff to conceal this parking podium. We have full residential liner on biscayne boulevard. We have full residential liner on second avenue. We have a great amount of commercial space at the ground floor of the podium as well as at the top floor. So we've really sandwiched in this podium as best we can to make this project a success. So let me turn it over to christina, but I'm happy to answer any questions you MAY have. All right good afternoon everyone. Christina villa rsp. Architects um so it's an honor to be here to present this project. It includes a full block development along biscayne boulevard and second avenue. We have just to the north of us. 32nd street and 34th street which as ethan mentioned is a is a private road to the south. Um the architecture itself spans the entire block. The idea was really to have a proportion and different tower elements that almost blend in with the surrounding. So a lot of the high. Towers that exist over on the east side of biscayne boulevard and this project becoming a transition to some of the lower buildings that happen to the west of this project along second ave. Architecturally the idea was to carve something that created a pattern along the facade of the buildings with. Balconies um really having very. Hierarchical um. Architectural moments at the corners to terminate some of the vistas both along the main arteries as you drive north and south and even the pedestrian vistas um as you walk from the waterway towards the building or from the midtown area towards the building, um. Programmatically . >> uh, just working our way from the ground level up. We do have the two main as you can kind of see in yellow on the ground floor plan the two main lobby areas on either. Southeast and southwest corner really continuing the. Activation of what's going along the. Pedestrian realm and a large amount of retail commercial space. So that. Northwest corner along second avenue you see in the purple is commercial space. It acts as a larger kind of full story commercial space um that occurs at the top of the podium level on the ninth floor and then the retail at the center spans from one side of the block on the south to the north, really trying to create as much. Activation and sensitivity to the. Pedestrian realm. Um we do have an. Internalized drop off area along our private roadway to the south that's dedicated and shared with multiple of. >> of the uses. Um, and again trying to create something that's cohesive. Uh, what else? Um. Um. Did I MISS I think that's it. Oh, a little bit about the screen the architectural screen. So as ethan mentioned we do have about in our typical podium level. 50% about liner residential liner those are located on all sides of the building and really at the center architecturally the idea is to create a screen with a mural pattern, uh, one that's. Artistic um that's very. Organic something that we think in comparison to the sharp edges of the. Architecture helps create a cohesive balance between the overall composition of the building and there is there we haven't decided on the exact mural artist. Um, but the idea is there's a series of blocks that are owned by this developer, including the former building which was phase one to the south, the southernmost block. So the idea is to maybe take some inspiration from that, create a little bit more of. >> a. >> cohesive. District and something that that feels intentional. Can. >> you zoom in and or project the renderings please? Sure. Of course some. >> of the. >> screening and. >> maybe walk us through. >> the um the. >> amenity deck. Sure. Would you like to walk to the plan view? Yeah. Okay. >> so the screening itself and this is. The south side of the building I'm sorry the north side of the building. So the screen element happens here. As you can see we have residential liners along here. We do have a commercial space up here that due to its uses will have some elements of kind of seeing through in glass and others. But all these levels let's say two through eight would be parking. And as you go to the other. Facade you can see again the screening element happens. Between the very activated ground level. Pedestrian. >> the ninth floor commercial. Space and the screening element happens here we have changed some of the screening. Typologies to be more of a louver element where the entry points of those ground level vehicular access points. >> occur just to create um a sense of arrival. And then the um garage screening that you're showing there these dark. Kind of shades. Is that supposed to be greenery? No, it's supposed to be a graphic pattern. Okay so this is the portion where I was mentioning that the idea is to hire a local artist that really puts together an art installation. Um and you can see a little bit more here with more variation, but an art installation with various. Graphic. >> um, kind of flowy organic patterns on it but still. Mechanically ventilated. These are just metal screens. These are perforated metal screens. So let's bring up this. Enlarged portion right here. You can kind of see a blow up and some reference images of what that screen would look like. It is supposed to be naturally. Ventilated and because our screen elements happen. >> along the north and the south facade. >> air. >> can really flow naturally through it. Thank you. We start on my right MR. Gallardo I, I commend you you have done an. Exceptional uh project. Uh thank you for talking on architectural terms and architectural thoughts and architectural. Considerations including. Hierarchy sensitivity. Uh. >> proportions something sometimes we don't hear that much. Appreciate that. I think it's, uh you guys are very talented. Uh, there's a hierarchy in the volumes. There's so much. Articulation so interesting. Uh, it's almost like a musical song or something. It's it has rhythm. It's got everything. I just. >> I just adore the. Building the project. