Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Baby, baby, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Make it
baby. Baby, baby. >> [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> to be
here. Hey, [music] hey, hey. >> [music] >> g. [music] >> [music] >> N feel
n feel You have enough. Baby, baby. Heat. Hey, Heat. down. Down. >> [music] [music] [music] >> Are
you high? Heat. Heat. Please take your seats. [music] The meeting is about to begin. Remember to speak into the microphone as this meeting is being recorded for public record. Please stand by. We are going on air in
5 4 3 2 1. >> Good morning and welcome to those in chamber and those on Zoom to our June 9th, 2026 Historic Preservation Board meeting. Um before we get started, I'm going to turn it over to our city
attorney to uh let everyone know how they can participate in this meeting. >> Thank you. Good morning. Today's meeting of the historic preservation board is being conducted in a hybrid format with a quorum of the board physically present in the commission chambers at Miami Beach City Hall and applicants, staff, and members of the public appearing
either in person or virtually via Zoom. Those wishing to participate in today's meeting via Zoom may dial 888-475-4499 which is the toll-free number and enter the webinar ID which is 817-48347488 pound or log into the Zoom app and enter
the webinar ID which again is 817-48347488. Individuals wishing to speak on an item must click the raise hand icon if using Zoom or dial star9 if participating by phone. Before I swear in those who are testifying, I'm going to read into the record the city's notice regarding
lobbyist registration. If you are appearing on behalf of a business, a corporation, or another person, including as an architect, attorney, or representative of an applicant, or an objector, you need to register as a lobbyist with the city clerk's office before speaking with the board. You do not have to register if you are speaking
only on behalf of yourself, you are testifying as an expert witness providing only scientific, technical, or other specialized information, or you are appearing as a representative of a neighborhood association without compensation to express support for opposition to any item. Expert witnesses
and representatives of neighborhood associations shall, prior to appearing, disclose in writing to the city clerk their name, address, and the principle on whose behalf they are communicating. These rules apply whether you are appearing in favor of or against an item or encouraging or arguing against its passage, defeat, modification, or
continuence. I will now swear on everyone who is physically present in the commission chambers and intends to testify. Virtual speakers will need to be sworn in one by one before addressing the board. So, if you'll be testifying, please raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you'll be
giving in this proceeding is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> Thank you. Okay. So, just a quick recap on um how we're going to run the meeting. Um so, for each application, um the staff will present the item and describe the staff
recommendations. Uh the board will be permitted to ask questions of the staff. Um then we'll ask the applicant to make their presentation. The board will present questions for the applicant if the applicant would uh would be so kind as to hold the questions and answer them all in one rather than a back and forth.
Makes things run a little bit more smoothly. Um and then we'll do board disclosures, uh public hearing, um and then board commentary and take our vote. So with that, um I believe we have some minutes to approve.
>> Sure. Um thank you and good morning everybody. Before we do that, I just want to let the public know that we have six members present today. Mr. Hollingworth will not be present. We do need to have um five members to vote in favor of any application that includes a variance or a CFA that includes demolition. So with that, we do have um
two after actions to go through in terms of the minutes. The first is the um April 14th um after action which I passed out this morning. >> I make a motion to approve. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Motion passes. And the next um
application. The next item is the um the May 12th. >> I make a motion to approve. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Great. We'll go to the first item on our agenda which is HPB25-0683
for 1680 Collins Avenue. This is the San Juan Hotel. [clears throat] Just a second. So this application um was last before you in April. Although the board did not um review the application, the the applicant requested a continuance. They
were further developing um the plans and variances. Initially, they did have a variance or two for the rooftop. They've since revised the plans. There's no longer any variance associated with this application. Um, this this is an interesting project. It includes it's very um a hybrid format. Includes a restoration of the portion of the
building along um Collins Avenue. The applicants proposing to demolish the the midsection in terms of the interior. They're keeping up the um the sidewalls, the north and south sidewalls, demolishing the interior, and doing a new two-story rooftop addition on top of that portion. Um the western portion along James Avenue will be demolished
about 35 ft and that's where the brand new construction of five stories is proposed along um James Avenue. Currently the James Avenue facade has a parking lot and an unadorned you know basically um a back alley elevation facing James Avenue. The applicant is fully developing that with new construction which we believe is um
going to be very beneficial to the to the neighborhood. Um we're very supportive of the application. We believe the um the new construction fits in well with the historic building that's been renovated that will will be renovated. This application also includes a waiver of the four required off- streetet loading spaces. This is
important because you know with the removal of that non-conforming um um um eyesore of a parking lot along James Avenue. That's the that's the reason why the applicants requesting the waiver of the of the parking required for loading. We're fully supportive of that waiver which has also been um supported by the
parking department. With that, does the board have any questions uh for me? >> No, I don't think so. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Good morning. For the record, my name is Carter McDow with Billen Sunberger here representing the applicant. Uh we're
excited to bring this project to you. As you heard, we have strong staff recommendations. We're uh Alan Schulman is our architect and we have our landscape architect here also. Um, we look forward to discussing the project with you. Um, I'd like to introduce the
owner for just a moment to say a couple words to you, Noaz Galani. And he he let him speak for himself. Good morning. Uh, my name is Noaz Galani. Um, and
this this year marks the 50th anniversary of the San Juan Hotel being under my family stewardship. and we're really proud of that. And we also find a lot of resemblance between my family's journey and the city of Miami Beach.
Everything from diversity to resilience to the belief that the preservation of character is what makes uh our community so unique and successful. I believe the Shman team have encaptured
all of that in this project and we really hope to have your support. So, thank you. >> As I as I mentioned, we are in full support of the staff recommendation. We're going to we have one proposed small amendment to condition 1B, but
Allan will address that as part of the presentation of the architecture. Um, and as you can see, we've got some renderings to address it with you. With no w without further ado, let me introduce Alan Schulman, who you all know well uh to walk you through the
project. Thank you. This is operational. Oh, yeah. Great. Good morning. Alan Schulman with offices at 7300 Biscane Boulevard. And I'm really excited to be
here presenting uh the San Juan Hotel. It's a project I've I've been watching for many years. It's in a really important location uh on Collins Avenue and also on James spanning through the block. Um if we can go to the presentation
um I think you probably are familiar but uh it is in that first block north of Lincoln Road uh you know facing uh buildings like the Sagamore with which it is co- um it shares the same
year of construction. Um, and um, I think uh, we have a real opportunity here to do something that both brings back the historic integrity of the Collins Avenue facade, but also adds another new layer to the back of the building. Uh, James and just to
familiarize you again with the current conditions, um, this is the facade, the Henry Hoouser designed facade, 1948 on Collins Avenue. One thing that um we will be fixing uh is that on the left
hand side there you can see that the um the extension of the lobby has been lowered to the ground many like few decades ago to create a liquor store. Um, we propose to bring back the original lobby, the original terrace
that goes in front of it and to improve the front of the building, but overall to improve the and and to preserve uh that Collins Avenue facade. On the back, it is really a back of a building. It faces James Avenue. It's set back about
20 ft. Uh it is um it doesn't really have um any detail and in front of it is parking and that parking parking and loading. So that just backs out onto James Avenue. And um going back to Collins for a moment as we approach the building,
there is a beautiful entrance. Um and um we are going to be improving that with the extension of the terrace uh along Collins Avenue and also making it handicapped accessible. Uh and the lobby is uh does not look
like a historic lobby right now, but it has all the pieces and with the addition that we are bringing back, we hope to restore the integrity of that important piece, too. So, here's just to kind of give you the overall uh lay of the land. Here is the Collins Avenue facade. Here
you can see the main elements of the building preserved. Just to point out a few details on the south side, meaning on the left of the main entrance, you can see where we are bringing that wing of the building back up to the lobby level. We are restoring it. We are
restoring the facade around it. We are restoring the terrace in front of it, including the stone fronting of that terrace. And uh we're restoring the original location of the sign, the San Juan sign. was moved to the center when the liquor store was installed. So,
we'll be moving it back to its location. Uh, and uh, I can talk more about the front area when we talk about the site plan, but uh, this is the overall strategy of the building. So, uh you can
see on the right hand or the bottom right the um Collins Avenue frontage uh and the like driveway which is being re repurposed as a kind of a plaza in front. Um you see the original building
going back. Uh then you see the new building coming from James Avenue and plugging in to the side to the north side of that uh historic building. And then between the two is a very important element. It's a courtyard. Um that
courtyard serves many purposes. It's an amenity for the building. It allows us to make a a a great entrance and a resilient building because it allows us to raise the lobby which is moving to James Avenue. The the main hotel lobby
is moving to James Avenue. Allows us to make that at the sorry at the uh at the base flood elevation. Um this is the James Avenue facade. We are in a CD3 district. Um and we have a
height limit of 55 ft. Uh we're using 53 of that. Um we are just to the north of that big open parking lot that occupies that block and there have been projects proposed for that parking lot and we have masked out one of the projects that
I believe was approved. I'm not sure if it had a HPB approval, but anyway, it was it was uh it's been presented here. Uh so that building would even be taller and closer to the street than our building. We have, although we have zero
front setback and zero side setbacks by code, by zoning, um we have set the building back five feet on Collins Avenue, um James Avenue, and 5T on our north side, the side that we share with Gail.
Oh, and I should mention uh a very important part of this facade is that it plays with the language of the San Juan Collins Avenue facade. That zigzagging motif that you see, it uses it in a completely different way, but that
zigzagging motif in the central panel of the facade has been used as our kind of canvas in which we've then done a sort of a different arrangement of windows and everything. So, it's basically reinterpreting that language and bringing that into the 21st century. Um,
this is a section through the building and here you can see how we're using the courtyard to approach the lobby in an elegant way. There's a a very slight ramp up to the courtyard and then a stairs and a ramp that take you from the courtyard into the lobby. But of course,
from James Avenue, the lobby opens directly to the street in a very generous way through glass and a terrace. So, you'll see that um in a moment. Um the building rises uh it's it's four floors on top of that lobby
floor and then we have a rooftop pool over that. And here you can also see the intersection with the threestory volume of the historic building. Um this is the u this is a little more sketchy but it's the approach from James Avenue. So you
can see that there's a canopy feature that brings you it's like on that prominade from James Avenue into the courtyard. Uh and here you can see the lobby. Um we have some uh public open amenity spaces that are just to one side
of the lobby. There's um landscaping also there too. Um and as you're coming up that ramp, you're entering the lobby of the lo you're entering the patio. You have the lobby to the left. You have the canopy above you. And as you come into the
courtyard, you are in a a shaded very humane uh space. Uh the language of the building wraps around. So you have that zigzag facade on the on the on the building that faces James Avenue. And then what we've done is
we've recreated um a glass block facade or let's say we've reinterpreted a glass block facade that was part of the original um San Juan that's no longer there. Um and so we've used that as the language of the
south facade of the new building. Um so here you see the approach from the patio into the lobby. um a section uh the building is uh is 53 feet um and 55 allowed. So we're a
couple feet less uh than required. Um here you can see how the lobby is raised to the base flood elevation plus one. Um here you see the relationship of the historic building and the new building uh coming together and um we have about
9 foot ninch floor to floor levels uh on that on that wing. Um here as we're cutting north south through the uh north wing of the building you can see how the we have two stories
um on top of three stories looking into the courtyard. That is what you if you were to cut through the um where the new building goes over the existing building and um more sections in the front of the
building. There is an existing rooftop uh penthouse that is actually where Mr. Galani grew up. Uh and um we are going to be reusing that, changing it. We're shrinking it in size so that it fits
perfectly behind the um parapit, the tall parapit on the front, but we're raising the ceiling a bit in there. Um, this is a demolition plan of the ground floor that shows how we are keeping a few those north and south
walls going back to maintain that integrity of the original volume of the building while demolishing some of the rooms behind that and then reconstructing them. Uh, this is the existing lobby condition. So here you see the liquor
store on the on the bottom and you see the the lobby on the top. Uh and here is the restored condition where that um that um space has been reintegrated into the lobby at the same level. Um that
lobby everything would be restored um but it would be available as an FNB space. Here you can also see how we are re uh constructing the front terrace. And here you can also see that the front of the building has been reconfigured so
that it's a more like a plaza in front of the hotel instead of a uh let's say a drive-thru. Still can perform the function of a drive-thru, but it would have a different look. Um we've uh done a lot of work to restore the main
elements of the lobby. I could answer questions about that if you if you have them. And then as we go through the building, you can see how the the units are organized. We have uh smaller units in the historic portion of the building. We
have larger units in the new portion of the building which is identified with the solid yellow color. Um, as we go up, you can see um that the building the the the wing that goes over the uh existing
building shrinks back so that the existing building is proud of that. You can see how the rooftop penthouse on the east side. >> Mr. Schulman. >> Yeah. >> How much more time do you need? >> Sorry. >> How much more time? >> Oh, maybe one minute. I'll go very quickly. Thank you.
