Last week, the Miami Beach City Commission granted the affiliate of locally based East Coastline Investors Inc., a company controlled by the flamboyant real estate investor Thomas Bernhard Kramer, permission to present the proposal at an Oct. 17 public hearing.

The Kramer affiliate wants to amend regulations in the city's master land-use plan that govern an unplatted waterfront property known as the Alaska Parcel at 50 S. Washington Ave.

It seeks a rezoning classification to commercial-intensive mixed-use from low-density marine-recreation.

In its application, the Kramer affiliate proposes the development of an eight-story residential tower, a three-story townhouse structure and a five-story parking garage on a site that abuts the city-owned South Pointe Park.

Earlier this month, the commission-appointed members of the Miami Beach Planning Board unanimously rejected the proposal as inconsistent with the city's master land-use plan.

They also denied a request to change the floor area ratio to 2.50 for commercial-intensive mixed-use from the current FAR of 0.25 for marine-recreation use.

"By changing the zoning category…the potential for transfer of development rights would create a development much greater than what is allowed in the underlying regulations for the existing land-use designation," says City Manager Jorge M. Gonzalez in a memo distributed to city commissioners.

Located on the southernmost tip of Miami Beach, the Alaska parcel originally belonged to the federal government, according to city records.

In the early 1900s, the government took ownership as part of the dredging activities that created what is known as Government Cut, a waterway that links the Atlantic Ocean with mainland Miami-Dade County.

Years later the federal government deeded a large portion of that land to the city for public park purposes and the 3.4-acre parcel to a company involved in development of the Alaskan Pipeline.

In the early 1970s, the city assigned the marine-recreation zoning classification as part of an effort to create a tourist-oriented neighborhood.

The Kramer-affiliated company acquired the property in 1994 for $6 million, or about $1.76 million per acre or $40.51 per sf, according to Miami-Dade County property records.

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Opposition Mounts for Mixed-Use Project on Prime South Beach Site

Related Stories

Recommended For You