Plans for buildings near Lincoln Road fizzled after voters rejected leasing city-owned sites to developers
Voters on Tuesday defeated developers’ plans for a pair of office projects off Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road.
A development group led by Don Peebles and another team led by Integra Investments — with Barry Sternlicht among the members — wanted to build on separate sites in South Beach. The controversial bids to develop city-owned parking lots under 99-year leases had divided commissioners and residents throughout most of this year.
Miami Beach voters shot down the proposals in two referendums. Nearly 54 percent of voters rejected Peebles group’s plan and 53.3 percent opposed Integra team’s proposal. Peebles vowed to tweak his plan and bring it to voters again in the future.
Mayor Dan Gelber and Commissioner Ricky Arriola touted the projects as an opportunity for South Beach to shed its anything-goes party image and create a live-work-play environment. All commissioners except one voted in July to put the proposals on the ballot. The Class A offices would diversify the Lincoln Road area beyond dining, entertainment and retail offerings, supporters said.
But commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, the sole nay-sayer on the dais, as well as many residents decried the proposals as bad deals for the city. The developers would lease the public parking lots for below market rent, all while the projects would add to traffic bottlenecks and come at a time when there’s a looming question mark over the viability of offices, opponents said.
Peebles had partnered with former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine and Scott Robins to propose a six-story building with 80,000 square feet of offices, ground-floor retail and 43 apartments on 1.4 acres at 1664 Meridian Avenue. The project would have included 290 parking spaces, 151 of which would have replaced the existing ones on the site and would remain public. At a minimum rent of $145.7 million over the lease term, the developers would have paid at least $1.5 million to the city annually.
Lidia Dinkova, TheRealDeal
