Credit: Orlando Sentinel

 

 

DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT

Miami hopes to revive urban living

The city's attempt to lure people back to its core could hold lessons for similar efforts in Orlando.

 

By: Maya Bell | Sentinel Staff Writer

Posted January 2, 2004

 

 

MIAMI -- Today, maybe 400 people live in downtown Miami's central business district, which bustles by day with the suit-and-tie crowd strolling to offices and shoppers browsing jewelry shops and electronic and discount stores.

 

By night, the workers and shoppers leave, turning the downtown core into a dead zone dotted with vacant parking lots. But fast forward to Miami's near future, and more than 12,000 people will call the area home.

 

As Orlando launches an ambitious redevelopment of its downtown, a glimpse of what the future may hold is just 250 miles down the road in Miami, albeit on a much larger scale.

 

Florida's most cosmopolitan city is experiencing an urban renaissance, putting it several years ahead of Orlando in luring back the essential ingredient for creating an inviting place to live: people.

 

In downtown Miami, residents will live in sleek towers rising at the mouth of the Miami River, in converted apartments in some of the city's oldest office buildings or lofts with open floor plans and concrete floors, all within walking distance of movie theaters, museums, concerts, Miami Heat games and waterfront parks.

 

Head north, past the $255 million performing-arts center under construction on Biscayne Boulevard, and nearly as many new residents will enjoy bay or city views from towers whose names evoke the edgy, artistic direction of this long-blighted uptown neighborhood: Blue. Platinum. Sky. Ice. Quantum.

 

Head south to Brickell Avenue, and the future already is bursting from the ground amid the banks and office towers in Miami's financial district. In just the four blocks near the new, 70-story Four Seasons Hotel & Tower, the tallest residential building in the Southeast, construction cranes herald the emergence of 2,500 new apartment or condo units.

 

 

Billions in construction

 

More than $1.8 billion worth of high-rises, midrises, apartments and lofts are under construction in the four-mile stretch encompassing downtown, the financial district and the Biscayne Boulevard corridor. At least $2.5 billion more is in the pipeline, with many plans including sidewalk caf?s, shops and stores.

 

"It gives me goose bumps to think about it," said Miami city Commissioner Johnny Winton, who chairs Miami's Downtown Development Authority. "We're on our way to creating a dynamic, hip, 24-7 city."

 

As did urban-dwellers everywhere, Miamians fled the city core in the 1960s, afraid of crime and in search of better schools and newer housing in the suburbs.

 

But now empty nesters and young professionals are rediscovering the lure of urban living and swearing off the commute. In Miami, they are joined by Latin Americans, Europeans and snowbirds looking for second homes or sound investments.

 

Before the first spade of dirt has been turned, they're plunking down deposits on everything from $99,000 one-bedroom loft apartments to $5 million-plus bayfront penthouses.

 

"It is a national trend," said John McIlwain, senior fellow for housing at the Urban Land Institute in Washington. "People are moving downtown because it's cool to live downtown."

 

 

'Close to everything'

 

For Christian Alfonso, a bank manager in downtown Miami, the suburbs are pass?. A Cuban refugee who arrived in Miami during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, Alfonso, 44, has achieved the American dream. His three-bedroom lakeside house in western Miami-Dade County has a pool and two-car garage.

 

But during rush hour, it's 90 minutes from downtown, so Alfonso is trading his house for a two-bedroom condo in One Miami, the twin $300 million towers rising at the mouth of the Miami River.

 

"I'm going to be close to everything -- the beach, the nightlife, the Metrorail, the Heat games -- and I'm going to avoid sitting in traffic," Alfonso said.

 

In many regards, Miami is almost a decade behind the times, and Orlando, which is counting on a $140 million three-tower project at Orange Avenue and Church Streets to help revitalize its downtown, is even more so.

 

Many urban centers, including Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Denver and New York, bloomed anew in the mid-1990s with a new generation of mayors who spent their energies on the nuts and bolts of making their cities work.

 

"Back in the '60s and '70s, the focus was on social equity and people with needs. That's where the resources and energy went," McIlwain said. "Now we have mayors who realize cities with 24-7 downtowns are economically stronger."

 

 

Many factors in boom

 

Developers, real-estate analysts and urban planners attribute the timing of Miami's urban boom to myriad factors, including saturated suburbs, pent-up demand and a new sense of stability in city government instilled when Miami Mayor Manny Diaz was elected two years ago.