>> Um, yeah. Well, we can talk about all this. This is the roof deck um here which has a pool and uh and then a lower kind of uh seating area towards the east looking east. And just I mean I can address these
materials in discussion if you like. I won't take the time to do it now, but we're basically reusing all the existing materials but using them in the new building in a new way. Um, and we have one loading space and a
couple parking spaces, parallel parking on the James Avenue side. And uh, we've proposed some signage uh, for the building. And we wanted to put that out in front right now just in case um, there were any questions with what we're doing. Uh, including the
reconstruction of a pole sign that had been lost. And with that, I thank you for your time. [snorts] Thank you. I >> I would only say it's important that we have there when we the initial filing included two variances. We've eliminated
those variances. Michael mentioned it in passing. There are no variances. We exceed meet or exceed all of the required setbacks and we're here to answer questions. >> Okay. >> Go ahead, Nick. >> Sorry, just um [clears throat] quick question for staff one more time. So, no
variances. So what what are we being asked to do? A certificate of appropriateness. Is that what this is? >> Correct. For the demolition because it doesn't include the demolition of um large part of the building does require five votes for the demolition and new construction. >> May maybe a question for Allan. The the
glass block is replacing an existing wall of the existing building. >> No, the glass block is being used in a new in a new area of the building. Um, so it is the area that is um sort of surrounding the courtyard. That's why you see it in the courtyard rendering which I can [clears throat] show you
here. >> I beautiful. I think it's really great. Generally, I think that a really beautiful presentation and project. Um, yeah, I think that's amazing. That's great. The stone on the front low wall. Out of
curiosity, I think one of those sheets said it's like crab stone or something like that. Where does that come from? I've seen it around in a few places. >> You know, I that's a good question. Crab crab orchard, right? I think it's called. Um I always assumed it was from the northeast. Uh but like Vermont or
something, but I'm not 100% sure. >> Is that on the existing hotel? >> It's on the existing hotel. You know, you see it in that narrow band of years like uh sort of mid50s, 40s to 50s, but then it kind of goes away. I think I think really great
presentation and beautiful drawings. >> Thank you. >> We need to we would like to also address the one condition. I apologize we didn't do that in the presentation. It's a simple thing I think but sure there was a condition on the front um I don't know
if there's a traveling mic but uh on the front uh facade we had on the new wing the let's call it the the wing that we are reconstructing of the Collins Avenue facade from where where the liquor store is now we had proposed
um folding um continuous folding doors >> like a kind of a nanowall system that could open that whole front to kind of open it to the street a little bit more. Um but um one of the conditions uh was
to replace that with swinging doors. Um and we can we can go with that condition, but what we would ask is that we use multiple swinging doors instead of just one pair of swinging doors. >> Yeah. >> Why for sound? Is that what >> the issue is? There's a bar counter
right next to it. So even if they would close the close close those doors, the bar counter has to close at midnight because we have to consider it to be open at any time. So it just um avoids enforcement issues and avoids um the noise for spilling out. So multiple um f multiple swing doors is fine. We can
modify that condition. >> Okay. Yeah. Thank you, >> Elizabeth. You had questions. >> Hi Alan, thank you so much for the presentation. Would you mind going over again what portion of the existing building is going to be demolished? Especially it was not very clear that
there is like the the el part of the building that you have the red walls there. So would would you mind going over that again? >> Yeah, if I can pull up the presentation again. Let's see here. Sorry. Here we go. So this is a demolition plan
of the ground floor. So there are three zones um that we can identify. Um you can see them at the top with the arrows. The front zone um and I I can't read that number right now from where I'm standing, but that is entirely
nothing is being touched in there. There's going to be some reinforcements uh probably going into some of the walls, but that's basically um just 100% being maintained behind that where the red lines are, we are demolishing the
interior, but we're keeping the exterior walls. Um and then behind that, that third zone that is closest to James, we're demolishing that whole piece. So um so
basically and then the thing I should probably point out is that the extent of those sidewalls is being reduced a bit like you know right now they run all the way from the front to the back. They're going to be the the first two zones instead of the third zone. Um so it's
going to be uh and within that we're putting in new foundations. We're putting, you know, we're rebuilding behind those facades, structuring those facades to to be retained. >> So, basically, the red walls will be taller to accommodate additional floors
>> on the north side. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And there is there are like two units that are on the lower red wall that are are not red. >> What's happening to those two units? >> Those two units are being demolished. >> And where the glass block is going to
go? >> The glass block. So, by the way, the reason those two units are being demolished is that when we're building from James, but we wanted to make that courtyard a reasonable size, right? >> Um, and trust me, we were trying to save
every unit. Uh, let's see. There we go. [snorts] So, the glass block if there's a pointer. Yeah, this. >> Okay. Um, the glass block is on the north side
of the courtyard. It doesn't show up on the screen here, but it's on the north side of the courtyard. So, >> needs to be >> the two units that are going to be demolished. Where would they be in this plan? >> They would be in the courtyard. They
would be if you follow the south wall of the historic building. >> Yeah, they would be the continuation of that wall. The top trees approximately are >> exactly that would be those two more two more bays basically would extend to the west. >> All right. Thank you.
>> Mhm. >> Mitch. >> Yeah. Hi Al. Hi. You mentioned restorative work in the original lobby. Uh we didn't or many of us did not get the uh the full package th this month.
you have any renderings and can you explain a little more in detail uh the use and what will be >> the original lobby? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, um for a number of reasons, I'm just going to pull it. Oh, sorry. If we could have the presentation again. I
don't have a rendering. Sorry. Um we prepared these elevations. Um, so for a number of reasons, we're moving the actual functional hotel lobby to James Avenue just in terms of drop off and management and elevator, you know, like handicapped accessibility and all
that stuff, >> which is better. Um what we're doing is we're restoring the spatial envelope, the terzo floors, the uh you know the uh plaster sophets and the plaster light
coes and everything, the columns, the original openings like that arched opening that you see on the third uh row down. Um the uh the desk the desk has been replaced uh in a in a previous renovation. Uh and so we're going to be
restoring that with a new desk that's better integrated into the historic character. So the envelope is going to be an entirely historic envelope. But the idea is I mean to be frank to be able to purpose that space also for uh
food and beverage because I think that's a great now hotel guests can enter that way as well because that is a main hotel entrance and I think we could you know uh there's the building is connected in fact I didn't really get a chance to
talk about that but the um sorry let me go to the ground floor. There is a courtyard that wraps around the south side of the from the from the new courtyard. So, if you follow the
axis of that ramp that comes up from James Avenue into the courtyard, if you follow that further, that becomes additional courtyard that plugs into the back of the lobby. And then at the same time, the lobby is still connected to the corridor that you that runs through
the building. So you have both an interior and exterior connection between the new and the old. >> What about elevator uh access uh in the original or the San Juan? >> Uh I imagine the original hoistway or
hoistways still exist. >> It still exists >> and the plan is to reuse them, modernization, >> fix it if that hasn't already occurred. >> Yeah. So there's there's two elevators now. There's that one which will be restored and then the one on the east on
the west which will be a you know uh compliance ADA elevator etc. usually >> stretcher access. >> Yeah, stretcher access. >> Yeah. So the old hoistway is still intact obviously and yes it there is it one elevator or a couple?
>> It's one elevator >> and uh we would be also retaining it all the way through up to the roof. Yeah. >> Has its own penthouse right now with a little stair that goes up there. We're retaining all that, too. >> And you mentioned you're shrinking the penthouse.
Was was that original to the structure? >> Um, it wasn't original. I don't know to what degree any of it was original, but I'm going to assume that because the elevator and the stair definitely went to the roof. So, I'm going to guess it was that salarium [snorts] thing that
was up there. >> Um, yeah. I'm not sure when it was added, but um basically it stretches from the front of the from the uh stair elevator to the back facade. What we're doing right now, it kind of bypasses the
um tallest portion of the facade parapit. Um and what we've done is we've reduced it to match the the parapit so that it's completely hidden behind that parapit. And because that parapit is taller, >> Yeah. We've also increased the height of
that so that it was like a 7 foot ceiling in there right now. Something like that. >> And what's the intended use up there? >> Uh suite, hotel suite. >> Yeah. >> Or two suites as we're showing it. >> Uh pool or fountain accommodation?
>> No, they um both of those units have a small stair that take you up to the roof. So they have private like roof deck on top. >> Sounds nice. >> So it's uh you can see it there. But basically, it's [snorts] just an amenity for those units. >> You might show pool deck on the roof.
>> Okay. >> There is a pool on the new building. A pool deck on the roof of the new building. >> That's right. [snorts] >> Obviously, that's a little bit easier to accomplish to put a pool on top of new construction than >> Yeah. >> the historic construction. One of the piece of this puzzle, the reorganization
of the hotel with the primary hotel drop off being on the back street is actually helpful to Collins Avenue. I think we've all experienced people stopping on Collins Avenue and doing things that it really backs up Collins Avenue. So, the
traffic study actually is very supportive of the reorganization so that most of that traffic goes on to James um and gets off of Collins Avenue. >> Pretty long uh
corridor to traverse. Uh can you tell us how you going to minimize that uh impact on an arriving guest who may have a uh uh a Collins Avenue view? [snorts]
>> Um it's long. It's not like I've seen we worked on a project called the South Seas years ago um that uh passed through the board uh wasn't built but uh I think the corridor was twice as long uh going out to the ocean uh there. So it's it's
um yeah it's it's long but you know what it's part of the character of the building. uh we didn't want to like um split the hotel into two into two things or I guess we could have done that but we wanted to keep it integrated
>> so there was never uh an alley or anything that needed uh were they always attached? >> Yeah. >> As far as we can tell these these lots have been through lots well since the San Juan was built.
>> Yeah. You could also consider a bowling alley. Just kidding. [laughter] >> Maybe we don't even have to. Maybe. >> Yeah, >> that might interfere with guest guest access. >> Can I just um tag along to that comment real quick? Is is that main long entry
is that what you'll use for loading if you don't have a loading dock? Are you going to be unloading from James Street? >> Yeah. So, the loading is going to be exactly where it is right now, which is on the north side. So, in other words, um there's going to be a loading space
on James Avenue. Uh you'll be able to come in, you see bike racks sort of on the front of the building, but as you go back, you'll see uh that that's where we've located um some of the infrastructure, the FPL vaults, the you know, all that stuff is in there. And there's um a stair that
goes down to a basement from that point as well, which will give us service. That's where our trash room is. >> Ray has some questions. >> Yeah. You you mentioned trash room. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And what what about other back of house uh >> in the basement
>> accommodations? >> Yeah. I mean um we given that um the size of the building. I think we've accommodated the there's some stuff that will go in the basement where it can. >> What about deliveries? Uh for >> so deliveries will be on that north side
and um and yeah I mean it's a small hotel. It's not like we have a loading dock or anything like that. >> Yes. >> But um so they'll come in uh if it's small things, it can come down the stairs. If it's large stuff, it'll have to come in through the lobby uh through
courtyard, >> right? >> Yeah. That's Thank you, >> Ray. >> Um I love your rendering. It actually shows two colors of paint. Is that correct? [laughter] Where you're actually sewing some detail of the building. >> Yeah. Too many times today people just
whitewash it and and lose the detail. I like your rendering and I hope you are really using two colors of paint. Thank you. >> Bringing the main entrance back to James Avenue um can cause you a problem ultimately because James Avenue is going to close off at Lincoln when they turn
to make that a ped a pedestrian street which I'm pretty sure is going to happen. And you may not have considered that when you were first doing this plan, but that means everybody's going to have to come in from what 18th down and loop around and go back out and how they're going to turn around. I I don't
believe there's going to be a like a roundabout. So, it it's it's going to be interesting, you know, to do that. And how many rooms do you have altogether? >> 102. >> 102. Um did And the new ones, didn't you have to like pay a parking impact fee or
something? Um, and with the parking lots going away, um, where where are you going to have, uh, where are these cars going to be parked? >> Yeah. >> Do you have I mean, do you have a >> We don't have a specific location as we stand as we sit here today. Um, obviously, we'll have to that will have
to be worked out. As you know, many hotels on Miami Beach have valet operations that travel remarkable distances, >> blocks away. >> Yes. And and we're assuming that it would either, you know, I think it's a great project. Um Allan always does
great work with the historic preservation. Um and uh and I'm pretty thrilled with the project. Thank you. >> Thank you. Can I can I just add to what you were saying, Carter, that I mean we have a a kind of a hidden asset, which is that >> we're next to a monster parking lot that
is probably in some point at some point in the future going to be redeveloped with parking. Uh, so I I'm hoping I mean we we can't count on that, of course, but I'm hoping that that'll be part of our parking solution. I would also say James is actually a little bit wider
roadway than [clears throat] many of the roadways in in South Beach and so when they go to close the South End, they're going to have to provide at least a T turnaround at, you know, for vehicles to get in and out. Um, so it won't be us.
There'll be the city that as it addresses the closure has to address how those vehicles will get in and out. And the good news is we're honestly >> have to stay on top of that. [laughter] >> Yeah. And and we're very close to 17th, so it's it's a little less of a problem for us.
>> Any other questions for the applicant? >> Yeah, I have one more followup. Um, so the waiver is to not have a loading dock. Is that what you're correct? and your staff is supportive of that because >> they have to have a actually um carve
out space along um James Avenue to have you know just for loading truck on site >> right >> for trucks to load on site. So what is the waiver for? >> To allow to allow them to do loading on street loading. So >> on street loading >> on street loading basically within the loading spaces that the city has allocated along the streets.
>> We will use we'll utilize the on street parking spaces on our frontage for that. >> Staff is supportive of that because of the size of the hotel. >> Well, it's the side. Also, we don't want to have um spaces for loading along the street front. This this property is very narrow in width. there's no space to
provide like a a drive-thru or a um a curb cut in a loading, you know, park further on site. It's very limited and it's typical of older hotels not to have any sort of you know parking or loading spaces on site. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And then we're moving the parking along James Avenue which we think is a beneficial aspect.
>> Okay. >> As >> Yeah. Just uh for further clarification, please. Currently, how many units are in the hotel? >> 75. And you're going up to 102. And currently, how many parking spaces are in the back of the property?
>> Three or four? >> Three. Three. >> Just three parking spaces. And is that where the deliveries used to come through? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, you're doing away with that area >> and you're moving the deliveries up onto the street >> with no parking for the additional 27
units or so. >> Right. >> Just Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> gentlemen. We have one more question. >> Oh, sorry. >> Back to the uh nano wall or swinging doors. What's your preference here?
>> Well, um our preference originally was the nano wall because it allows us to create more connectivity between the terrace and the interior space. Uh I mean, I understand staff's concern about it, but um that's, you know, from a commercial point of view, uh I think
it's um it's preferable. And um it it doesn't have I don't think it has substantial impact on the historical character of it because when it's closed it looks exactly like you know doors. >> Do you anticipate an awning?
>> Um I don't think so. Um but we haven't talked about that but I I don't think we need an awning. We have an eyebrow that continuous eyebrow across >> continuous eyebrow the entire frontage so that the porch is largely covered. Okay, thank you.
>> Okay, so I think we're done with board questions if we want to. Is there anybody on Zoom or >> There's nobody on Zoom with their hand raised. I think we have some public comment in the audience here. >> Um before we hear from the first uh public commenter, are there any disclosures on this application?