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> appreciate it. Can you walk us a little bit about the biscayne frontage and what is the. Pedestrian experience around biscayne and around every actually yes. And there's. >> a blow up rendering somewhere around here. Let me find it. Of course. >> and you are. >> asking for a waiver at the frontage right. We have two it's the equal condition on both sides you have uh there are two principal frontages primary frontages where you have to have. 70% of your building in the build to zone. But because we have a fire access easement that's. 25ft wide located about. 15ft into the property, we physically can't meet the. 70% and so staff. >> supportive of it down to. >> the. 6,364% frontage requirement. Okay. It also forced us a little bit kind of to what you were saying. We originally had some push and pull to the building at the ground floor, some more space available for pedestrians to come in overhang spaces, maybe outdoor. Activation. >> but in order to meet the. >> absolute minimum requirement we had to push the. >> full building as far up as possible. Okay so along this is the facade facing biscayne boulevard. Uh, so the this entire space here is all. Activated by a residential lobby, different types of uses. We do have a fire command room that's. Required along, but the idea is to create a rhythm and a variation of. Materiality that's not just glass and stucco like you have in many spaces or back painted glass. And so. Programmatically we've tried to create active moments we've peeled back you can't see it here. You see it more in plan, but we've pushed back some of the glass elements at the corner so that you can see this moment touch pedestrian realm vertically. This also allows for a moment of deeper space where maybe furniture can be placed or. Activation and then portions of glass that. >> allow. >> for the pedestrian realm to be activated as you walk. >> along. Can. >> can you do the same thing on all the other facades? The pedestrian uh sure let me I don't. Uh let me bring up the other. >> one. That's. >> the north elevation correct? Correct. >> so this right here is the facade that's facing biscayne boulevard as you continue the corner it would be similar within the base of the building where we have glass and a pattern of kind of. Solid metal kind of textured panels and glass along here. Once we. >> get to this. Realm [Applause]. >> pull up the plan. Is where our. Internalized drop off area occurs. Um there are a series of panels that we had discussed with city staff. They're almost a screen kind of vertical angle angled textured panels to make sure that this internal drop off that's mostly. Vehicular is somewhat sheltered from the pedestrian view a little bit kind of adds. Ornate and you're not looking into a more vehicular realm. So as you come here you're passing the vehicular entry points and drop off. You're seeing the textured panels that really create variety along this facade. And then we have the main entrance into our parking garage the speed ramp as you continue along here all the um uh the. Variation or the facade of glass is similar to this rendering. The idea is to really keep it consistent throughout and and make it feel cohesive. So that same storefront glass. Pattern would line this entire yellow kind of corner and zone, which is one of the. Lobbies. >> including a moment where you have a main entrance stairs and steps and this corner right here would be the fitness there is going to be kind of a smaller canopy, uh, steps, a ramp area to enter that to make it feel. Um, as a as a main point of. Arrival and I don't have low elevations, I'm happy to go to the blow up elevations in our facade. But again glass we have two loading zones here which we've tried to minimize by having. Storefront storefront. >> that's. Activated and goes through and then again a similar storefront to the rendering. Could you. >> pull up. The. >> main entrance elevation like for the lobbies? Sure. Yeah. It's hard to see with the. >> landscape and the renderings. Let me. All right. It's on the screen. Okay. So this would be a storefront along the south area of our private road. This is another residential. Storefront and this portion towards the middle here would be in the. Backdrop a slightly beyond the vehicular drop off area, the commercial. Spaces you can see some of the screen patterning that I was. Mentioning the change in the screen element. Vertically to kind of. >> pinpoint where that entry vehicular. Entry experience happens. And then can you point out the main. Entrance for