More Details on the Theater Housing Project

Yesterday we published an article with some of the details that were published in the Public Notice issued by the City of Miami Springs.  We also added some estimates to fill in the gaps that were not yet publicly released by the city.

After our initial article, the city released more details about the new theater apartment complex project.  According to the city, here’s how they break down the new apartment complex:

APARTMENT COMPLEX OVERVIEW

• 98,348 Square Foot Apartment Complex with First Floor Retail
• Total lot size = 48,475 sq ft
• (7) three bed apartments
• (44) two bed apartments
• (51) total apartment units on floors 2 and 3
• Only 98 parking spaces

FIRST FLOOR DETAILS:

• Ground Floor Retail = 23,500 sq ft
• 48% of the ground floor lot is set aside for retail
• There will be a 6,519 sq foot colonnade

SECOND FLOOR DETAILS:

• 25 units on second floor
• 28,094 sq ft of second floor residential

THIRD FLOOR DETAILS:

• 26 units on third floor
• 29,528 sq ft of 3rd floor residential

APARTMENT UNIT DETAILS:

• (7) three bed apartments
• (44) two bed apartments
• (51) total apartment units on floors 2 and 3
• 109 total bedrooms
• The smallest 2 bed unit is 850 sq ft
• The largest 3 bed unit is 1,457 sq ft
• The average unit size is 986 sq ft.

PARKING GARAGE DETAILS:

• The Parking Garage will NOT be just a first floor under roof parking.
• It is a 3 story parking garage
• According to the city, the parking garage building has 50,876 sq ft
• The parking garage alone has a floor area ratio of 1.04 (although it appears the city doesn’t calculate the garage into the 1.7 FAR cap)
• Nevertheless, the parking garage has more square footage than than what the maximum size building would have been allowed on this property when the FAR used to be 1.0
• In other words, it’s massive.
• Despite the large size, it only offers 98 parking spots for 109 bedrooms, guests, retail employees, and customers.

BUILDING SIZE:

• The City of Miami Springs is claiming an FAR of 1.52
• That means the building is 1.52 times the size of the lot
• The lot is 48,475 sq ft
• 1.52 x 48,475 sq ft = 73,682 sq ft building
• We find that hard to believe when the city admits there’s 23,500 sq ft on the first floor, plus 28,094 sq ft on the second floor, plus 29,528 sq ft on the 3rd floor.  Add that up and you get 81,122 sq ft.  81,122 divided by the lot size gives you an FAR of 1.673.  (Still legal, but wait, there’s more.)
• The city claims the building is actually 98,348 sq ft including mechanical and electrical rooms, common areas, balconies, etc.
• If the building is really 98,348 sq ft then it has an effective Floor Area Ratio of 2.02
• Let’s eliminate the 6,519 sq ft colonnade and you’re still talking about a 91,829 sq ft building or a 1.89 FAR and larger than the 1.7 FAR allowed today and much larger than the 1.0 FAR we had before last summer.
• Combined: The parking garage and apartment complex with first floor retail will combine for a whopping 142,705 sq ft on a 48,475 sq ft lot or an effective floor area ratio of 2.94.  Again, it appears the parking garage floor area ratio is not considered into the overall FAR cap, but it shows how far we’ve come from the low density days of a 1.0 FAR.

Hopefully, we’ll get some clarity on what the true size of the building will be and whether or not it fits within the 1.7 FAR at Monday’s Planning and Zoning meeting at City Hall.

As always, we thank you for sharing this with friends and family members within the Miami Springs community.