 

Amid corruption scandals and a $68 million deficit, Diaz's predecessor, Joe Carollo, led the city back from bankruptcy but squandered his successes with incendiary invective that often turned commission meetings into circuses.

 

Unabashedly pro-development, Diaz, a lawyer and businessman in private life, has restored a sense of order and, in consort with Winton, the city commissioner, is pushing Miami as the hottest investment in the nation.

 

The Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers seem to agree. Their recent survey of real-estate investors put Miami on the list of the top five markets.

 

"For a long time, Miami was asleep at the switch, but the timing worked out," Diaz said. "In a lot of other places, they have done what they have done, so when [developers] were looking for the next TriBeCa or SoHo, they saw Miami and they said, 'Wow, this is it.' "

 

 

Out with the old

 

For Alex Redondo, president of AR Development Group, the more apt phrase might be, "Wow, the time is now." His family began assembling 4? bayfront acres in uptown Miami 18 years ago, waiting for the right moment to tear down old apartment houses and replace them with luxury high-rises.

 

The moment is near. In four months, his sales staff has sold more than half the 119 units planned for the first 22-story phase of Platinum, a condo on Biscayne Bay.

 

Redondo attributes the timing to three factors: his growing confidence in city government, the lowest interest rates in 40 years and greater Miami's escalating stature in the art world, the most visible sign of which is the performing-arts center straddling Biscayne Boulevard about 15 blocks from the Platinum site. It is scheduled for completion in 2005.

 

"The performing-arts center should be a catalyst for the whole area," Redondo said.

 

Orlando is raising money for a planned performing-arts center in its downtown as well.

 

Long a capital of Latin music and the world's largest book fair, Miami burst onto the international art scene last year when Art Basel chose Miami Beach as its winter locale.

 

The world's most prestigious commercial art fair, Art Basel just returned for its second season, bringing leading galleries, curators and collectors to events throughout Miami, including to an old uptown rail yard where a local artist installed a circus midway.

 

The installation introduced some of art's heaviest hitters to other local talent, as well as to New York developer Michael Samuel. A year earlier, the day the first Art Basel debuted, Samuel and his partners bought the 56-acre rail yard.

 

In February, he'll start selling units in the first phase of what will be Miami's largest urban development, Midtown Miami. Plans call for 900 rentals and 3,000 condos, some on cobblestone "muse streets" where artists can live atop their galleries.

 

Even as some analysts warn that Miami may have a glut of luxury dwellings and insufficient affordable housing, Samuel's enthusiasm is contagious. Just north of the arts center, Bianca Oakes, a sales agent for Quantum on the Bay, tells prospective buyers they have a chance to be pioneers in the last Miami frontier.

 

"You can feel the buzz," Oakes said. "Miami is growing up. We've had sun, sand and sex. Now we have substance."

 

 

Maya Bell can be reached at [email protected] or 305-810-5003.

Copyright ? 2003

I am so glad I moved to Fort Myers. What Miami and Orlando are doing is nice, but the costs of living there are going to be unbearable like the traffic.

 

Good to see them at least trying to fix the city, now if they could get all those homeless in the shelters.

and a downtown ballpark wouldnt help these revitalization efforts?

 

 

see if the city would be smart they could tie this all together and a grand and wonderful scheme would work out.

and a downtown ballpark wouldnt help these revitalization efforts?

 

 

see if the city would be smart they could tie this all together and a grand and wonderful scheme would work out.

I see your point but will it really make a big difference?

if done properly, it can.

 

 

i have read about too many ballparks/stadiums that have revitalized downtown areas.

 

 

but they have to be done as part of a bigger plan, not just throwing a stadium into an area and 'hoping' for the best.

thank you for posting this very cool article, DT.

 

MIAMI -- Today, maybe 400 people live in downtown Miami's central business district

 

first off, A LOT more than 400 people live in brickell, in "downtown Miami's central business district"

 

ever since i was a little kid playing sim city, i was in love with urban development of any kind. i'd say miami is really the only big city i have any ties to, so it pleases me that the commission and the mayor like spending tax dollars on bringing more life to the urban center... it's a smart investment, imo. it's also a good way of securing substantial tax revenue since downtown miami can't break away like the rest of the county did.

 

it sounds like they'd have to tackle crime before they can "revitalize" downtown, but i think it's very possible.

 

i can see how a baseball stadium might not be ideal for a tribeca-type downtown district, but this isn't exactly manhattan that we're living in. still, i could never imagine downtown miami being family friendly, so i can understand how a baseball stadium wouldn't fit in, while a multipurpose amphitheater (AAA) can.

