Miami Beach is entertaining a lawsuit over a state law that gives the city zero control over the partial demolition and redevelopment of a pair of historic beachfront hotels.
Officials are floating the possibility of a legal showdown against the state and possibly others, amid a broader uproar in Miami Beach over an onslaught of applications filed under Florida laws that loosen regulations for developers and give the city little-to-no say on projects.
The latest flashpoint is New York-based Allied Partners’ proposal to redevelop the Savoy and Arlington hotels in the South of Fifth neighborhood, under Florida’s Resiliency and Safe Structures Act, which allows for the demolition of aging coastal buildings that run afoul of flood protection standards.
Allied, led by Eric Hadar, proposes a 38-story tower with hotel rooms, 90 condo units and 60 workforce rental apartments. The Savoy, completed in 1937, will be partly preserved, and the Arlington, finished in 1941, will be completely demolished. The Savoy is at 425 Ocean Drive, and the Arlington at 445 Ocean Drive.
Commissioners are expected to vote on Nov. 18 on a resolution for the city to sue over the resiliency act. Also on the agenda is an item urging the state to repeal the act altogether.
The measure calling for legal action doesn’t specify whom a lawsuit would target, but the resolution’s sponsor, Vice Mayor Alex Fernandez, said there could be several defendants, likely including the state.
“The city attorney has found there is a legal basis to challenge the demolition of architecturally significant and contributing buildings that have these designations under the rights that have been afforded to us by federal laws,” he said.
The resiliency act provides an exception for buildings in historic districts recognized by the National Register of Historic Places prior to 2000.
But that still leaves many of the properties in South of Fifth exposed to demolition, preservationists have said, even though the buildings are listed as contributing structures to city-recognized historic districts.
The Savoy and Arlington, which are examples of Art Deco and Classical Revival architecture, contribute to the city’s Ocean Beach Local Historic District, which is recognized by the National Park Service, the resolution says.
The proposed resolution also invokes a state law on home rule, or municipalities’ right to govern themselves. It says the resiliency act impairs the city’s ability to oversee its historic preservation as mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act.
Allied, which didn’t immediately return a request for comment, is tapping another controversial state law for its proposal: the Live Local Act, which allows bigger buildings if 40 percent of units are for households earning no more than 120 percent of the area median income. The developer is using Live Local for the project’s 38-story height.
Miami Beach commissioners already have approved a slew of measures targeting Live Local, including directing the city attorney to explore legal challenges to the law. The items, which passed last month, support Mayor Steven Meiner’s effort to coordinate with localities to lobby against the act, urge the state to repeal or amend the act, and direct city staff to alert commissioners when Live Local Act applications are filed.
Among the act’s perks for developers is that it allows them to bypass public hearings and obtain administrative approvals.
Opponents to some Live Local projects argue the act has become a tool for developers to build bigger in low- and mid-rise districts and target the luxury buyer with boutique condo buildings that provide few affordable or workforce units.
The city’s pushback has yielded some results. Last month, developer Russell Galbut pulled the plug on three Live Local projects for nearly 400 units, combined. The decision appears to have come after discussions with Fernandez and Miami-Dade County Commissioner Vicki Lopez, the principal architect and former sponsor of Live Local in the Florida Legislature, who has said the law needs reforms.
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