the two. Lobbies in in this elevation it's easier to. >> point them out. >> in plan. This one actually occurs right. Here and the other one occurs right here. Okay let's let's go to the plan. Sorry I don't have my computer on me. It's a very large building. Um so this everything in yellow is the lobby space. There's an entrance right here. And there's an entrance right here. Okay. And then for this lobby the entrance is right off. >> of this corner we've. >> carved off the corner a little bit on the entry doors are right there. So. >> let's look at that elevation. >> the west. Elevation this is east right west. So you. >> have a main. Entrance. >> on the west side correct. >> this one mhm. You mean well on the west tower second. Avenue yes if we can can we see that of course. There you go. This here is um the carve out right for that stair and ramp condition to enter. >> the lobby. And this is the entrance to the retail space. There is a horizontal aluminum clad panel that goes most through most of the perimeter of the building. Part of it is to create a sense of scale, a band that. >> almost ties. >> it all cohesively. Um but that is continuous throughout. Thank you. The other item I would like to to go over is you mentioned that the parking liner it's about 50% of the facade. Um that would be covered by um I guess a perforated metal but you don't really have a design. It's just perforated metal. Um I looked in the package and there's two different options. There's a. Conceptual you know, with varying openings and then there's a. Typical I'm a bit concerned that um a large majority of the facade feels like a parking garage with a very economical metal screen. I think you did a great job in the building the massing the you know the biscayne it's very elegant building but the parking area looks like a parking garage that with a very a flat. Almost what, 9 or 8 stories? I don't know if the pedestrian experience walking along that would be very pleasant in in either side because it's there's just a flat wall extending what nine stories? So I don't I don't want to like deviate from your design because I understand you're trying to like balance what you're doing in the tower with. But I'm concerned that it's going to look like a giant flat wall with just a very cheap metal perforated metal and we can't control the artwork that's applied to it. So please help us walk us through that. And are you going to be able to see the car lights at night? Um we don't really like parking garages to to be seen as parking garage. You can see there that it's very obvious that it is a parking garage. We recommend liners or treatments or something that feels a little bit more less like a parking garage. Yeah. >> understood the thought to make it feel less like a parking garage. The thought process was to make it feel as an artistic element. Right? And so that's where um even though we're not showing it completely or what it might be final, the idea is to create a level of variation that creates flow that's organic and the patterning itself will give it some depth. Um there have been some discussions about adding possible color as well as I mentioned the mural to the south in the building does have color and we feel that it could really make it feel like a cohesive district. Um, but the idea is to make it feel like one larger piece of art, um, and make it simple. There's it's a very large building and so we felt that due to the scale and the composition, the move that we did here had to feel elegant yet simple and we feel that through organic patterning and color we could possibly we can achieve that. Okay. >> I love the podium by the way. I think it's what you're saying is basically how I feel it not even when spoken by you. It's such a nice transition from one building to the other one. It almost becomes like the opposite of what she's saying which is basically it's lost because you got all these towers and this podium is very elegant. Usually it's podiums are on the bottom of the building and basically I think it's very clear and I think we should let the artists do the art. MR. Perez. Amazing building I, I very nice you know you got a lot of nice features to this. It's a big site's a big project so you've done enough here to to break it up. I like the fact that the two towers are you know a little different yet they they go well together. Um obviously the commercial space fantastic. Um I you know those those side roads are not feature roads right? They're all kind of a little industrial so I'm not overly concerned about you know that but but I do agree that you know I, I understand what you're conveying on this nine 8 or 9 story screens but but we're not seeing it right. We're not I think that you're translating an idea but you know, again I don't I don't see it. So that's also my concern right? It's a very tall you know so I'm sure you want to make sure that this is you know it's nice right again um so you know. I think you need to make us feel better about that right? You know what what what are how should we raise a condition right to to make sure that that ends up being nice. You know, it's a beautiful building and I'm sure you guys wanted to continue to be beautiful and decides you know and I agree those