Urban Development Review Board

Urban Development Review Board — January 21, 2026 - 1:55 PM

testing testing testing testing >> [Roll call] We have 2 members requesting absence waivers. >> Mortic1o? >> So moved. >> I will second. >> [Roll call] Motion pauses. >> Thank you. Motion to approve the DECEMBER 17, 2025 meeting minutes? >> Motion to approve. >> Second. >> Ready to vote? >> Yes. >> [Roll call] Minutes approved. Can we please good evening The ic comment. There are none as of 11:am. >> Motion to close public comment? >> I. Will make a motion to close public comment. >> Second. >> All those in favor -- ? L] Public comment is closed. >> Let's get started with our first item on the agenda. >> Our first item is going to be vice chair elections. We do have enough members present to have the election. So -- ? >> Interested in doing this or would you like to push it to the next meeting to have Othmar embers? [Cross talking] >> Okay. So -- ? >> [Inaudible] >> We are all ready to -- we can -- we can vote. >> Are we going to proceed with vice chair? >> We will proceed. >> Fantastic. >> Motion to nominate MS. Zapatini for vice chair. >> Second. >> [Roll call] Motion passes. Congratulations. >> Second item -- >> Election of the chair for 2026. Since you cannot nominate yourself, you can pass the gavel >> I am happy to stay. >> I move to nominate MS. Labrada. >> Second the motion. >> [Roll call] Motion passes. Congratulations. >> Item 3, property address 805 West Flagler Street. 860 Northwest 1 Street. 861 West Flagler Street. 26 Northwest 8 Ave. Project name -- 805 Residences. East Little Havna. . T680. 535,916 single-family. 8 stories. 354 residential units. 5400 square feet for commercial. 536 parking spaces. Exception waiver to increase the maximum lot size for uses that serve the neighborhood, pursuant to article 7 of Miami 21 to permit a 10% reduction of required parking. Pursuant to article 7 of Miami. To permit a 10% reduction of the setback Ambovombe the 5th story, pursuant to article 7 of Miami 21 to permit increased spacing of 75% Bettwiesen estrian entrances, udrb project exceeds 200,000 square feet. Thank you. >> Good afternoon. Melissa Tapanis at 200 South Biscayne Blvd. It's a pleasure to represent Brookstone along with my colleges at Corewell and my partner Melissa Harrow. The property itself. Is almost 2. 5 acres along West Flagler Street and 8th Ave. The future land us is restrict d commercial. The zoning is t68o and t612o. The project itself is an 8-story, mixed-use, multi-family development with amenity spaces. 354 residential unites with retail frontage, internalized parking/loading, 526 parking spaces, active frontages on West Flagler and 8th Ave and significant streetscape improvements. Staff mentioned the requests that we have. i think it's important to note we were scheduled for last month's udrb. We continued to study that site and the planning staff comments. We are very proud of the work we have done over the last month. It is my pleasure to introduce Albert will take the lead on this presentation. >> Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Albert [Unclear], Corewell Architect is. Thank you for your time in reviewing our application. We're extremely happy to be here. We have been working hard for some time with city staff in bringing you what we truly feel is another great project for the city and the community. We had another great opportunity to develop this pedestrian realm, almost a city block. In doing that, conceptually, our main focal point was to take that to another level in terms of what happens to almost more than 90% of this perimeter realm. We will minimize the impact of other spaces but have active spaces throughout. Starting with frontages, we have our main component as the entrance, our leasing office, our mail room spaces. We anchor the main corner on 8th Ave and Flagler with 5500 square feet of corner retail space. The remaining portions of the perimeter are active unionist h entrances/stoops from. The exterior. We have the fpl value with access to the street. The rest is our bicycle room which is open to the exterior as well. In adding to that pedestrian-realm quality, we wanted to minimize curb cuts. There's on one Northwest 1 Street. We have internalized the loading functions with access to one of the 2 courts for there parthicus. This project has a mix of studios, two-bedrooms, and one-bedroom we. E wanted to amentize the project to its maximum potential by having internalized courtyards. There's on one the east; there's one on the east. They are 8000 square feet each. There's a dog park on this one It's a passive, beautiful courtyard with water features and pedestrian connectivity. Again, this is an addition to the open pool deck on the 8th floor with another 8-9 thousand in amenities