>> Thank you. Come on up. Okay. >> Hi, Roger Goldblad. 1750 James Avenue, right down the street. Uh, I learned a long time ago, start off with positive things. I think what you're doing on
Collins Avenue is going to be great, be fantastic. I'm not sorry to see I love liquors gone. It's uh however in in defense of poor little James Avenue, we're always kind
of like an afterthought. It it's one of the I moved there and I think a lot of other people because it's like kind of the quaintest little these streets going. It's basically 30s4s uh buildings on that block. Uh the James
Hotel is like so kitschi. The Crest Hotel has been around for a while. The Albon Hotel is interesting and admittedly on that side it's mostly parking lots. However, uh I I I think the plans to make the
Collins Avenue side uh show a lot of the original characteristics is wonderful. However, James Avenue gets this big glass building uh which is so out of place. Uh
and we now have um on my block between 17th and 18th the Windham Hotel which design is perfect. It fits in into the block. However, I'd say three four times a day James Avenue is blocked up because it isn't as wide as people think. And
there's trash trucks that better blocking. I can get out of my garage. there's a backup. Uh I I feel sometimes I have 21 seconds. I'll talk fast that I'm on a oneperson campaign to keep the character of a little enclave right off
Lincoln Road. And uh there there's nothing on the part of James that really shows obvious homage to uh James Avenue, which is as as then as Nancy Liverman said when she was here on the board, she said, "I I love James Avenue. It's so
perfect and it's so quaint and and I want to keep the character." Thank you very very much. Good morning board members. Meg Lustto, executive director of the Miami Design Preservation League. Um we support the proposed improvements to the San Juan Hotel and appreciate the applicant's
commitment to restoring and celebrating the building's historic character. We're particularly pleased with the treatment of the Collins Avenue frontage, where the design thoughtfully reintroduces and emphasizes historic architectural elements. This approach strengthens the building's relationship to the surrounding historic district and
reinforces the qualities that make Miami Beach's art deco and mid-century architecture so distinctive. The Collins Avenue elevation demonstrates a careful balance between preservation and contemporary functionality and represents a positive contribution to the streetscape. MDPL also appreciates the overall quality of the design and
the effort to create a contemporary architectural expression on the James Avenue side of the property. While we find many aspects of the design compelling, we encourage further consideration of how this elevation relates to its immediate context. Specifically, the stark modernism and angular architectural language proposed along James Avenue may feel somewhat at
odds with a softer architectural character of the surrounding neighborhood. While we support a contemporary approach, we wonder whether the angular columns and sharp geometric forms could be refined or softened to create a more harmonious transition between the historic building and the adjacent streetscape. In addition, the rendering suggests that the portions of
James Avenue frontage sit almost directly on the sidewalks, creating a massing that is out of context with the smaller [clears throat] scale neighbors in this part of the block. If feasible, MDPL encourages the applicant to explore opportunities for additional setbacks, recesses, landscaping, or other design strategies that could create greater
breathing room along the street [clears throat] edge and enhance the pedestrian experience. MDPL also encourages further review of the proposed signage program along James Avenue. As currently depicted, the rear elevation appears to contain multiple hotel signs, resulting in a duplication of building identification. While we
recognize the need for visibility from both street frontages, the presence of multiple signs may create unnecessary visual clutter and detract from the simplicity of the architectural composition. Overall, we support the project and commend the applicants for the thoughtful restoration of the historic hotel. We believe that with modest refinements to the James Avenue
elevation, the project can successfully balance preservation, contemporary design, and neighborhood compatibility. Thank you. >> If if there's no one on Zoom, we can close public comment. Have one person now with their hand raised. Um
it's a caller ending with phone number 560. >> Hello. Can you hear me? Hello. >> Hello. Please uh state your name and address. My name is Christina Vega. Um, my to tell the truth. >> Do you swear to tell the truth? The
whole truth and nothing but the truth. Thank you. >> Yes. Uh, good morning chairperson and board members. My name is Christina and I am the founder of Cyber Money laundering and real estate investigations corp. I'm here today to formally voice a strict objection to the
Sanwan hotel project at 16 Corin. We reviewed the material submitted with the application discovered fraud and forgery. Therefore, this is void app initial under Florida law and sold for grounds for void and fraud within the
legal description of this property. The applicant's uh legal description document references an alter flat entity named Fiser's first subdivision of Alton Road whereas official county data under flag book 277
chose Alton Beach. Next we have discovered the fraud with the tax funds. So the board is hereby notified that these uh public municipal application proceedings are directly linked to the
contemplated federal investigations involving structured tax evasion and asset laundering. Please take notice that the cyber money laundering in the real estate investigation court has formally executed IRS criminal
investigation referral via form 3949- A against both applicants today. Thank you. >> Thank you. If that's if there's no one else there, >> there's no other callers. >> Okay. So, we will close public comment and we'll now go to board commentary.
Would anybody like to start? >> Do you want to have the um sorry, do you want to have the applicant rebutt the um comments? >> Do you have any rebuttal? >> I couldn't even understand the comment. >> The only thing I would say, and I we mentioned in our presentation, the
setback on James is actually a zero setback. We did not go to a zero setback. We have a 5-ft setback for the entire building and of course along the street along the street edge on the ground level which really addresses the
sidewalk. It set back further um there and we can put it up if you'd like to see it but there's another 10 10 plus foot setback because there's a a a outdoor >> port terrace on the on the street responding to the sidewalk in that
location. So, we, you know, I believe Allan [clears throat] really did address uh the street very in a very appropriate way um in that location. Um I'm not sure what to say about that last thing other than other other than it's a mystery to
us. I will leave it at that. Can I can I add um one thing about the scale because I think uh James Avenue is also one of my favorites uh streets with a lot of uh interesting character characteristic buildings. Um, but I don't see it as like uh like a Flamingo Park condition.
It's it's got a variety of scales. It's uh it has um you know on the on the south end it has the Albon and that building that's right on the corner of Lincoln Road which is probably higher than our building uh both of them. And then to the north are a series of of
buildings, sevenstory, 11story, fivetory, sevenstory on James in the 1700 block. Uh including one that was just approved, I guess, because it's um looks like it was under construction um recently. That's five stories that's uh
on on James. So anyway, I just I think it has an eclectic uh in between character that's characteristic of the fact that it's um it's a residential street, but it also has commercial all around it. So thank you. >> If I could add one one clarification or
one note regarding the parking and loading spaces. So right now the property contains um parking parking spaces, three parking spaces perpendicular to the street. So you have those parking spaces plus the access to get into those spaces. Right now with the with the proposal, the parking spaces will be infilled with, you know,
um sidewalk and they're going to provide still three on street loading spaces. So any sort of parking that's lost by that will be replaced by on street parking or on street loading just because it's not their property. It won't be just for them. So other people can use that those on street spaces except for if they have, you know, valet operation. So I
think um that should allay sort of concerns that were expressed regarding not having any loading um for the site. >> It'll just be loading during a certain portion of the day, >> right? It'll be during the the loading hours and it'll be, you know, parking, high-speed parking. >> And just to that point, I I believe we
have legislation right now that that loading at least freight, I don't know if passenger is different, but would be 7 to 3 only. 7:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. only. I don't know if city attorney can just >> for for freight and commercial loading zones. >> Just for freight and commercial. So for
like pass you know passenger loading or hotel guest they would have access >> that would be based on whatever times are are provided on the sign. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Now board commentary. >> Excuse me. Uh because one of the issues
raised by the Miami Beach, it's uh relating the number of signage on Jane Street and I noticed that there were two signs, one at the edge of the um narrow long canopy and one on the side. I don't know if the applicant would like to
comment on that. >> Sure. Um maybe my I don't know if we have to pull it up. Maybe I'll just pull it. I'll look on my presentation, but basically um yeah, we wanted to have a sign that would identify the hotel on James Avenue and that the principal sign
is the one that's on the um the knee wall that runs along the planter on James. Um and then we were hoping um and it seemed like code would allow for a second sign that would be at the tip of
the canopy. So that canopy comes out to the sidewalk and um it is Yeah, if you can Thank you. Um and so that second sign was just on the edge of that canopy. Um
I would say that one is maybe not as important as the other one but it it was an opportunity I think to initiate that prominade through the building and through the site uh with you know understanding where you're
going and so we thought that was um worthwhile um but yeah >> I don't think that's >> quick question. >> It's Haskell. Go ahead. >> Yeah. It can lever to the western edge
of the sidewalk. >> Yes. >> It can lever >> to the western edge of the sidewalk. >> Yes. >> Which is which is uh a code that's allowable in the code allows canopies to come out to the curb. >> The intention being that if it's
>> Carter, you need the mic. [laughter] >> I should know better. The intention is if it's, you know, a summer afternoon or many other times of year when it's pouring rain, you can pull up and get dropped off at the edge of the canopy
and walk in undercover. >> One one of the things that has always um impressed me about Miami Beach buildings is their networks of semi-public spaces and elements that introduce you to those spaces, you know, porches and things like that. So, this was an opportunity
to do something. If I could bring up the what I have on the screen here for a moment. I mean, it was an opportunity to do a gesture that kind of explains the entrance into the courtyard and uh makes it more human by scaling it down and
bringing it out to the sidewalk. But this drawing is cut off. It does extend further than that drawing because this is a section of the building. >> It actually extends further >> west if you will. Here you can see it. And you see that sign that we were
>> going to integrate on the edge of the canopy. >> I I think it's overkill to have both of those. They're they're right >> right next to each other. >> We're fine. >> One or the other. In my opinion, >> I I I think we're fine with eliminating the canopy sign. I I as you look at this
drawing, it makes sense. And the canopy, honestly, the the sign on the top of the canopy is really not going to be terribly vis visible for people who are coming by car or even on foot. So, we're fine with removing that sign. >> Okay. Do we have
>> I would just I would just say one thing. Um I'm not sure why there was no like printed presentation in our packet. >> I think this this what happened. So, initially there's a different attorney on the application. So that that attorney had submitted application initially. They revised the plans and did not submit the full package. That
was the they should have came in to see what what we had to to to send out. So I think that was the discrepancy here. Everything was available online but I see now what happened with the packages. >> It it was a miscommunication between staff and us as in terms in terms of
numbers. I think we we gave replacement sheets assuming it was going to get replaced. Yeah. And just for everybody in the record, if anybody submits an application, there's changes, they need to come in and physically look to see what we have and change out any plans, see what will be sent out because otherwise we can't rely on what what's
what's sent out. We only rely on I only look at the digital version. I never look at the paper paper copies. >> If you as we've discussed before, the board has expressed a preference to have the paper copies and we do look at the paper copies. So I >> it is up to the applicant's responsibility to make sure that they
have the plans um that they want to present to the board um in in our files. >> I mean yeah just to say it's a very beautiful presentation. Uh Allan does a good job so I can follow you. Not everybody I can follow flipping forward and backward but um you know generally I
think it's a a really great project. I appreciate all the investment in the historic image and the references to postcards and the details. I think it's very well considered. Mitch. >> Sure.
>> Staff expressed some concern with the vertical fin system. You referred to it as you're stealing hoousers or barring hoousers design. Uh I don't know what what would you call
that? Is that a zigzag pattern? >> Zigzag. And uh Hoous's design is of uh masonry origin. And here I guess it's metallic or vertical. >> I think it would be um cast concrete.
>> Oh, okay. >> Yeah, it would be similar materiality. Um but and I think his is too actually. I think his was probably cast concrete >> very from the 1940s. and MDPL expressed concern over the uh context and
compatibility with the neighborhood. Uh I'm quite frankly I'm uh I I'm unfamiliar with that. Uh do you care to discuss that? >> Yeah, I think alleviate any concern
>> to start with. It's it's a pretty um uh typical situation for Miami Beach. I mean, the proportion of masonry to glass is the same, I think. I mean, I didn't measure it, but it's it's going to be about the same as a typical Miami Beach hotel or apartment building. Uh the
ground floor being glass. Yeah. But that's most hotels, most uh and many apartment buildings have that as well. So, I think it's actually um like just ter in terms of like proportion of solid wall to open wall or glass to masonry or
stucco etc. I think it's very typical that way. Um maybe the angles and and by the way I think um I've noticed this myself about the angularity. Um I think the renderings
tend to exaggerate it a bit. Uh like I don't it's it's the same we use the same proportions as hower used on um on Collins Avenue meaning the same depth the same spacing between the vertices. So it's,
you know, which looks great on Collins Avenue. So I don't think it's going to look out of place. >> Shadows. >> What's that? >> The renderings are throwing a lot of shadow. >> Renderings are And I love shadows. It's this is one of the great things about Miami. >> But yes, we uh I think the renderings because we um
>> because you're slicing the ends at an angle that it looks deeper, I think. >> Yes, exactly. Um, so the only other difference really which you know is that whereas Houser bounded the angular thing with like a fin on all sides, we
[clears throat] have the fins on the inside at the windows and then we but that's part of our play with the language. So I think it I think it was the right thing to do. >> Yeah. >> Yes, please. >> Yeah, I would just say that sometimes it's Matthew Lewis um from land. Um, I
think in in some of those renderings, >> just put your name on there. >> I'm sorry. >> Put your name on there. >> Matthew Lewis, 7294 Northeast First Court, Miami. Um, in some of these renderings, it's, you know, it's it's sort of the balance between showing what the landscape's going to be versus the
architecture. And I think in that one rendering um it wasn't being portrayed that we have four street trees at 16 to 18 ft and then we have three palm trees at 20 to 30 ft which then gets you to the roof line of 50 ft for the building.