 

i'd love to move to the "hipper" business district once/if it becomes 24-7. for now, i guess i'll have to settle with the ghetto bordering the civic center.

 

midtown miami is basically a tiny $1 billion step toward bringing life to a small part of the city, but i'm glad the city (and county, for that matter) is run by a bunch of guys who enjoy chasing pipe dreams. remember, reagan said, "it would have been cheaper to buy everyone a limousine" than build a metrorail... and now we're expanding it.

all within walking distance of movie theaters, museums, concerts, Miami Heat games and waterfront parks.

. . . and Florida Marlins games!

I am so glad I moved to Fort Myers. What Miami and Orlando are doing is nice, but the costs of living there are going to be unbearable like the traffic.

 

Good to see them at least trying to fix the city, now if they could get all those homeless in the shelters.

I see your point, but there aren't too many people that would want to live in Ft Myers just for a cheaper house with a little less traffic .

A lot of people would die there. I've been there for a weekend or two, and I can't imagine how boring it must be to live there.

I see your point, but there aren't too many people that would want to live in Ft Myers just for a cheaper house with a little less traffic .

A lot of people would die there. I've been there for a weekend or two, and I can't imagine how boring it must be to live there.

Wow, if Fort Myers is boring then I don't know what to call Clermont... :plain

I see your point, but there aren't too many people that would want to live in Ft Myers just for a cheaper house with a little less traffic .

A lot of people would die there. I've been there for a weekend or two, and I can't imagine how boring it must be to live there.

Wow, if Fort Myers is boring then I don't know what to call Clermont... :plain Well, Clermont is bad but it could get worse. I mean . . . it is like 45 minutes from the NBA's leading scorer. Ft. Myers is just out there.

 

But look at Capefish. This man is suffering. He spends his days trying to lobby for something as paltry as Marlins' radio games.

Talk about boring.

But look at Capefish. This man is suffering. He spends his days trying to lobby for something as paltry as Marlins' radio games.

Talk about boring.

:lol

I see your point, but there aren't too many people that would want to live in Ft Myers just for a cheaper house with a little less traffic .

A lot of people would die there. I've been there for a weekend or two, and I can't imagine how boring it must be to live there.

Wow, if Fort Myers is boring then I don't know what to call Clermont... :plain Well, Clermont is bad but it could get worse. I mean . . . it is like 45 minutes from the NBA's leading scorer. Ft. Myers is just out there.

 

It isn't boring, when I lived in Miami it was much more boring. You can't go fishing in the canal in the backyard and actually catch a big fish or watch alligators or get on the boat and go out to Pine Island.

 

I can be in Tampa in 1hr 15 min to watch a D-Rays game, in Miami in 2hr 15min to watch a Marlins, Dolphins, or Panthers game, and be in Orlando in 3hr to go to Disney World.

 

Best part is I have Florida's best beaches 15 minutes away.

 

Cape Coral...It's Just Paradise!

*sips Root Beer while in pool.

But look at Capefish. This man is suffering. He spends his days trying to lobby for something as paltry as Marlins' radio games.

Talk about boring.

 

Actually I started this to help people like poor Farmer Fran who can't get games on TV or Radio.

Wow, I never tought Cape Coral was so populated...

 

 

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp...&y=918&z=17&w=2

That is the SE part of the city near Downtown by the river. I live diagonally from there in the NW part of the city by Pine Island.

 

Cape Coral has over 100 square miles of land within the city limits and more canals than streets.

If you'd rather lay in your pool drinking root beer and then drive 2 hours to Miami, suit yourself.

As long as you're happy.

 

But catching alligators in your backyard sounds pretty fun. And if Miami is such an exciting place, why am I on marlinbaseball.com 1 hour a day?

That is the SE part of the city near Downtown by the river. I live diagonally from there in the NW part of the city by Pine Island.

 

Cape Coral has over 100 square miles of land within the city limits and more canals than streets.

give me a break nature boy!

 

so what if you can drive to tampa-the d-rays suck and that whole city sucks worse. if sarasota is a retirement comunity, then tampa is where their parents live

 

plus, miami's beaches are better than your beaches

 

oh yeah, since when cant you fish or see alligators in sofla?

 

 

but no, Cape Coral is so much better. have fun driving all day, watching alligators, fishing canals, and fighting for marlins radio coverage

have a nice day

but no, Cape Coral is so much better. have fun driving all day, watching alligators, fishing canals, and fighting for marlins radio coverage

have a nice day