and 10,000 square feet of amenitized areas. These are fully internalized. This is the scope of creating a beautiful realm and an incredible amenitized building for the residents. How we composed the massing and forma -- you see centralized parking. We did it on purpose to liner the garage from all frontage but also have equidistant residents to the main wings and units within the typical floors. The rest of the floors are typical to that. On the exterior, you have elements of articulation that change from floor to floor within the overall floorplate. We have an open pool deck area, open to the sky with 9000 square feet of amenities at that level. There's an open deck with prevailing views to downtown Miami. It views that beautiful courtyard, the east courtyard. It will. Be very pleasant up there with wind and views. In terms of exterior, this is another opportunity to keep the modern, contemporary nature of that area. We wanted to soften the balcony uses with a curvilinear edge to them instead of a more rectilinear edge we see. There's the corner statement and ground floor elements -- we used a very beautiful expression line which changes the line as a approach the retail and main building entrance. We incorporated the structural columns on the exterior to create verticality. It creates a longer building facade on the main frontage of Flagler. For that reason, we incorporated vertical elements to break up the elevation. We also addressed and enhanced the main corner with a floating canopy to separate the two halves of the building. That deals with the horizontal 8-story m Finally, we wanted to minimize the impact on these balconies with very minimalistic railings. That was on purpose to make sure this articulation did not compete with anything else, a mesh railing, etc. Again, extremely happy with what we've done to date. We always welcome your comments and questions. We're really excited about this project. It's a workforce housing project, essentially rental but workforce. We think it will be an excellent addition to this area. Of the city, which is another beautiful way to take the pedestrian realm and have an incredible project with tremendous amenitization for the residents as well. Again, we welcome any comments or questions you might have. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Before we start comments, can you walk us through your elevations? I only see the noted south elevation with retail fenestration. I don't see where your corner retail-is that part of that elevation? >> The south elevation? >> Sure. Or north. >> I think it is south, our main frontage elevation. As I alluded to earlier, this is the break we're instituting with the recess portion of the building and glazing component. It becomes two halves. The horizontal expansion line accentuates the focal point and retail component, then the 805, the address of the building. The floating canopies happen here and here, breaking up the mass effect. These are the vertical elements I expressed. In some locations they come up so you can separate the logistics of balconies, etc. , and to the elevation itself. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Can we start on our right? [Unclear.] >> Permission to speak into the mic. >> Nice improvement. I saw that rendering. Thank you for bringing that up. I remember seeing that. First, I want to commend you for going back and rethinking. The project. It is more successful now. It's much more elaborate. >> Thank you. >> There are a lot of things I like on the project. The liner unit is something we look forward to seeing more and more, how the garage is placed very centrally. I like the courtyards. Thank you for bring that up. It's great to see the amenity spaces and courtyards. The way you lifted the retail area, the canopy over the retail area emphasizes the commercial component to the project. So yeah, the-I appreciate that you've broken up that long -I think it's 380 feet, the long elevation. I guess that would be the south elevation? With the Glisas. My only comment there is I see the floating canopy kind of connects them both. It might be better if there's a break in the floating canopy to emphasize the two masses. >> I think that's a great comment to be honest. >> You can see in the rendering, the floating canopy breaking there would emphasize the two individual community . >> I totally agree. >> Because I think it will need it, I appreciate the chine in material there. Minimizing the curb cuts, I think that's a great asset to the property the. > We agree. We will follow up and implement that comment. Thank you. >> No problem. That's all I have >> MISS Zapatini? >> Yeah, without looking into detail my first comment is, why is it so long? The elevation and massing feels really long. You almost have to find that pocket