And so in essence there's to me thinking about trees as architecture. There's two layers of landscape architecture in front of that facade of the building. So it's never going to be um you're never going to see that building as as it was maybe presented in the renderings. But and I I would say that that landscape
context really kind of gets stretched out to to match the rest of that James Avenue. >> Yeah. The mullion p pattern that you're uh showing on your rendering along James
Avenue. Uh you know the Collins Avenue, it's striking the way HoHouser used those boxes, how they're pronounced. Mhm. >> I don't quite see that along James Avenue. And uh I'm just wondering uh is
that a masonry box or is that an anodized box? >> No, it would be a boxes concrete pre-cast concrete uh fin that would go around the window, the general window thing. And this is um again in the rendering I think the mullions look too
thin. uh there they wouldn't be you would see the kind of ordinance of >> you don't see the horizontality that you see along Collins. >> Yeah. I mean um what this does u this rendering the one you have on the left
there on your left um is it it plays down the mlly the internal mullions um it it didn't quite capture them in its thickness that they would this is Miami so we know the windows and the frames are going to be big and >> everything. So, um that's I I would say
one one thing that um is probably not shown. >> Yeah. I I would just ask you to study it further. I >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And remember that we have >> I think what he's really referring to is the corner. >> Yeah. >> Maybe that should be solid more framing
the the side from the front. >> You're saying not have the window turn the corner. >> Yeah. Yeah. on, you know, like you've got right on the corners have it solid like a a column like it ends on both sides. >> Yeah.
>> Well, we have um we wanted because um of the gale directly to our north, we wanted the facade to wrap >> to wrap northward. Uh and so that's why we wrapped the windows as well. And there would be a big um which you can
see there there would be a um structural mullion at the point. Is that what you're referring to? So there would be a structural mullion that that would be there >> but we can study those proportions. >> The existing front has wraparound corner windows. >> It does. Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> Hasll Mr. Schulman. >> Yeah. >> Still want to look like coordinated. [laughter] What is the height difference between the existing building and the proposed building on the west side? >> Um the proposed building is at 53. Well, it's actually
>> What is the height difference? >> Oh, 52. Sorry. >> What is the height difference between the existing and the proposed? >> That was in our um I think it's I think the existing is like 42 uh with the
rooftop penthouse that's there. Um >> I'm I'm looking at a photo on page 13 of 15 of our package. We don't have all the plans that you showed, so forgive me. I can >> we do have >> analyze it as well. But >> on that in that photograph, the building
is set back what about 25 ft from the >> sidewalk right now? >> Right now. Yes. >> And how Okay. So again my question is what is the height difference between >> the proposed and the existing as I look
at it from this elevation. >> So here the let's see if I can zoom in here. Yeah, you'll see that the front is at 43 feet. Uh, and the
>> rear is at >> 52. >> 52. >> He's asking though, what's the height of the rear >> part of the existing building? >> Not the front, but the >> Oh, the the existing building. >> Yes. >> Yes. Sorry. >> The height, the difference, the delta.
What's the delta we're looking? >> It's basically two stories. two stories. >> Two stories. So about 20 ft you're you're adding. >> So you're adding 20 ft and you're pushing the building westward, right? Essentially, you're creating this wall that's 20 ft taller than the existing
and you're bringing it out westward another 10T, >> but it's only 10 ft. It's 43 versus 50. from the roof of the penthouse >> to the roof deck of the rear building.
It's from 43 or 52 NGVD to 53 or 62 NGVD 10 ft >> at the penthouse. But what you're saying is that on James Avenue, you're saying how what's the difference on James Avenue between what was there? Yes, >> I'm looking at this photograph, right? And I'm asking you what is the delta?
Where are we going from existing roof >> to proposed roof? And to me it looks like you're adding another 20 feet. >> About 20 feet. >> Yeah. >> It's probably 18, but closer. >> Yeah. >> So they're allowed to do that. >> It probably is 18.
>> Okay. >> All right. >> But by the way, I think it's this is the zoning and this is what's going to be done to the south of us as well. Um, so I think it's about fitting into the emerging pattern that's going to be
there on, you know, going south for us. I >> I think everybody would like to see the ground level parking lots along James to our south get redeveloped. As Ellen has said, there have been a couple projects approved that didn't go forward, but I think everybody agrees that that's not a
very pedestrian friendly part of the B block. And we're all hoping that something does get redeveloped there with a that addresses the sidewalk, addresses the pedestrian experience as opposed to walking along a ground level parking lot. That's >> and I personally appreciate you didn't
ask for any variances. >> We worked hard not to to be honest. >> Absolutely. >> Do we have any further board commentary? >> Go ahead. I'll make a motion to approve this project as per uh staff conditions and
uh as modified with the um the folding storefront along the Collins Avenue. >> Yeah. Is that okay? You you prefer the nano >> as long as it's multiple doors, we're fine with that. >> Okay. >> Wait, hold on. Feel like that was two different things. Can we clarify that because you asked whether they prefer
the nano wall? He they were saying he said multiple doors. So, let's be clear on what we're approving. If you don't mind, >> we prefer the nano wall system. >> We prefer the nano wall, but we can work with the multiple doors. >> The nano wall with me. >> So, if we if the board approves a nano wall, the bar has to close at midnight.
Regardless of whether it's open or closed, the bar has to close at midnight. >> Double doors. [laughter] >> Okay, got that out of the way of reason. All right. So, uh the swinging doors uh and the uh
>> multiple sets of the multiple uh swinging doors >> in a in a single sign. Do you want to add the single sign >> uh to the rear? >> Yeah. >> And the single sign uh to the rear elevation. Is there anything uh I left out?
>> All right. That would be my motion. >> You can choose signs only one. >> I think we'll use the lower one. I think it's more visible. >> I would second that motion >> for demolition. >> No. So, this only requires um one vote. The waiver can be included for the for the loading spaces. So, we need one vote
on the CFA which includes the demolition includes the waiver and the modifications um noted by um >> Okay. So, uh the first uh motion is >> I just want Okay. It's all incorporated. Okay. Yes. So, I made the motion. Uh Ray
second. >> I second it. >> I second the motion. >> I think Mr. President seconded it. She thirds the motion. [laughter] >> All in favor of the motion. >> I posted
no opposed. The motion passes. I'm six to zero. Congratulations. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. [snorts] >> Now we have to make the motion for the waiver. >> No, the waiver is included. >> No, it was all one. >> And then Jazelle is going to present the
next application on the agenda. Okay. So, let's see. Our next application is uh Nully 719 737 Lincoln Rose. >> We'll give a couple minutes to clean the roof. >> Yeah, we'll give him a few minutes to get set up.
Jose. You guys want to share more stuff? So, while the applicant's getting set up, um, just a quick order of business, if we can, if we can keep our questions to the first part, so we have questions
to staff and then questions to the applicant so that we don't run the risk of needing to reopen public hearing if we open up other issues. So, try to get all your questions out during the question section rather than in the commentary section. Okay. All right.
Is the applicant ready? Yes. Okay. Go ahead. >> Jazelle's going to introduce the application first. >> The next item in the agenda is HB26-0686 719 736 Lincoln Road. An application has been filed requesting a certificate appropriateness for the partial
demolition, renovation, and alterations to existing commercial buildings, including new retail storefront frontage, modifications to the ground floor facads to increase transparency, updated architectural treatments, site modifications along the Lincoln Road frontage, introduction of a covered
pedestrian arcade, and transformation to the north Lincoln frontage uh into an activated pedestrian plaza environment. Uh, a little bit of background on this project. The proposed V is designed as a covered pedestrian walkway of approximately 1,500 linear feet of new
activated retail frontage. The goal is to strengthen the connectivity and encourage pedestrian flow between Lincoln Road and North Lincoln Lane. Along North Lincoln Lane, the V expands into a small plaza area. This space accommodates outdoor seating and a potential outdoor cafe. The project also
includes improvements to the second floor mezzanine as an elevated gathering space uh that overlooks the pedestrian lane. The application is the first component of the larger NI uh project. The second component is subject to a design review application for the
improvements at North 70 723 North Lincoln Lane. The third involves the negotiations with the city on the public realm and infrastructure upgrades to North Lincoln Lane. It's authorized by the city commission on December 17, 2025. Uh the site occupies a midb block
section frontage on Lincoln Lane and North Lincoln Lane around Mid Meridian Court and Meridian uh Avenue. The existing site contains a one-story commercial building with a mezzanine area. The retail occupies the Lincoln Road side and along the north Lincoln
Lane, it functions primarily as a service uh alley used for parking and loading. The building itself was constructed in 1924 uh by architect August Gay. It is classified as a contributing structure within Flamingo Park as well as the in the National
Register in the architectural district. The building is historically designated. However, it is important to note that the original 1924 design has been significantly altered over time. Later modifications have been accumulated, but they do not form a coherent or um intact
architectural period. Turning to the Lincoln Road facade, uh the applicant is proposing a comprehensive renovation. The design incorporates a charine stone towel, porcelain cladding, large format glazing with a light bronze brake metal framing, granite clad curbs, and
integrated LED lighting. Uh they're also considering two awning options. Option A is more of a fabric awning supported by the tubular metal armatures, and then option B is the steel eyebrow canopy that you can see in the ring. Um, regarding the pedestrian arcade, it is
interior to the building envelope and does not alter the footprint height or setbacks. Uh, staff finds that the via concept is consistent with the adaptive reuse of the building and recommends that the board carefully evaluates the portal entry design for the capability
of the contributing facade. Um, along the north Lincoln uh lane, it is uh conditioned as an activated plaza environment. Um it features new glazing, landscape and hardscape as well as a outdoor seating area. Um this is
transformation is strongly supported by staff. Um especially recommending the native landscaping that is shown in the drawings. Um new elements introduced at the upper level include the parap extension and the second floor rooftop terrace. Staff recommends that the board
evaluates the scale and character of the new rooftop elements that are appropriate relative to the contributing structure. Um with that uh we are we feel that the modifications are consisting with the involving pedestrian character of the no Lincoln Road corridor and so and is supportive of the
introduction of the new public pedestrian connection between Lincoln Road and Lincoln Lane. Uh for these reasons staff recommends approval of application conditions that are set forth in the staff report and final order. >> Thank you very much. Any questions for
staff from the board? All right, Michael. >> Great. Thank you, Madam Chair, board of staff. Michael Larkin, 200 South Bistain Boulevard here today representing the applicant with is Michael Commerce, the applicant Jackie Tuz and Carlos Tuz and
their son Carlos Tuz to continue the tradition. Uh Jose Gomez from Balance Architects. So, we're here today uh just like Adele described, we are proposing some improvements to the Lincoln Road buildings. We're proposing a via that will start at Lincoln Road and extend northward to Lincoln Lane North. As you
all know by now, Laking Lane North at this particular location is not so pretty. So, we're going to be vastly improving it with a pedestrian plaza. And you all interestingly split your jurisdiction between you all in the DRB where you have jurisdiction up until the center line of Lincoln Lane North where the DRB jurisdiction takes over in the
northern half of Lincoln North. It's an interesting circumstance that doesn't take place that often. Last month, I went over some of the highlights of Lincoln Road. Started on the west and went all the way to the east. I'm not going to do that. But I did overlook one significant highlight which is a Greek
yogurt restaurant called Mika. I see people standing there on Lincoln Road. I saw Stansions. I thought, is this a new nightclub opening up on Lincoln Road? No, it's just a Greek yogurt place and it's tremendously successful. Robert Ravani purchased that building is now repopulating it with different tenants.
So, that's one more marquee tenant that's going to be joining us on Lincoln Road. And with regard to where linking road is now, like link is linking road at a crossroads. I would say no, it's not at a crossroads because I think a decision has already been made to go forward. I would borrow the phrase that
Malcolm Gladwell has popularized in the last few years called the tipping point. As you all know, he's a famous author nowadays. He's authored several books and one of his best books is called the tipping point. And the definition I will borrow from him, it says that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social
behavior crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire. I think we're at that point in Lincoln Road. I think this particular project is going to change Lincoln Road dramatically and show how it can be leased in the future and remove all those terrible empty storefronts. So with that, I'd like to
turn it over to Michael Commer. He's going to explain to you a vision that he's had for a long, long time. Now it's finally coming to fruition. >> Thank you, Michael. Good morning, board. Thank you for uh your time. My name is Michael Com with offices at 1261 20th
Street. I'm a longtime Miami Beach resident, and I I've had the pleasure of working u through the historic district for over 30 years now, first starting on Collins Avenue and working to convert some of those older residential buildings to retail properties. And
really what I've learned over the last 30 years is really the idea of merging contemporary retailing into historic preservation. And I think that is an evolving uh work that you know changes over time. Retailers change the style of
retailing changes and the style of the buildings must change to adapt to the new form of retailing. So, um, today as I come in front of you, uh, we're working on a what I think is a really exciting project for Miami Beach and for Lincoln Road.
>> Let me pull up the presentation. >> Let me pull up, uh, >> can Yeah, there. Go ahead. >> Great. So, um, many of you know this area very well. Um, we are right at the heart of Lincoln Road. The buildings identified in blue are the buildings
that are part of what will become Nllley or what has become Nllley. uh the buildings to on the north side of Lincoln Road uh come together and really what we end up with is about 150,000 square feet right there at the heart of Lincoln Road with over 1,700 linear feet
of frontage. Two novel concepts that we're introducing is the VIA concept and the street off the street concept. The VIA concept really does something which has not really uh arrived on Lincoln Road yet but is seen in very popular areas.
You see them often in Palm Beach. The villa really provides a area of respite where as people are walking down Lincoln Road as you know there is not very much shade really have the tree of choices palm trees along Lincoln Road. So as you would actually approach the via you
would actually see a shaded environment which actually provides for a sense of discovery and transferring people to and from Lincoln Road and from Lincoln Lane to Lincoln Road. The idea is really to create a street off the street where
people can gather and provide an alternative to Lincoln Road. The the whole notion of um what's happened with Lincoln Road over the last several years um is that it has become a it is a one street singlepurpose district primarily.
