It’s been 16 months since the old downtown theater in Miami Springs began the demolition process to make way for a denser downtown development that features Fifty-One (51) residential apartments in the heart of our downtown commercial district. (Because it’s better to add more rental apartments instead of job producing offices in the heart of our commercial district…cough cough.)
Well, after 16 months, the project appears to finally begin getting cleaned up. As you can see below, heavy equipment was in place to clean up the piles of dirt and debris that has been sitting on the empty lot for over a year.
The City of Miami Springs promises (again) that this project will begin to move forward. The City also stated that Canal Street will be closed again as the project converts the parallel street parking spots into angled street parking, rebuilds the sidewalks, and adds underground wiring.
The Downtown Development Project was approved by the City Council in April of 2019. (Yeah, that was two years ago.) The vote passed in a 4 to 1 vote with the new mayor, Maria Mitchell, being the only dissenting vote.
PROPERTY FACTS:
- LOT SIZE
- Total lot size = 48,475 sq ft
- Ground Floor Retail = 23,500 sq ft
- Total Building Sq Ft = 98,348 sq ft
- APARTMENTS
- Total number of Apartments = 51
- Total number of Residential Parking = 70
- That 1.37 parking spaces per apartment
- RETAIL
- Total number of Retail Units = 15
- Total number of Retail Parking = 28
- 1.86 Parking Spots / Retail Unit
- That’s less than 1 spot for one customer and 1 employee per retail unit
QUESTIONS
Do you think our downtown needed more residential or more offices to attract jobs, employment, and people with money to spend at our retail outlets during lunch and/or after work?
Do you think there will be more crime and vehicle break-ins on cars along canal street that will be parked there overnight? (There’s no way 70 parking spots is sufficient for 51 apartments.)
Do you think this project met the Pueblo Revival look to get the extra credits needed for the project to be approved?
Do you think this project will improve, deteriorate, or have no impact on the quality of life of most residents?
Share your thoughts in the comments below or via social media.