you created to break it. I don't see even in the renderings-it still feels like a 400 foot long fac'ade. It blends into the rest of the fac'ade. It's not very distinctive. I wish there would be a more separated two buildings. I don't know if this is something you can do in the canopy, at the top. The goal is for a pedestrian to not experience almost 400 feet of relentless fac'ade. I know you want to develop the building, but how can we do be h? >> Again, that was essentially what we wanted to do. We had a short time developing the exterior but that's our goal. There's a canopy and parapet. If we break it all here, it will truly become distinct. In addition, I think we can add more glazing component here. I think that would go a long way because it essentially becomes two halves. >> To me, it still reads like one long fac'ade. >> And that has to do with breaking up the parapet, breaking up the floating canopy, and adding glass. >> That's my one comment. There are a lot of successful things. You put a liner, service points are separated. I think those points are great. >> [Unclear. ] There's a bunch of things I like. There's a few things I'm concerned about. I like the treatment of the balcony, the shapes. Before you revise the building, I have some questions about what zappatini was saying. Now I don't have concerns about that. I think the massing is good. I think the canopy is good. There are some concerns I have. One, the balconies, at least on the working drawings or presentation drawings I see vertical pickets. Is that what you intend to do? >> Yes. It will improve the ability to truly do them in the same radius as we're implementing instead of the mesh railings. >> That's a mistake. I think it should be some type of mesh or perforation. This is like the gateway to Brickell, to Downtown. You will be setting basically the [Unclear] For future construction and designs. I think it should be a little more elegant than the pickets. They remind me of the old public housing. The public housing now looks like the Hyatt. The other concern I have, maybe you can explain it to me. On the ground floor, you seem to have a level of access from the unit to the [Unclear.] >> Depending on the elevation, it changes a little. The entrance to those units, what we call the exterior entrance, is a little higher than the sidewalk. >> Are you talking about steps or ramps? >> The height. >> Between the sidewalk and coming out of the units. >> We provided the full sidewalk as required by code. In those areas, we recessed that portion of the ground floor unit. >> There's a balcony there. >> There's a stoop, sort of a balcony with privacy but it has a door to the exterior. >> You mentioned the word "privacy," and there's no privacy there. You have vertical pickets there. I would consider, especially object. Ground elevation, something more aesthetically pleasing. >> More solid? >> More solid for privacy. It could be some perforations, solid wall. When I say solid wall, I mean some solid material. I don't know what that would be [Unclear] Four or six feet, depending on the code. So, some privacy there and I would like some privacy also in the courtyard. No, the other one. Yes, where you have the same conditions. Either some perforated-it could be very interesting because in that courtyard all you're seeing is vertical pickets looking into somebody's [Unclear.] >> You said two concerns. The other concern I have is right to life. Nly have one percent commercial. It's very little. You mentioned it will have healthy food, inexpensive food. I'm not sure how you're going to substantiate that or enforce that. [Unclear] 5,000 square feet, convenience stores, restaurants for 5,000 square feet. There's no way you can put a grocery store or pharmacy there. My suggestion is to increase- I know it's [Unclear] Process or whatever, but I really think the commercial should be more square feet. The other thing, I think aesthetically you did a nice job with the movement. There's rhythm in the elevations. I don't know if you've finished with the materials, at least on the ground level. >> That's what we're trying to do, a higher level of materials on the ground level. >> [Unclear] With the materials you're proposing? >> I'm sorry? >> Do you have a finished board? >> Not today but we have it spelled out on the drawings themselves, the materiality we're using there. I think your comment about privacy is excellent. We can add to that. In terms of creating that material right at the realm, a little more solid, and that's where we have an opportunity to add- >> More artistic, more flavor to the building. >> It is right there. We welcome the active uses but also think privacy should be -- >> Now, are you doing anything to the sidewalk? >> We're doing something in addition to the typical