And what I've been preaching over the last 20 years is really the expansion of Lincoln Road to the north up to 17th Street to create rather than a one street district but more of a true district. You know, as one street gets to be so popular, if there are not side
streets for the area to continue to grow, nothing else happens except the bottom falls out. And I think we saw that um here uh over the last several years. Here you can see how the via takes you from Lincoln Road back to Lincoln Lane and vice versa from Lincoln Road and the parking from Lincoln Lane
rather the parking garage and the new convention center, hotel, the convention center, city services, city hall, etc. Uh everything from to the north coming to the south and vice versa. The street off the street really provides a new alternative to the storefronts on
Lincoln Road and Noli really presents an opportunity of providing rightsiz spaces for today's contemporary retailers. As many of you know um along Lincoln Road we probably have about 40 different property owners uh over a million square feet 10 blocks and generally own 50 feet
at a time. So by owning 50 feet at a time, it makes it very challenging for um landlords to come together and really create a cohesive and a curated merchandise mix. By having this size uh property, we're able to bring it all together. When you see here on the
screen, you can see the typical uh dynamics of Lincoln Road where we have lots of about 150 foot deep or 100 foot deep. And generally when the 150 foot lots are built full um you can see the old Tivera restaurant space over on the right which is 25 foot wide by 145 foot
deep. And then those two little boutiques next door that is 17t wide and 100 foot deep. These are not uh not ideal for retailing today. Retailers are all about storefronts. They're not about the depth. And when you see the creation of the via is literally just the removal
of the storefront of one of those storefronts and the back wall. And you can sort of see how magically it takes the the uh the space and transforms it into a much more habitable area with smaller boutique spaces, 700 foot spaces
that just cannot be found on Lincoln Road. Um today this is what the facade looks like. Tomorrow we want to take it more into this kind of a direction and um Jackie and Jose will be able to describe all of that. Today we have the beautiful
alley and this is our gateway to Lincoln Road from the convention center today uh and from the 1500 car parking garage right there. Uh we stand out here often and we see people walking out of that parking garage looking for Lincoln Road and this is what they get to see. Um, we
would hope that this gets transformed into something more along the lines of this. Um, this project is rooted in historic preservation and adaptive reuse. Two very important concepts for us and Jackie will get into all of that. But I'm really excited about bringing this
project together. We would hope to have this portion of the project, the Lincoln Road portion completed by the end of the year, uh, beginning of the next, and the balance of Lincoln Lane and the north side of Lincoln Lane by the middle of, uh, 27 for a grand opening, really the
end of 27. So, with that, I'll turn this over to Jackie. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Good morning. Um, Jacqueline Gonzalez, um, 1501 Southwest 8 Street, Miami, Florida. It's such a pleasure to be with
you today and an honor really to be a part of this project that has been so long in the making. Uh truly a one of a kind uh opportunity for any architect. I'm going to do this because it's it's quite dense the package. So I'm just going to tell you how we're going to take it. I'm going to reverse the order
and start with NI district which as as you've been told is going to be reviewed by the DRB as well. And then I'm going to take you through Venoli. And then finally, I'd like to end with Lincoln Road because I I actually want to talk more about the materiality and spend some time there, which I imagine would be more of interest to this board. So if
it's okay with you, that's how we're going to take it. Um I also want to say that this project is is as Michael mentioned a uh a team effort. U Studio is a design architect. My partner Carlos Prius Tuesday is here. And it is also
we're working in partnership with Jose Gomez and um Ricardo Vhon on on the on the team. It is a massive undertaking to take a service alley which is very complex and I can spend time with this but I won't because I want to jump into the design but if you do have questions
about how we're transforming basically a space for cars and service into a peopleoriented shady oasis. Did you want to >> I was going to let you finish your sentence, but before you dive into your uh presentation, how much longer would you need because the time was about to expire, so I'm going to need time.
>> That's fine. We'll go ahead and set it up for that. >> I stole all her time talking, so I feel bad. [laughter] Sorry. 10 minutes. >> Um I I'm not repeating what Michael already introduced the plans. I'm going to just kind of give you the abbreviated, but just I I just want to mention the enormous lift that it is. All the utilities had to be moved out of
the way. You if you know FPNL, you know what a what a lift that is. the service and the trash have been inboarded into the uh you'll see that there's l there's corridors that take you to trash rooms and all of that is going to get picked up in the 723 building which has a larger facility for trash. So in the
evenings after the the the restaurants and the other places shut down that will be ported over to there. You can also see we have two dropoff areas. the turnaround area um to the right and on Meridian we have so I have another drop off area because really what this is is taking an alley and making it an
adaptive reuse into a public pedestrian um walking area and shopping district. We were when we were brought into the project um one of the things I should say is that I've been on Lincoln Road since I was three years old. So, I was really appreciative that Michael wanted
this to be a place by locals for locals. And we have my I'm not born here, but it's as close to, you know, when I was three, I used to feed the pigeon on Lincoln Road. So, I have a deep love and so does Carlos for Lincoln Road when we started our practice. Um, we've done a lot of work on Lincoln Road and I'm very
appreciative of the opportunity to help shape this this other layer, but we understand that Lincoln Road is a brand and it's important to respect and honor that tradition without duplicating what it already is. And so we want to differentiate NI but also relate to it. So you can think of it as sort of the
independent younger sister of Lincoln Road. It has the same DNA but it but it's definitely has its own identity. And part of the reason that we really love this project, you know, climate change is real. We feel it every day. There's more months of the year that it's almost unbearable to walk um on
Lincoln Road that the shade canopy is not what we would all wish. Um, and one of the things that Nollie does really, I think successfully is it brings mature vegetation because pound-for-pound in terms of shade, bringing down the temperature and holding water, there's nothing better that we can do than add trees. So, it might be odd to see an
architect talk so uh much about trees, but really nully for me is about about adding shade, adding um, you know, places for people to gather that are not necessarily related to commerce. you know, third spaces that we've talked about that that that's another way that
this is for locals. If you're on your way to the gym, if you're leaving Meridian Avenue that's having all these improvements, you you park your bike and you get on, you walk through a shady urban oasis. So, a lot of it was about creating textures, recognizing, you know, for example, the piano um black
and white lapidous gesture, but bringing the scale down um staying with kind of a black and white and gray palette, but bringing in the warmth of wood. Um it's an adaptive reuse. It's not trying to be fancy and it's not trying to be more luxurious than Lincoln Road. understands it's an adaptive reuse of an alley, but
it still can be very beautiful, very humane, and hopefully the details and the scale of it start to bring you into what we all kind of love about European cities that have or Worth Avenue when you find yourself we uh through a a little alleyway and and as Michael was saying, discover these little moments
that are different again in scale and and offer opportunities for smaller uh emerging retailers to have a footprint in storied Lincoln Road. So, uh, that that possibility of those micro retailers, very exciting. And what we love about Lincoln Road, we try to bring
kind of those germs, those those, uh, DNA into there. For example, the Torzo inlays at the at the storefronts. Um, uh, taking a pattern of of bricks as as the main gesture, but then having inlays where people will sit to kind of mark that. And again, the black and white
Turzo in L in Nolley, it's more the the storefronts are darker. in Lincoln on Lincoln Road, we're going lighter and more of a champagne platinum finish for the storefronts. And I have all the materials there and I'll I'll show you at the end. But there is a distinction between the two. And we're also bringing in micro retailers uh to sort of
populate. So it's not it's not a park. It's it's definitely storefronts and it's the ability to have smaller little emerging footprints uh uh boutiques that are that are teeny but you know cafes all different kinds of FnB but populated for humans and the car is really absent
from the space now the the lighting and everything about it hopefully would make it a place that can transform at night to a very kind of conivial environment. A lot of young people would want to come here and hang out, young, old, everybody. And we have um the the building that you see uh where the
Nollie sign is is is the ery building that we have transformed by just simply adding trellis columns and vegetation on the edges. We're really not about building new. This is adaptive reuse. And one of the ways we adaptively reuse is by greening the facades there. Uh you
can see the the the outdoor cafes and on the buildings of the alley. This is before before on the top and after. We are creating this vianoli which is my next chapter in this. But you can see the difference. So we remove the the trash. We remove all the transformers.
We inboard all of that and essentially add a little more glazing. Um commerce has removed some of the the mezzanines on the buildings to the right and left and we've created a mezzanine in the via which I'll get to. But it's really um not it's it's keeping the palette light,
keeping it very much Miami Beach inspired colors. And there's a fin on the building that we're celebrating and we're bringing in, you know, where we have to we louver, but it's mostly a stucco um and and metal uh very sparingly, but it's going to be more of that kind of solid material. And then
you can see what the entry from Meridian looks like. That was a restaurant that we proposed for the roof. That's not part of this application, but just to show you how different ways we're thinking about activating not only the pedestrian realm, but the roof, which we did at MA quite successfully on when we restored the 800 building, then it's
been a big hit. So, I think more and more people are discovering the beauty of having indoor outdoor restaurants as well. So, that was just a proposal. And then when we get to the via which is as Michael mentioned a really interesting way of u bringing those microbes to the
Lincoln road and connective tissue with a hotel getting built a lot of people are wandering from filtering from that parking garage not knowing where they're going. So this is another way of them accessing [clears throat] Lincoln Road and having a different experience as they get there as opposed to you know
facing a service lane which is what what's there presently. the VIA came about to to offer those smaller spaces. It goes from 120 to 260 square foot of of of uh of retail. And as we looked at the original building, the Guyer
building from 19, it was built in 1924. This is a picture from 1926. And um as most of the fabric or all of the fabric that we can see of the existing building of the Bozarts, it looks like a sort of a Bozarts period building is not there. But one of the things that we discovered in looking at it, if you notice where
the red square is, there appears to be a a big vertical bay at one point that was there. There also was an attempt to break the the the the cornice line and have a little bit of a of a variation. So it wasn't this relentless horizontal
that we see presently. And there also was appears to us if you look at the proportion of the bulkhead, it looks much taller than what was there presently. And what we think and we have records that show that the building was renovated in 1941 to 1946 which is
wartime. And what happened at wartime is that you know they they lowered the storefronts and they built mezzanines for storage etc. So they we're looking at a building that has been streamlined in a way because it's more horizontal but also lowered and the the storefront
was really made into one long horizontal. So that that's the only photo that I have of this building. So this is all we have to go from. And it's not that we're trying to recreate that that building because we don't have the documentation, but I just wanted to show you that that we we have looked at what was there previously and trying to
understand what's possible. Um and then in looking at the idea of a via, one of the things we we love about this one is it's covered because in our climate it rains, it's going to have fans. It's going to have ventilation. And one of the things we love about the European model is that this beautiful floor. And
we told Michael early on, you know, we really should bring in a Tozo floor and do it like a signature Instagrammable moment of like a really beautiful iconic because that, you know, the young people, I think they want to have discovery and and the idea is that you're walking on Lincoln Road and then all of a sudden you see a peak of a little something that little speakies
that we put on Lincoln Road and then you find this beautiful floor and these little micro retailers. So that that was the idea behind it. So, we took unit uh 723 out um and that connected to the alley from Lincoln Road. The other thing that's super cool about this is that
there's Date County Pine ceilings. So, we're keeping that ceiling and we're exposing it. So, when you're walking in the via, it's almost like you're uncovering the layers of history. You get to see how these uh buildings were put together. There's a lower part already and a higher part. And what we
did when we were looking at it is again, we really love the idea of a peekab-boo little bar restaurant. So, we thought, how fun would it be to put a little bar looking over the VSA? So, you get to experience that section because it it is lower in the front and then it gets to be double height at the rear. So, you could see what we did from the
restaurant to the left. There's like a little connector tissue that takes you to a little bar with a terrace. We pushed the bar back so that the frontage, excuse me, some water so that the frontage is not um at the same line as the uh Lincoln road facade. And
what's in front of it is a terrace. And we'll show you in a section. You can see the roof. And that that the brown is a retractable cover for that terrace. And you can see what it is. It's this little space. That's the existing condition on the top. And then the lower the bottom
is is proposed. The existing parapit is at 216. Um what we're going up to is 256. So it's a 4ft difference at the at the at the very front of the building. And then we go a little higher to 29 maximum. Um, which is still shorter than
the building adjacent. But what we wanted to do is try to create an occupiable space. And that's what it looks like a little bit more rendered so you could see. >> And Oops. >> Maybe five more minutes. >> Just really, really quick. >> Five more minutes. >> Vegetation here made sense to us to sort of announce that there's a shadier
district beyond. And also just to make it, you know, we love Worth Avenue and how it has, you know, the growing plants as part of the facade. And we did borrow from uh a little bit from some of our favorite deco buildings and and and Miami Beach buildings how the idea of a portal in stone can be incorporated into
an otherwise uh you know different facade and the stone is sort of celebrating that arrival that that marker that there's an entry portal. Um and here's a view of what that looks like. I'm just going to go quickly because we're running out of time. And you can see we're introducing a skylight on the other side to break bathe it with
daylight so we can have planting on the other side of the little streak. Easy. Um, and now it's Lincoln Road. Um, so we are, this is the the current uh facade condition. It's uh 7 foot6 of
glass and the bulkhead is lower than the than the roofs. The all of the the ceilings of the the first couple bays are all at 126, but the the but the glass stops at 96. And for today's retail dirt, that that's an issue. The blast bay was interesting because it had
a 20 foot ceiling. For some reason, that bay had a wood choice or much higher. So, we f we found that to be kind of interesting. And as we look at, you know, really the brief is bring the really great retailers to Lincoln Road and really help the next usher the next
great era of Lincoln Road. There's no one that knows this better than our client. And we were doing just looking at how people uh are designing these days and and you know informed by Michael of course noticed that there a lot more glass but that we we went to
Rodeo Drive. We went to different places that still have legacy heritage buildings but you're starting to see that you know you can do it elegantly if you use the right materials and the right combination of proportions. And across the way there are these little gems that we love. Um the Deco period and in the Deco period it was about more
glass and and we have a lot of examples on Lincoln Road. you can see where the knee wall is actually very small. It's it's more of a base to allow for the variation of the sidewalk and you're getting these really beautiful larger glass. So, it's not atypical and we know that it varies depending on the
building, but we do see precedent for both conditions and we thought for ours we were, you know, here's another one. Um our so our proposal is to drop the knee wall to 6 in and to raise the glass to 126 from 96 to leave the cornets continuous and then only to to break it
um and to replace on on this facade proposal replace the the top of the of the fluting with um terzo excuse me [clears throat] with travertine and um uh yeah travertine and then entry portal and you can see what that looks like.