streets are not like super primary streets but they're important to the building right? That's the main entrance the portico and and uh like my colleagues were saying the pedestrian right? You know, at that scale looks amazing but you know, five six foot tall person there that could be an intimidating, um, wall if it's if it's not handled correctly and and again, I understand what you're saying, but you know, I'm not seeing it right here. Right? I see that axonometric and it just looks like a flat eight story wall. So that's my only concern anything everything is fantastic. Thank you. Yeah. Um I agree on the towers. I think that the way you've handled the the way the towers meet the sky is very successful. I love the party. Um I have a harder time with the entrances on the ground floor. Um you know I don't I think it's really hard to understand and if you're coming by car it makes sense but if you're walking I feel like you can MISS The main entrance on all sides. Um and I would have loved to have seen kind of a cross connection from the south to the north. Um, even if it's just pedestrian to be able to break up that block and I think when you look at the party as as a whole, it makes you want to like cut right in between the two. So I think on the pedestrian side, like I would have loved to have seen some connection from the north to the south if at all possible. Um and then my other comment would be on the biscayne elevation of biscayne side. I know you've um shown in your renderings palm trees as biscayne is developed and you're we're starting to have more commercial um activation on that street we're going to start to see more pedestrian activation and walking um people walking. Um and in miami we need trees, we need shade and while the palm trees are beautiful and in the rendering they look great. I would highly recommend considering some shade trees. Um those are my. We agree with that and um one of the dot requirements they actually asked us not to remove them so we're still in discussion but we we agree with that statement uh we'd like more shade. Um and then I would also say I agree with the comments about the garage screen. I mean it's like as if you would have been presenting two towers and saying these really aren't the towers but imagine they're going to be great. Well we would love to it's hard for us to critique that, but um, I think you're south elevation for the parking garage screen where you break up. I know you have that commercial programing at the top, um breaks it up a little bit and I think if you whether it's mimicking that on the north side or inverting it and putting it on the ground just to have kind of that play, um would break it up a little bit, but I'm concerned that it does look very massive on on the north side. Those are my comments. Thank you. >> and I will say with respect to the mural uh inside the company crescent heights they have I don't know the right term so forgive me an art curator they have a position where they work and select and they have a formal process to select artists for their mural designs on their buildings. So that is forthcoming. Um and so I think that comment is well received and you know, we'll explore that further. And for whatever it's worth, um I would just say a recommendation would be to not include fake plants. Fake plants. We would agree with. That because the developer does have that in another project and I it hurts me because it's a great project. Um so if we don't have any other comments we're ready to make a motion. I can make a motion to approve with two conditions that you study the podium uh, coverage so it doesn't feels less like a parking garage. Uh, I don't have an answer on what you would do. Perhaps it's really just getting providing more detail on the perforation of the actually what you want to do rather than keep it very conceptual on the perforation and changing the trees on biscayne uh, the palm trees to uh shade trees on biscayne. And if I can add a condition to not include artificial greenery on the screen. I think it's illegal now under miami 21 so. If it's not it should. Be yeah. Yes. >> uh, second. Vice chair sabatini. Yes. >> member. >> perez. Yes. >> member. >> gallardo. Super. >> yes. Chair. >> labrada. Yes. >> motion passes for zero. Thank you. >> thank you all very much. Have a great day. you are item number four minute track id 19818. Address 1368 northwest 29th street. Project name ohio allapattah location allapattah transit zone d1t30 square footage 311,235ft2 12 stories 260 residential units waiver waiver for parking in second layer on principal frontage pursuant to section 5.6.4 d dot I I waiver parking and second layer on secondary frontage pursuant to section 5.6.4 point eii you'd rv requirement pursuant to article seven section 7.1.1.2.10 the project exceeds 200,000ft2. Thank you. Good evening. Anthony deery 1450 brickell avenue and bills and sumberg on behalf of the applicant maurice martin is here as the project architect and the address of this project puts us in a tod area of allapattah. It is a workforce housing tod project. It's 260 units with 12 stories. Notwithstanding the fact that we're in a tod area, we still provide 250 parking spaces and we're here before you today. Um it is