sidewalk It's typically not incorporated in sidewalks but we incorporated the articulation in terms of the patterns, which will come in with the project. We don't have to, but we're doing that in order to enhance the main corner and main -- >> What materials are you proposing on the street level? On the first floor, I guess? [Unclear.] >> Street level? Pavers. It's concrete. >> The wall. >> On the wall? >> Yes. >> Two types. Of stucco. We're providing texture, and a material that's almost a faux wood material. We've seen it in some projects before you, imitating a wood finish on the building. >> I think that's what we need, some type of [Unclear] Pedestrian passing by. I don't see anything regarding -I see trees but not any bushes, hedges, or plants. >> It. Will all be on the city requirements of landscaping. We have some internalized hedging here as you can see. We're bringing a little green against the building. >> What material are you using? >> In terms of landscaping? >> On the sidewalk. >> We have it in the landscaping plan but I don't want to say because the landscape architect should do that. >> Is the landscaping person here? >> Is the landscape architect here? No. There's definitely material there that we intend to do and it should be part of our full landscape drawings. >> I think this should have had a finished board, more detail on the street side. Those are my comments. >> Thank you. >> This is a huge improvement from the previous one, so congratulations. I'm glad you reconsidered it. I think the project is so much better for it. The way you've articulated the balconies, I think you've received a lot of good feedback today. One of my comments would be the eyebrow that you have raised for the corner retail. Yes, I think it's a nice way how you've kind of distinguished the base from the rest of the building. It gives it a great scale to break up your massing. I don't know if it's color or the thickness of the eyebrow that wraps around, and then you also articulate it on the north elevation. What street is that? On West Flagler, that's your north elevation, yeah? [Unclear. ] How you step it up for the lobby, you're kind of delineating and making an entrance for the lobby, whether making it a little deeper and/or protruding a little further out I think would be something to consider. And then, how do you load the retail from. The loading dock? I don't see any circulation and back of house. >> We do have a passage from the back of house if that requirement exists. Based on our experience, the loading zones we intend to have here or here are going to load the small retail, as the gentleman said, it's not the type of grocery store or anything like that. This is a smaller retail condition. We do have access to the actual loading through here. There's an opportunity to come out here and load the retail from the back. You have to go through the courtyard but there is an opportunity to do that. >> Okay. I guess that would be done after hours. >> We foresee more of a typical small retail loading from the curb. >> I like the access, the direct access to your units on the north elevation-north and south. You're starting to activate the street on that end. It's high traffic but you guys are setting a precedent. It would be nice to see the urban, pedestrian activity in that area. >> Thank you so much. For the record, we want to incorporate the-some of the comments of more solid balcony edges, breaking up the canopy in the center portion. That adds to the project and we're fond of that. Thank you. >> Did you have more questions? >> No, we're ready. >> The front door to the lobby is on Flagler, correct? >> The front door? >> The entrance to the lobby is on Flagler but I don't see it anywhere. >> It has a canopy that extends up, accentuating the entrance. There are a few trees that we have here, fully matured. I wish we would have shown the rendering a bit better but we do have the enhancement of the entrance by use of this expression coming up, the materiality, and the front doors right here. >> Okay. >> Are we ready to make a motion? >> I can make a motion with some conditions. Don't know what it's called. >> Conditions >> For me, it would be important to separate the top of the buildings and break up the length of the massing at the top, or perhaps exploring a change in material in the center I think the condition my colleague mentnd >> Looking into solid railing at the pedestrian railing will be helpful for residents to make sure they can use their front yards. >> [Inaudible] >> Speak into the microphone. >> Also, [Inaudible] >> Okay, and the unit courtyard, same treatment, solid at the ground level. 