Um, I'm just going to keep going. So, what happens is at the last bay where we have the 20 foot ceiling, that's where we we we allow because really one of the main things is to have identity. Everybody wants to kind of be able to express their own brand. And when you have this relentless horizontal, it kind
of anathema to these retailers. So, we're trying to respect and not ele not lift the line of the block and respect that 21 foot6 corners line, but still within that recognize that that bay originally was a taller ceiling. And then the viol is the other interruption. Other than that, we've kept the cadence
of the columns. We've kept the height of the corners and we did raise the the glass to get the the glass closer to what the original ceiling was. [clears throat] Excuse me. And that's what that looks like. Um, as mentioned, we we wanted to give variety or two options, awning or
trellis, depending on the on the retailer. Some restaurants might want to have a trellis and plant vines on it, which would be beautiful, and some might want to have an awning. still I think it's the allowing for and thinking about how to do it elegantly is is a nice feature. You can see the base it's it's there. It's uh like many other buildings
in this district. It's a black granite. Then I have a sample of it. Um and you can see what that kind of the precedents that we were looking at for that. I can go through all of this. The last thing I would like to say is that in the process of doing uh we now have a GC involved and we did do the restoration of 800
Lincoln. So we asked them to scrape the building to see what was behind the fluting that was there now to see if it was in fact because it looked kind of terrible in the beginning. It was all kind of chipping paint and not looking great. So we do have another option in in instead of the travertine for the
fluting which is really what was inspired by the original. Um we and I have the packets if you don't mind spread to pass them out. This is the original uh condition. When we looked at it, it wasn't uh it looked kind of like it wasn't uh in in tremendously good
shape, but upon closer inspection and we've got selected demo. >> So, we have another option for you >> um is really to keep that cornice and not tear it down. um and keep a portion
of the clut the fluting that we can keep except for the lower red band um to keep more. So basically the other option is to preserve more of the existing facade. It's the same idea with the same higher facade on the on the right and the portal in the travertine but in this in this option it would be
more preservation. we would keep more of the original fabric and and that's something that you know it came up because we were really doing more forensics about it and I we thought the Cornish line looked pretty good and was in good shape so we wanted to to bring that for guidance from this board to see how you guys felt about it. Uh and
that's really all I have. The pink shows the additional preservation we would be able to maintain of the original facade. So all of that material rather than being demolished would be kept um and everything else would stay the same. And that's what it would look like. And with
that, I am >> great. Thank [snorts] you, Jackie. You stay for questions. >> I'm here for any questions. >> That's all, Madam Chair. I would like to reserve some time for rebuttal. We're here for your questions. >> Okay. Do we have any
board questions for >> a lot of information? I know. >> I know. I'll try to go through it but >> go ahead. >> Uh I would like to start by commending Mr. Comra for taking this initiative. Um, integrating, you know, uh, North
Lincoln Lane with Lincoln Road is, I think, uh, a great idea that we explored over 30 some odd years ago with then, uh, city manager Roger Carlton and we ran into hurdles because there are multiple
land uh, property owners and we couldn't get consensus. I think your father, may you, rest in peace, Joe Commerce, was involved in some of those discussions. Um, being the owner of multiple properties at this times gives you the opportunity
to do something extraordinary like this. And I really think that it's a a positive project for the city, especially when one sits at the ery on the north side of Lincoln Lane and looks southward and sees all those uh,
you know, garbage trucks and containers and so forth. So I think beautifying Lincoln Lane, integrating it with that plaza and connecting it to Lincoln Road, working on the, you know, minimizing the footprint of all the units, giving them
more exposure I think is a great idea and I commend you for coming up with this plan and thank you and to the your team as well. Certainly. >> Mitch, do you have a question? >> Sure. Uh, an impressive uh project.
Seems like one item of contention is the kneew wall uh along Lincoln. Uh staff want something a little uniform and higher and you want more latitude to uh uh deviate from that whether it be a
lower knee wall and higher higher glass. Uh just on a personal note, I have uh no issue uh whatsoever Uh and uh just some questions regarding uh
is that uh Lincoln Lane North? So you get out of the municipal garage and uh you have the uh the alleyway. What's going on to the east of your project?
Will cars still be able to traverse? >> Uh yes, thank you. The um the idea is that Lincoln Lane would continue uh to the east and follow um all the way over to Washington Avenue and that would
remain active. Really the the whole notion of creating Lincoln Lane as a street off the street is the introduction of storefronts along the whole south side of Lincoln Lane North. Really creating second storefronts. SE
like I no in in my mind going forward we should always be looking at Lincoln Lane as second storefronts as opposed to backs of buildings. Yeah. And I'm hopeful that this will translate down along the rest of Lincoln Lane to the east and to the west. >> I know that the rabbi has a location
just to the east of me and I would only hope that everything that we're doing would be uh used for inspiration for other people down along that way. >> I I I agree with you. But an issue that I uh imagine is those uh the uh
uh setbacks just continuously change. Uh the uh synagogue juts uh further north in I know there was the uh Thelma's house. Uh you know it how do you make
that uniform? Or maybe part of the uh charm might be leaving it and just uh recreating a uh a new uh facade >> element. Sorry. I I don't really believe
it needs to be uniform. I think it needs to be cohesive, but not necessarily uniform. And if you look at the back of um our project or with or the second front, if you will, we're not expanding out and filling in that plaza that's there. We're actually creating those
setbacks as a new place, a new third space where people can ga gather and congregate. So I think utilizing the existing architecture, the setbacks, the heights, the widths, all that becomes part of the fabric of the the district and I think the all that we can do is
look to enhance it and make it better. I don't think we want to change it and make it this uniform uh ped this uniform corridor. >> Okay. Uh, I I I agree. And back to the uh where
the current street will end. That'll be delineated with a curb and a sidewalk. Uh maybe I didn't quite capture how that's going to be treated with your renderings. >> Yeah, we we would create ballards. We
need to provide for uh life safety and fire access and so on. So we would have ballards that are removable. Um and it would uh be with paving patterns. We would create sort of a circular type of arrangement over towards the east end so that as drop off would want to occur, it
can and cars can continue to pass by. Um so both ends would have ballards on it uh which would be removable. >> And the treatment uh were were those pavers in your rendering? Uh >> Jackie, I'll let Jackie speak to the finishes. Uh we're going to go with a a
brick paper in a in a herring bone pattern. Thinner than that. That's the only brick I could find. Sorry. Yeah. But but it's a thinner brick uh herring bone pattern with inlays marking again, you know, seating areas or special moments around trees or things like that. So, we want to not have a relentless pattern. We're going to we
have lines going across. I can show the the pipeline if you guys would like it. But yeah, the idea is to kind of really uh elevate it from right now uh Lincoln Road is a lot of painted surfaces. We want to do an actual material like a brick. It's a humble material but in a light gray could go very nicely with the
black and white terzzo and we thought and the vegetation. So >> you want to take the remote check? >> Um I can >> sorry go back. >> There you go. >> Yeah, you can see the lines coming
through the circular area where the the truck drop off is those are ballards. >> Yeah. uh we didn't bring the full presentation of no just for time because but we are presenting all of this with with the DRB in three days or so and and that's the intention is to create uh
>> Okay, that makes sense. >> Thanks for clearing that up. >> All right, Lynch, >> Nick. >> Yeah. Um this is a kind of crazy presentation to give. I it's uh it's a bit disorienting
because it's it's almost like you're presenting details for an entire city. Um so it's a bit head spinning to see but uh overall I think it's great but I'll reserve my comments for the end. Uh a few questions. So um who owns the street? Does the city still
own the street? >> City does, >> but you will maintain it or operate it >> through a maintenance and improvement agreement that we're negotiating with the city administration right now. >> Okay. And um can you show me Michael like on the map where the DRB line is? We only consider south.
>> It's the center of of Lincoln Lane. >> It's the center. >> Yeah. Where you cut off here on the board. >> Is is the line on the drawing accurate? >> Okay. And um and all those I mean so all the trash all the stuff is going to go
north of the of the of Lincoln Lane. And what about all the what about all the electrical equipment and >> what do you have to do out of curiosity? What do you have to do? >> We have the presentation back up. Go ahead, Michael. >> Just let me show you where we we very important to me was burying all of the
utilities and trash. >> Uh and as you can see, I guess we don't have a pointer, but there's two service carters. One on the east side. Uh you can sort of see it. Uh right today we have four four transformers out there and about five or six dumpsters out in
the prominade or what will be the prominade. All the dumpsters will go uh into the side. There's trash rooms provided for for each tenant and then a large trash room over on the west side. And basically the idea is to um staff that so that in the middle of the night
we can remove all the trash, bring it over to the 723 loading zone where we'll have a compactor and then that same uh labor is able to bring those uh bins back to their resting spot. So to me it was very important not to have a
situation where we were leaving trash bins out in the circular area. At six o'clock, the garbage trucks come in, they dump all the stuff, and half of it gets out onto the street. So, the whole idea of doing it in the middle of the night, bring the dumpsters to the trash compactor and bringing them back allows
us to keep everything nice and tidy, and that's super important to me. >> You ask about the electric also. >> Oh, the electric as well. We are consolidating, I've been working, literally been working with FPNL for over a year now to consolidate the five four or five transformers into one
transformer. um in in more contemporary power and that's all being relocated over into um the east side building. You can see there's a little uh FPNL vault area. Uh so everything to me is hidden and tidy. Again, this is another street
front as opposed to a back of a building. Super important. >> I mean I I love it. I'm I'm just interested how you execute it. I mean it's great. And these are each individ are these all separate folios the addresses? Uh there is one folio for uh
this property. >> Okay. >> There's one folio. Uh there is a uh the corner building which is not part of the application. There is a covenant uh between the two properties so that they can share uh areas that was put in place several years ago. >> Interesting. And then and then just one
last question for staff I suppose. >> So really it's the demo of the via that we're considering. the demo as well as the changes of the design um for the front along Lincoln Road and Lincoln Lane North.
>> Yeah. So, as it relates to the uh the retail space is really literally just the removal of a storefront and the removal of the back wall and the via starts at 15 ft and as Jackie said it rises up to 20 feet. So, it actually is constantly providing that sense of discovery. Um you know what was
interesting as we went through um you know with the contractor we started looking at these facads we were able to um really dig deeper into the existing facade and you know in an in a nod towards the preservation. We came up
with a slightly different or modified proposal to really um accept more uh preservation. >> Um so we sort of like where we're going with that. Um, it really keeps and maintains a lot of that facade which was
otherwise being reconfigured and modified with travertine. >> And I guess can you go to page 2.11? >> I don't know that I have the whole deck just be for Sorry. What was it? >> That's it's this.
>> Oh, that one. >> That one. >> Ah, yeah. There you go. Yeah. So that's the Dade County Pine you're exposing on the underside of that. I didn't So it's >> I actually I didn't realize that the VIA was was covered. I thought it was going to be open, but that's great.
>> And we love the idea that you're kind of uncovering the history a little bit. It's the one moment you get to see that um exposed. >> This front end, we're going to redo it because it when we build the roof, the structure of that's going to be new, but the back is going to be exposed.
So >> could could you maybe show the like the most clear like before and after what is happening with the storefronts? Actually, I've seen them before, but >> so uh this is before >> before. >> Okay. And you can see the bulkhead uh is quite low.
>> And and what I what if you just have it in your mind for a second and we look at at the at the uh at the historic photo that we have, you can see that the proportion to our, you know, when we overlaid it, it looked like there was at one point less >> bulkhead. Mhm.