a local project but we have a single waiver which is for the screening we have two frontages so technically it's two waivers but it is uh in fact the same waiver request I'm just showing you right now, uh, on the screen some of the example of the of the existing architecture within the area. Um, I'm not an architect myself nor do I play one on tv, but um, I think that I believe that based off of the the evolution of allapattah in the area, you're going to see more fenestration, more um attention to detail within the facades which are going to be presented to you right now by cameras as opposed to some of the more historical backward looking architecture that's in the area. And personally I just love doing tod deals and the more people we can bring within a certain radius of transit, those are the pedestrians we need to move our city forward. So with that I'll turn it over to the architectural team of martin and allow them to present and thank you very much. Good evening maria martin. Can you speak up a little bit? Yes. >> can you hear me now? Yes yeah from martin thank you very much for having us today. And now we're going to present our project. Ohio provides 260 residential units structured parking ground floor commercial space and also resident amenities. Uh, while we are evoking the new urban concept of a city as at the same time we respect the industrial and also the working class identity from from this site. Uh, the building base reinforces the pedestrian realm through transparent uh, storefronts, defined entrances, canopies, lighting street trees and also landscaping. Uh, the parking levels are fully integrated into the building composition through a structure metal frames, um that are framing the openings and also perforated metal screens that has like an artistic and an artistic artistic value to to the building. The variation of the perforations also provide ventilation and a visual screening, uh, while concealing vehicles from the view and also um, reducing the visual impact that the garage could have on the public realm. And this facade treatment also introduces texture and a distinctive architectural identity that references a industrial concept and legacy in a contemporary manner. Um, above you can see that we have articulated residential volumes ,balconies, contrasting finishes and landscape surfaces that break down the building mass and also create depth and freedom. Uh, we also have a fourth floor landscape amenity deck for their uh, that integrates open space and greenery into the architecture. So overall ohio responds to the d1 zoning, the transit oriented ,um, setting with a cohesive mixed use development and respects the neighborhood's established identity and at the same time contributes to new housing to commercial spaces, activities and pedestrian oriented presence in the continued evolution of alavarez. So if you have any questions we will be glad to respond. Can you walk us through the floor plan the site plan please? Yes of. Course and then if you don't mind projecting it, I don't have a. Projector. >> the site plan. Do you want to grab it there or. Sorry the pdfs backed up a little bit and loading different pages. Okay there you have can you see it? Yes. >> so this is our site plan. This is our ground floor on the corner we will have the retail area and on our secondary entrance we will have the driveway um also on through the main and principal frontages we have all the other functions uh proposed co-working space uh in the future that we're exploring and also uh, amenities that are still going to be uh, defined, uh, in the future and a secondary lobby, the main lobby, the main entrance as well. And then we have the parking on the back, uh, of the volume, uh, storage areas, a field bolt main electrical rooms and also we are providing an elevator lobby with two elevators and the stairs we have three stairs, uh, for the building that are located within uh, the two corners of the volume, uh, on on the center. And then if you don't mind putting up a elevation, the main elevation. Yeah. >> it's taking some time. >> okay. >> these are east on our north elevation. The north elevation is our principal frontage. Do you want to see the other elevations? No that's fine. Um and then can you talk to us about the materials. Okay perfect. So as you can see here we have a design intent uh about the materials that we are suggesting we will like to use perforated metal mesh as I said before evoking the industrial character of paris. And we also presented as a decorative element as well because maybe I mean it will have uh some spaces that maybe will be perforated and other ones that will have an artistic matter give movement and texture to to the facade while conceals from from the public realm and from the view uh, the parking spaces. Uh, we also are proposing uh, this I mean canopies, metal canopies, uh, these types of fixtures. Um, also to reinforce this, this character that we're mentioning before, uh, of the, the industrial, uh, allapattah that we're trying to evoke and contemporary manner of course. Okay. >> MR.. >> yeah. >> um, I, I think it's a really nice project. I like um, I like the attention to detail the fenestration, the in this case, you know, unlike the other p