2 conditions so far -- working on a material change and separating the top of the building as much as you can separate the two volumes. Then, change the matgrl of the e railing at the pedestrian level. Anything -- ? >> I would like to add other conditions -- the railings, not vertical ones. Some type of perforations. I think it would be aesthetically pleasing I think the retail is too small. I think it should be increased by square feet. The parking -- I want to make sure there's enough landscaping which I cannot see on the rendering. I want to make sure -- you said you do have it on the drainages. I don't see it from this perspective. >> Are you referring to more mature trees? >> No, just lower -- can you tell me what you're doing regarding flowers? Not trees. >> Make sure you talk into the microphone. >> Plantings. Not trees. Besides the trees. >> There's a groundcover, mostly sod going into the [Unclear] Conditions. The actual groundcoverings are concentrated along the street trees as well as the two courtyard areas. >> Is this where the trees are along the -- ? >> Along the tree grates. >> Okay. . I want to make sure -- >> Do you except his conditions to your motion? >> The code provides 520 shrubs. There's significant Abertay. >> What type are you providing In is understood. . >> Can we formulize a summary of the conditions? >> Condition 1, separate the top of the 2 massings to break up the long facade on Flagler Street. Condition 2, explore different railing materials, but specifically the units on the ground floor. Condition 3, provide further detail for landscape proposed along the stoops/public frontages. >> I want to add additional square feet to the retail. >> Do you accept that? >> How do you feel about that? Adding square feet to there tail as a condition? Can you -- ? I think you need to be on board with that. >> So, in order to get the new unit mix for this site, it makes the project viable with the retail as 5000 square feet. We are envisioning a boutique mini market. This area is a food desert. This is for the residents and commenters. We have those coming out for our east at lot 55 and the Brickell City Center area and to our west in proper Little Havana which is only 4 blocks away. >> Can we add a condition for you to study that, and if the akes sense, you can increase retail space? >> We have looked at it. In fact, originally, the site was where we hoped to have an actual grocer. That area has experienced a lot of unification and sales with Winn-Dixie and Aldi. There's not a market for new groceries, especially with lot 55. >> You Commissioner Pardo out restaurants, salons. There are other options. >> We need parking associated with the units. As we increase commercial units, parking is increased as well. We are limited to 5000 square feet. That's the best we believe we can do. In this market. >> I think the beauty of it is truly that it's in the main frontage of the building. I think it is going to truly survive at this particular square footage without affecting the other scopes and goals of the projects. It's an incredibly amenitized community for residents. We originally had a grocer in there. It never materialized. It did not provide us the ability to go forward until we addressed the retail comprenant. >> As mentioned, this is a trendsetting project. This will be the newest construction in this immediate area. It is important to get that started. This will be the first of hopefully many to come to this area. We can only do so much with the land available. >> Are we comfortable with that? >> I am okay with not requiring it. [Too far from mic] >> Density [Inaudible]. >> I am okay with that. i would not require that. >> We are talking grocery, but this can also be a pharmacy. It's not -- you don't have a tenant yet. >> We have a lot of interest in the smaller as we were looking for the larger grocer concept. We found smaller availability. >> Right now, we have the. Motion on the table for all conditions except the retail. Are you okay to move forward? We need a second. >> Second. >> Okay. Oll call] Motion passes with conditions. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. >> Congratulations. >> Item 4, id 18690. Property address 801 Northwest 7 Ave. And 800 Northwest 5 Ave. Project name -- Former Place ad Developer, Atlantic Pacific Communities, llc. Overtown. T5r. 334,652 square feet. 7 stories. 375 resident. Units. . 220 parking spaces. Application type -- astr workforce living development housing special benefits project. Udrb requirement -- present to article 7, the project exceeds 200,000 square feet. >> Thank you. >> Hi. Good afternoon. Nicole Wolf. 333 Southeast 2 Ave with our architect, Albert Cordovez and Sergio Rodriguez. We're excited to be ballsack resent the second phase at 801 Northwest 7 Ave. This is a county-owned site, 13. 5 acres in size approximately. We first came before this board in FEBRUARY '22 where we received extremely positive f