>> And [clears throat] it's very telling again that all of those improvements happened from 41 to 46. This was wartime era shortages. Uh, you know, people were were lowering their storefront, not necessarily for a design standpoint. But, you know, it's a hard thing and we
understand, but how far back in time do you go? >> Yeah. >> And so, we're trying to be find that balance with this project. That's why we brought this preservation option to you of we actually are good with that that Krenice. We think it's kind of it's nice and it's in good shape. with we did restore the 800 building. We did the same kind of forensics there
>> and the contractor wanted to get rid of the panels and we told him no, let let's actually let's try to see if we can keep them. We don't like to do that unless we're certain, but uh we we have done some demo. We do feel good about it and the cornice is in good shape. And I told Michael we could do it in stone, but it's never going to be, you know,
precisely the same thing. And you know, so it it really is for you guys. We're happy with our original design, obviously, but we we thought we'd bring >> that option. Yeah. Yeah. And and the cornice when I you know we we were taking pictures and and and doing this testing and so on and Jackie sent me a picture of the cornice and I'm like that
cornice is really beautiful. Yeah. >> Let's see if we can actually save that cornice. And as we kept going further and further we're like you know what we can really keep most of this and just modify the lower portion of it and restore it. And um so it's an option for
you guys. uh you know it wasn't we didn't have a chance to give it to Michael because it was really just in the last week we had that >> option it was more preservation that less so we felt like we were >> that's great thank you for doing that can we see what you're >> proposing I know I don't think you have a rendering of it but I think you have a drawing
>> I do have the rendering of it um >> of the proposed preservation we did render it yeah so you can see it um sorry there's a lot of slides okay so that was kind of the pattern And then this is this is the rendering. So
it keeps keeps >> I believe we have >> uh so you can see the proportions are we we've lost the the the little package I sent you. We lose the the bottom horizontal so we'll have to replace that but we think we can do it because it's pre-cast cement and we've been
successful in doing restorations for pan coast buildings etc and pre-cast cement. So we we think we can match it and that and that keeps everything above the horizontal band >> original except for the vianoli little intervent the intervention that we're doing there and raising the ceiling of
the last bay which again that ceiling for some reason had a 20 foot high ceiling which it would be really for a great retailer would be you know something very attractive for them so we wanted to keep it. >> So there's a remind me one more time about the niwal it's like a 6 in. Yeah,
we have 12. They would like six. >> No, we would I'm sorry. We would like six. >> Sorry, reverse. [laughter] >> 12. And you know, just just to touch on that for a moment. The you know, knee walls are vary over time as do storefronts, as do retailing in the way
that retailers actually merchandise. said, you know, for us, we we like not to have no knee wall because we do want to have a smaller knee wall, it could adjust for great changes as well as provide for sustainability. >> Um, but also it, you know, when a
retailer is showing a mannequin or a person dressed in the clothing in the store, they like them to stand at the same elevation and be able to look at them in in the eyes. is very much more contemporary than the old days when they had the elevated um the elevated
platforms and you're sitting there looking at the person's legs because everybody's up here. So, you know, this is just a contemporary way of dealing with these retail elements. >> Ray, >> um first off, I want to thank you for the opportunity of walking the property
with you. Um, the only thing that I've been thinking about all of this time, you are basically stripping everything back and rebuilding. Why didn't you take into consideration sea level rise? It has been a it has been a topic of
discussion and something that we need to work with. Lincoln Road has a a built elevation that we have to match. It's very hard for us to take that elevation and, you know, raise the whole ground floor and then we have to meet in in the rear. But maybe Jackie
>> Yeah. I I just want to say they they're investing in a substantial amount of improving the drainage of Lincoln Lane. So that's that's good. And in our opinion, the best and high thing we could do is add more trees, add more shade. The trees absorb water and they hold it and they release it slowly. So in in in in a unison, when you have a
group of them, it can do some real good. planting and vegetation, you know, the height of Lincoln Road is set, but you know, but the storefronts being higher actually help us because with the storefronts being lower, you really have no place to go. You know, in the future if that needs to lift, you know, we
cannot have a storefront that's that that's 7 foot6 and rising. So, a higher storefront is thinking about that. In the future, if we need to raise that, you know, that that slab, we we have a little bit of a buffer to work with. So, it in fact it it is something we think about quite a lot. Just when you were spending all that money, I'm thinking
gee, [laughter] >> but we can't build for tomorrow at wrong at the wrong height, but we can think about what it's going to be and definitely it's going higher. So >> any other questions? Go ahead. >> So just just occurred to me now. So if
the idea would be maybe in the future raising the floor if needed, then having a new wall may be helpful for the future. So, I don't have a mean um a preference over the higher the lower new wall, but if you're trying to include some resilience into the the the tenant
space, >> definitely slab that needs to go. So, it would be a rebuild anyway. >> Yeah. >> Um so, I just have one question. What's the width and the length of the Vanoli? >> It's 17t wide by 100t deep. Exactly like
that long skinny retail space that we >> Okay. Yeah, cuz I didn't find it. >> Exactly. Right through that space. >> All right. Thanks. >> Any other questions for the applicant? >> No. Okay. Um,
go ahead, Mitch. The original, what was it? 1925 August Geer structure. Uh, Michael, I know you've done extraordinary uh, preservation work where you've taken
what was non-existent uh, other than in uh, photographic uh, documentation and returned it. Have you considered that uh, in this case? [snorts] >> You know, we consider we consider all
aspects of it. Yeah. uh that building was so severely modified and was not not a great example of what we were looking to achieve um as as an alternative or as opposed to the building at 744 Lincoln
Road which was I checked it was a Russell Pankos building built in 1935 you know there we were able to find some great documentation and actually restore a lot of those details we are actually going to be doing that to another building uh at 801 Lincoln road which will be you know over the next several
months be coming uh to HPB for u for review but the um you know to me that just it just wasn't there with that building and the existing structure wasn't there for that >> yeah but we did look at the proportions and and that that that moment that we
found and so there's not there that grainy photograph was this big and we blew it up for you but that that's really all we have >> I I also uh did didn't note in historic resources report a building August Sker did uh was uh the old call
Fisher office building >> uh which uh we all remember [clears throat] uh the the painstaking effort uh Mark Sawyer and >> which the actually the renovation in the 40s also Guyer did this the present so
it's it is still Guyger yeah you know >> okay >> so if you want to know what Geer would have done he kind of did it but Yeah, >> thanks. >> Do we have any further questions for the applicant? Okay. Uh, board disclosures.
>> I love your >> Okay. So, um, I took a tour with RSI visit with the applicant. >> They invited me. I couldn't I couldn't make it, but >> same. >> Okay. So, public hearing. Do we have anybody on Zoom? I know we've
got some people in the audience. >> There's nobody online with their hand raised on Zoom. >> Okay. So, if you're on Zoom, raise your hand. Otherwise, we'll take uh speakers from the audience. >> And Elizabeth's just confirming that that was a disclosure. >> Yes, I mentioned that the I was invited
to far and I could not attend. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Good morning again. Uh Meust, executive director of the Miami Design Preservation League. We strongly support this propo the proposed development at 719-37 Lincoln Road. This project represents a thoughtful and
sophisticated addition to Lincoln Road, demonstrating a clear commitment to highquality design, placemaking, and the continued evolution of one of Miami Beach's most important civic and commercial corridors. We commend the design team for its attention to architectural detail and the materiality, as well as its careful consideration of the pedestrian
experience. The project successfully balances contemporary design with sensitivity to its surroundings, creating buildings that feel both distinctive and appropriately integrated into the character of Lincoln Road. Particularly noteworthy are three elements of the proposal. The courtyard space on Lincoln Lane, the breezeway,
now the the villa, and the landscaping plan. The courtyard will activate and beautify a space on a street that has largely been treated as an alley, bringing life and vitality to an underused public thorough affair. The breezeway is an enticing visual and practical element that will draw pedestrians through the building to the
courtyard and offer access to additional shops on the interior. The project's landscape strategy incorporates abundant greenery and thoughtfully designed outdoor spaces that enhance the public realm, soften the building's presence, and contribute to the walkability and vibrancy that have long defined Lincoln Road. The landscaping is not really
decorative, but serves as an integral component of the overall design vision. The project demonstrates an understanding that great urban places are created through the combination of architecture, streetscape, and public experience. By investing in these elements, the proposal elevates the quality of the corridor while reinforcing Lincoln Road's role as one
of Miami Beach's premier pedestrian destinations. MDPL appreciates the applicant's vision and attention to detail and believes this proposal will make a positive contribution to Lincoln Road and the broader Miami Beach community. Good morning board and good morning staff. Annabelle Yopis, executive
director for the Lincoln Road Business Improvement District. To say that the board is behind this is an understatement. Um I think Michael when he referred to that quote could hit it on on the mark. Uh Lincoln Road is at its tipping point and this development
really takes us over to the positive side to the next evolution of Lincoln Road. It is such a thoughtful and curated development to consider not just the historic side but also the commercial side and also the local side. The fact that he's really thinking about
bringing more local um mom and pop unique uh retail is really what defined link for so many years and I think this is really going to add that layer to it. Also, making the storefronts brighter and the
glass bigger, it really, really enhances the consumer experience. I know sometimes you're walking on Lincoln Road and the stores are open, but you have no idea. They're dark. Um, this will add a brightness to it and and a more engagement with that business aspect. We
love the via component of connecting Lincoln Road with Lincoln Lane North. Um, you know, they're building the Pedell Court on the garage. This is going to add another layer of the enhancement to that service and amenity that Linger Road District is getting.
And then of course the P patio um area that they're doing with all the lush trees and all that. It really will create a place where the locals can come and really just hang out and enjoy Lincoln Road at a whole another level. So we are happy to be supporting this
project and we can't wait for it to be done. Thank you. Do we have anybody else in chambers? >> We do have a caller online now as well. >> Okay, go ahead. >> Um, caller, the phone number ends in 5600. >> Hello.
>> Hello. Uh, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> Yes. >> Thank you. You have two minutes. Please state your name and address. >> Uh, my name is Christina Vega. Address is 65 Washington. and I'm the founder of
cyber money laundering in real estate investigations corp. I am here to formally object the application because it displays due to fraud. Our forensic audit shows multiple instances of fraud and forgery
based on Miami Beach city code section 118- 32 application requirements. Only the fee symbol owner has the legal standing to file a land use application. Bartel 023234
0007 0490 is owned by Mark MAC 719 LR LLC as it is shown on the Miami date county
property appraiser portal. However, the application documents including the city's memorandum shows completely different entities. MAC 723 LL LLC and another one is MAC 723
LLC. Next, we formally challenge the letter of support from Lion Development. Public records confirm that the neighbor writing this support letter is likely the beneficial owner of the applicant itself. If Michael Simpkins from Lion Development signed a letter of support
for this project while legally holding an interest in the neighboring 720 link road, it proves that support is coming from the inside of a transaction, not from the neutral neighbor. Please take notice that cyber money laundering in
real estate investigation court has formally executed an IRS criminal investigation referral via form 3949 due to systemic property tax refund money laundering which totals in amount of $1.5 million. We also want to confirm is
that development entity is going to pursue tax credit for federal historic preservation. Thank you. >> Thank you. Does the applicant are we is there anyone else on Zoom? >> No. >> Okay. Does the applicant have any rebuttal to
>> to the last caller? Interesting way to market herself, but no, we have no uh rebuttal for that silliness, but there are two conditions that we'd like to modify in part of a motion to approve. The first would be to modify the condition asking for 12 in. We'd like to
reduce that to 6 in. And then as uh Jackie and Michael have described what I would refer to as exhibit A that was passed out to you all. It's the revised elevation that shows a greater retention of the contributing building facade on Lincoln Road. So the order could reference that. Those two changes would
be a big help, Madam Chair. >> Okay. Thank you. So the 6 in they would [clears throat] they would prefer a 6-in new wall versus 12 and then they want to use the retention of the front facade as opposed to or clarity I guess from the from the board.
>> Right. So the >> I don't understand what you >> the plan pages that were passed out. >> There's a lot of them. Yeah. Which one? >> Collectively they're called exhibit A. >> Collectively >> and they they collectively show a greater retention of the contributing building facade.
Do you want to show? >> So, if we're looking at the two boards in front of us, >> thank you. >> Right. And then the one on the right would have been the original. >> Perfect. That's what I I just wanted to make sure. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> You want to do this, not this, >> correct? >> This >> That's more restorative on the on the left. They want to do the more restorative nature. >> More restorative. They want they want to restore more more to what was original versus make a modification. So >> we're supportive of that. >> Yeah. This is the modifications.
>> Yeah. So the left >> and the pink you said is the >> that's that fluting that. >> There we go. >> Could we put Okay. >> So this is the preservation option on our left and on the
>> same height and the original. >> Okay. Cool. All right. Thank you. >> Great. >> That's all, Madam Chair. >> Thank you. Okay. So, that closes our public hearing. So, if we have uh board
commentary, I'll start with Ray. Do you have any additional commentary, >> Mitch? >> Nick, >> I mean, I >> You said you were going to save your commentary. >> Yes. For [laughter] the commentary session. >> No. No, I think it's I I mean it's been
said by many people. I think that this will be like an amazing project for the neighborhood. I applaud your efforts and and the initiative. I I will just say that we you know we I think last month we had an application where we're like just focusing on the knee wall and it's
easy to kind of lose sight of the knee wall and complexity of this overall development. So I don't you know it's hard to see how a new wall affects uh me a matter of inches. I I don't know um how strongly staff feels about that. >> I think it just it just offers more of a
like um sunny day flooding protection because we were seeing more and more of that. So having a little bit higher knee wall, we have more protection for the interior of the store. But I do understand that these are very very valuable properties and that you know when when it's when needed that slap will be removed and the elevation rate.
So I don't object to what they're proposing. It just may provide some more protection in the short term if that less is a little bit higher. But I also understand and thank you Michael for giving me this information on the um somebody standing looking at the um the um the mannequin having the same the same level. I can understand the
importance of that as well. >> And presumably you would they would have to deploy flood pan panels or something for that. >> The problem with that is nobody can like I've never seen flood plan deployed on an actual flooding event because typically the flooding happens outside of a hurricane versus when a hurricane is here.
>> Yeah. Elizabeth, do you have any commentary? >> No, I don't have anything to add. I just thank you so much for the presentation. I appreciate the effort in restoring that part of Lincoln Road being a residence of Miami Beach for 30 years or
so. Um, I really appreciate the comeback of the street and the activity that used to be there and it got lost through time. Um, yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, you know, my commentary will echo. Do you have comments? Okay. So my
commentary just to wrap it up will echo a lot of what has already been said here. Um you know the combination of the preservation um with the adaptive reuse in this space and trying to revitalize this commercial district that you know
admittedly needs some of that revitalization. Um, and you know, I I oftent times will take our applicants up on meeting with them, but understanding a little bit more on the commercial aspect of it and understanding these smaller storefronts and the need for
that as opposed to 13t wide or 17t wide and 150 deep. You know, that's something that I don't think the average everyday citizen thinks about when they're walking down Lincoln Road. They don't think about the amount of space that a retailer has to fill in order to rent
one of these spaces that exist as they are now. Um, and you know, I'm admittedly a sucker for trees. I live on Meridian Avenue and there's a very good reason for that. um and you know the trees that line Meridian Avenue that are now going to be brought you know with
the renovations that the city's doing um at Meridian and Lincoln and how that's going to tie into what I what I see as a very ambitious project that um you've undertaken here um I think will be a boon for the city um and I like the idea
of bringing the residents back to Lincoln Road. Um, you know, I'm there somewhat regularly. Um, but admittedly, you know, our residents are drawn elsewhere. And creating something like this for residents to come to, I think, is a is is um deserves um the
[clears throat] uh accolades that I that I think you're going to see from from us and the support that this board, I think, is ready to offer. So, with that, I'll entertain a motion. If anybody has one, >> I'll make a motion to approve uh incorporating our comments on the uh for
the 6 in 6 in knee wall as per uh uh the applicant's desire and the uh preservation option as presented on the board. >> Okay, I'll second the motion. Second.
>> Oh, we have a first and two seconds. So, >> Mr. Myer second the motion. Um, all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion passes six to zero. Congratulations. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you everybody. >> Congratulations, Michael. Uh, I I comrades, I I anticipate your uh rearing
to get going. When do you anticipate uh breaking ground and completion? >> Oh, yeah. No, we're uh we're ready to go. I I'm hoping that the Lincoln Road portion will be done by end of the year, first quarter of next year. >> Wow. >> So, this is a now project. All right.
Best of luck. >> Thank you all. Appreciate it. >> So, the next item on our agenda is our our last item, the discussion item, which is um the railing design guidelines for non-contributing stroke buildings. And our next plan director, Debbie Tacket, is going to present this
item. >> Um, thank you, Michael. Thank you for the introduction. It's so great to be um in front of the historic preservation board again. Um, the reason why I'm here is because, and I think some of you may remember, um, in 2024,
uh, the mayor and the city commission established what was uh, the historic preservation ordinance review ad hoc committee. This was a committee that was established to uh review the existing historic preservation ordinance and make
recommendations in terms of improving uh the review process and streamlining some of the uh sections of the ordinance that hadn't really been comprehensively looked at since it was um initially created in the in the 1980s.
Um with that um the uh final report of the ad hoc committee was presented to this board in um 2025. Uh it was also presented to the mayor and city commission. What came out of that were several uh ordinance amendments. Could
you guys keep it down please? Um were several different ordinances. One portion of that uh of those ordinance modifications that were adopted was administrative review in terms of expanding some of the things that staff could review and improve
administratively. Um during the discussion with the committee as well as the discussions with this board and the mayor and city commission was railings, right? Railings have been a hot topic in the historic districts for quite some
time, for at least as long as I've been here. So, um, primarily because most the vast majority of all railings, whether they're historic or not, if you installed your railings prior to say 1985,
they're likely not going to meet the current fire, life, safety, and building code requirements. Um that is primarily um there's two things that we see time and time again that these railings don't meet which is the required 42-in height
as well as the maximum of the 4 in rejection. So the maximum spacing in such railings uh cannot exceed uh the 4 in. So, we're seeing more and more one of the more recent concerns
um of I know pre this historic preservation board has been involved in these discussions, the ad hoc committee and staff quite frankly is um the updated building certification uh process which
is now um quite robust and is causing some of our older condominiums um you know a lot of stress in terms of financial stress um on these these issues that come up during the building
reertification. So it's a 40-year reertification and then every 10 years the building is required to be resertified again. Um, one of the biggest hardships that we've seen, uh, especially for these non-contributing buildings. This item is only for non-contributing buildings is the
railings in terms of, um, you know, you'll see a lot of between 1965 and say 1980, a lot of these, you know, very heavy uh, concrete railings because that was the style of the day. um are actually causing not only the railings
themselves to fail, but also the slabs that a lot of these railings are attached to fail. Um if we could pull up the actual guidelines and and I want to thank I'm going to go right into the guidelines now. Um but I want to thank uh Jazelle and Michael for all of the work that they um while I'm presenting
it. I'm presenting it because I, you know, started from the beginning of this this ad hoc ordinance review committee, but Michael and Jazelle really did a beautiful job putting these um design guidelines together. So, this is only for uh contributing buildings and I
think let's see if I can figure this out. Um so, we the statement of the problem which is what I was um speaking of before is the building reertifications that we've seen. We've seen um a non-contributing building requiring, you know, if they're not
going to Let's see. All of the photographs didn't show up, but if you look at page five in your um in your package, you can see a lot of these um are typical of what we have um existing, but they're also um if you look at the
next page, things that have come before this historic preservation board that the board has approved. Um so the board has approved on the on page six you'll see a project that was approved by the board and on page seven you see two projects that was actually reviewed and approved by this board. These are all
non-contributing buildings and they came to the planning department you know very distressed. These are primarily um attainable andor affordable workforce housing. A lot of these buildings do contain a significant um elderly
population. um people who have owned these condo units really since um you know since the 70s and 80s in my experience um and they are really suffering in terms of what we can approve administratively. So regardless of a contributing or non-contributing
status staff has um previously had the same rule, right? Regardless if it was built in 1980, you would need to replicate the previously, you know, original designed railings. um which that you know is a safe fail
and a safeguard for contributing buildings that we want to see their character um to the greatest extent possible preserved. But for non-contributing buildings, it was really just causing a significant hardship not only um with the property owners but you know with the building
department trying to resertify these buildings. What we saw with some of them, cuz some of the buildings did end up going through trying to replicate, is that would result in actually these slabs that the railings are attached to having to be ripped off or significantly
cut back um so that it would reduce the area of their balconies. And it was kind of a a snowball effect on on a lot of these property owners. And moving forward, um, you know, we support the ad hoc committee's recommendation, um, to
allow staff to really approve for non-contributing buildings only, um, various alternative types of railings that don't necessarily match the existing design of the railings. um they could match, you know, and we certainly
if they have a cool existing railing design, we would certainly, you know, use the criteria and use these guidelines to encourage that, but we could also approve, you know, alternate type of uh railings. Another interesting fact is that a lot of when these buildings were built, a lot of these
masonry railings, I'm trying to see if we have any more photographs. I think you're going to have to refer to your package and if anyone's watching online, you can refer to the attachment on the agenda. Um, but a lot of these masonry railings were offtheshelf railings. They
were not custom railings. Um, it was just kind of okay, you picked what you wanted out of a catalog. Um, which is how we see, you know, vertical pickets and horizontal pickets and cable railings today. They're standard railings that you can buy. Unfortunately, the masonry railings are
no longer standard railings that you can buy off the shelf that they would all have to be, you know, very custom custom made and it is causing um not only stress for for the the um residents of the building, but also for staff in this
board. They do have to unnecessarily review a lot of these um relatively minor changes to non-contributing buildings. So, with that, um, we are asking the board to issue a favorable recommendation to the mayor and city commission. Um, ultimately, it's it's
the duty of the mayor and city commission to adopt the design guidelines. Um, but we would like a favorable recommendation from this board and I'm I'm certain that the city commission would also u like to hear uh your comments.
>> Nick, did you have a comment? >> I have a disclosure. I'm a railinger railing buff. >> [laughter] >> I love handrails. Uh so so okay so in a nutshell so this is for administrative review of
railing replacements. So you wouldn't need correct uh >> would that be like a standalone sub permit? >> It' be a permit part of their concrete restoration or part of their balcony replacements. Um we review it like right now we review it as part of that um a
CFA either administratively or at the board level. In this case, this allows us at staff level to approve this replacement that doesn't match the original railing design. Now, of course, if the building is contributing with which they'll make sure that they um more closely match the original railings, but it could be different materials and lighter weight.
>> So, my understanding is this administrative approval is strictly for non-contributing. Correct. Correct. Yes. Correct. >> And then if contributing then most likely they would end up or they would end up here. >> Well, for if somebody wanted to match the original railings with different materials that could be done administratively. they want to change
the design they would have to come back here for contributing buildings >> or if they have to change the design and don't want I mean sometimes you have to right >> but our our current guidelines for contributing buildings allow some administrative review of minor
modifications to meet that 30 the 42 in and the 4 in rejection. So, we are I mean, if someone has an existing railing that structurally is fine, but they don't meet that that 4-in rejection or the height, sometimes, and this is I mean, this is the best case scenario,
those existing railings can just be modified to meet those requirements by either putting a top rail above the 36 in, cuz they're usually at 36 in, or putting intermediate um, you know,
pieces in to to meet that 4 in requirement. Go ahead, >> Debbie. I have a question. Why on section 4.3 on page 8 um it says design shall not directly replicate or closely imitate railing details of a contributing building. Why is that?
>> That was sorry that was um let me see >> within the same historic district >> that was that was supposed to be crossed out. We meant to replace that with what's indicated on the next page which is I'm talking more about materials not using you know um low quality materials.
So that was like an earlier draft that I did not strike up from that position but I was stricken out from the prohibited element. So >> So I'll correct that for the for the >> third bullet of 4.3 should be stricken. >> Correct. >> Okay. And I was going to ask, I mean, staff, would you ever I mean, would you
ever reject a railing design based on aesthetics as long as it met these typologies? Like would there I think if there was a a conflicting let's say had multiple um if they were leaving some portions and not others, if there was a the new railing conflicted while it was there, that may
be a reason for us to um require different railing design. But I think generally >> these this this variety will fit any sort of building within this era. that's classified as not contributing. We left it more open just in case. I have seen cases where you have a mixture of of um
concrete railings on the building and having more more, you know, adding to that could be a problem. So, >> okay. Yeah, I think this seems smart and very logical. Yeah. >> And I don't know if you'll remember, I
know 1150 ended up coming before us when we were in the convention center. Did that have to do with the railings? Was that the reason this happened? like some they were doing something that was all administratively approved and then they end up having to come to us for something. >> Yeah, that was the railings. We did the
railings. I don't I don't think necessarily that was what tipped us in terms of the recommendation that we be able to have expanded administrative authority. From my experience, it's it's really these build building reertifications.
>> Yeah. I mean that's what when we started seeing more and more of these primarily again late60s 1970s buildings that that were just not passing primarily because of their that weight and the slabs of their railings >> and and to me I guess to me the reason I
just remember the building and I know people live and I told Nick they're now a client of mine cuz my tennis instructor lives there but neither here nor there. Um, but I remember that they weren't expecting to come before us and then they were kind of midway through things and ended up
having to come before the historic preservation board. And I think the railings had something to do with it. Um, they're coming before us. And I remember thinking that that's a lot that's a that's a heavy lift for a non-contributing building to to have to come in kind of late in the stage or like late in the
game when you're trying to get this done. What we've seen too um and you know maybe this this type of thing cannot be avoided but we've seen is you have a general contractor on site and that general contractor is trying to chip away and fix the spalling um of
these balcony slabs and the railings and overnight it seems um you know they're just ripping things off the building. they're ripping a whole side of railings off the building thinking, well, they were, you know, the concrete was failing and we had to replace it anyways. And we
did see a couple of those condominiums, again, non-contributing buildings, you know, have to basically put their entire resertification on hold because they had to go through this this board review cycle instead of just being able to be reviewed administratively. >> Okay. Thank you.
Yeah, I remember there was a um one older building that they had taken off the the cement railing and and the contractor already ordered all the metal railings and and uh the homeowners were here saying like what can we do and we we allowed it
>> to be that way. I'm sure a lot of this has happened because of that. Um but what I also want to know you're talking about non-cont what about the contributing buildings? So, the contributing buildings we did um as part of the ad hoc ordinance, we did
um and the commission, this board reviewed and the commission adopted an amendment that basically allows staff to review uh replacement of contributing railings for a contributing structure as long as
they closely resemble the original historic design. So, what does that mean? That means if you cuz we do have myo buildings, right, that do have some of these breeze block beautiful breeze block railings um that are contributing. Basically, that would allow us to
approve a very similar design but perhaps with a different material. Um maybe there are, you know, it's an aluminum uh system that replicates the ex the same pattern that's existing. Um, so we currently have the authority to
have minor modifications to railings of contributing buildings, but it wouldn't go as far as this current set of guidelines does. Um, which would allow, you know, completely different designed railings because a lot of these railings on on our historic buildings are
character-defining features. And I think, you know, while staff is perfectly capable of of, you know, making sure that the character is retained, I I I think it doesn't make much sense because we would be sending those to the board anyways. You know, we would say, "No, you're ripping off these
beautiful, you know, decorative railings and you're just putting vertical pickets." We wouldn't be able to do that administratively because of our certificate of appropriateness review criteria. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> I just have one quick comment on page
three on the last two images that shows the metal the metal pickup. It says shows like a vertical one and then shows a horizontal next to it. And um so I know that several municipalities do not allow horizontal
railings because kids can climb as if it were a stair and fall from the to the other side. So, I just would be a little bit careful suggesting that that could be used. >> Okay. Very good. >> Oh, do we have that? We don't have that
restriction in the beach, do we? >> No, we don't. I mean, I've seen lots of new railings to horizontal. >> Yeah. So, I know I know because I have encountered this problem in the past and I I and I think it's a real problem, right? I've seen cases where I know back before I um worked for the city, I
worked for an architecture firm and and you things you can do by having like a a at the at the base like a angled um um like a low wall or um curb and then even angling those um horizontal railings inward or outward so it's not easily climbable. Little things like that.
Yeah. >> No, I mean of course there's a waste of avoid but I just want to bring it up because the last thing you want now it's kid falling from balconies, right? wouldn't strike horizontal. Maybe have like a provision regarding um extra review for safety or something regarding
that and our recommendation to allow horizontal railings. >> Do we have any further commentary? >> Do you want to take public comment on it? >> If we have any >> if we any public commentary? We have no public commentary from
>> there's there's nobody online with their hand raised. >> Okay. So playing is looking for a motion from >> a recommendation to the mayor city commission. We are planning on bringing this to the July um commission. >> Okay. Would anybody like to
>> I would make a motion to move it forward. >> Yeah. No, >> I'm sorry Deborah but one more question. So the little drawings that we have on page three, they are suggested options for building owners. It's like they can come, it's like the manual of options. They say, "Oh,
>> yeah. I mean, these are somewhat diagrammatic. They're not exactly how they were they would be." Um, I think that is one thing that Michael and I talked about is maybe getting a little bit more detailed, one or two drawings that are more technical, which I think
we can do um for the commission. I think that would be very helpful especially for buildings that uh the owners they are not um workforce that they don't have like a lot of uh reserves and so they can come more prepared and they hire hire a
contractor to replace and then they have already something uh pre-existing or pre um a sample to show >> typical detail >> right to avoid problems in the future of being >> I agree I think that would be much more helpful for for building owners >> we can take a look at permits and get
some typical details and include that as well. >> You're also missing the existing types. I mean, all the like the kind of MIMO. >> Yeah, there's all sorts of existing >> railings. >> I mean, but some of the more um unique ones are ones that are typically going to be on contributing buildings. >> Yeah. >> And that we don't want to see replaced
with alternate designs. >> So, >> this Yeah, this was we couldn't um be exhaustive in terms of our um types. It's sort of just like these are typical um you know, railings that we have in the district. So, I think we have a motion. Do we have a second?
>> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Right. >> Was that a question or an I? [laughter] >> Great. >> Well, that that concludes our agenda for >> Thank you very much.
>> All right. So, I see you then. We are >> We're adjourned. Okay.