Articles by Topic
Commercial Encroachment in Residential Brickell
Reprinted from BHA News, Fall 2003
Immanuel Lutheran Church Seeks Special Zoning for School
The Immanuel Lutheran Church is seeking a Special Zoning Exception from the City of Miami to open a school on its property that would serve about 60 elementary children.
Neighbors of the church at 1770 Brickell Avenue are concerned about added traffic congestion at drop-off and pick-up times. The church property stretches from Brickell Avenue to South Miami Avenue, which is where most of the cars would enter and exit the property for the school, BHA members were told.
But beyond the pragmatic concerns for safety for the children and cars, BHA members said they could not support the commercial use of the property, and passed a resolution to that effect at their October Board of Directors meeting. Protecting against the commercialization of residential Brickell has long been a major area of attention for BHA, which has opposed commercial encroachment of any kind along the residential corridor of Brickell Avenue.
The school proposed would be a Montessori School, a private, non-religious-affiliated school. In exchange for the space, the school proprietors would make a monthly donation to the Church. The matter is expected to come before the City’s Zoning Board in November, and then before the entire Commission.
Fighting commercial encroachment has required constant vigilance on the part of BHA members as new, would-be vendors are always popping up, eyeing the concentrated, upscale Brickell residential market as easy pickings, especially if they could just plop their storefronts right in residents’ front yards. BHA has fought against the introduction of a hotel, stores and, in the longest-running battle, against a plastic surgeon operating a spa in a converted single family home. The operation at 1900 Brickell Avenue was promised by the City to be a limited, sole-practitioner consulting office, and special covenants were enacted by the City of Miami Commission to ensure such limits. Compliance, and the City’s enforcement of compliance, has been another matter, however....
Immanuel Lutheran Church Seeks to Add Day Care Center
On Wed., Oct. 8, 2003, at 6:30 p.m. all neighbors are invited to hear about a proposal to open a Day Care Center at the Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1770 Brickell Avenue. Church officials and the day care operators are seeking our support for a special zoning exception from the City of Miami. They will present, along with the architect, their plans for the renovation, addition, landscaping and ongoing operations of the Center.
A number of BHA and South Miami Avenue Homeowners Association members have expressed concern about another special exception for a commercial establishment in the Brickell/South Miami Avenue residential neighborhood. All concerned neighbors are urged to attend.
Reprinted
from BHA News, Winter 2000
Against:
Vizcaya Station Location for Miami Children's Museum
The BHA joined its neighbors of the Miami
Roads Neighborhood Civic Association in their opposition to the
construction of the Miami Children's Museum on the Vizcaya Metrorail
Station parking lot.
The Roads group is concerned about the
impact the proposed 50,000-square-foot attraction would have
on their neighborhood a quiet, residential area of older, well-kept
homes. Access routes, traffic from the projected 250,000 annual
visitors, the small number of parking spaces (some 22 total for
the facility) and the contemporary building design are among
the chief issues that have created a stir over the plan.
The County okayed the museum's development
on the Metrorail's parking lot more than two years ago thinking
they had found an innovative use for little-used land at a location
that might help increase Metrorail ridership. The museum had
been searching for a location to build its new facility after
its home at the Miracle Center, and the Bakery Center before
that, didn't work out.
Historic Preservation Sought for Harris Home
Also up for question: The future of 1548 Brickell Avenue, the home of Henriette Harris, who had lived on Brickell Avenue for 75 years when she died in October 1994. Built by her father George Nolan in 1925, the home was described by local historian Cesar Becerra when he wrote for the Fall 1994 BHA News: "The 14-room mansion, complete with all Corinthian columns, French doors and sun parlor, also boasted a front balcony overlooking Brickell Avenue off a third-floor ballroom."
In order to receive designation as an historic landmark, the home would have to be restored to its original design, at a pricetag into seven figures. It's a huge undertaking, but one which historian Arva Moore Parks, a South Miami Avenue resident, believes is well worth the effort. The Salussolia & Associates law firm agrees. Its principals want to win "historic overlay" status for the property from the City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board, restore the home and refit it as an office complex, and relocate their current offices from the downtown First Union Financial Center to the home. They have made a purchase offer on the house, contingent upon receiving a historic overlay allowing use as a professional office building.
The Cost of Preservation
The historic overlay status would enable the owners to be granted such a change of use for the property in order to preserve the landmark. (Often it takes commercial or public dollars to save historic landmarks.) This status, however, Ms. Parks explained, is "applied only to encourage or assure preservation of a historic structure. Thus, if there is no threat of demolition, the overlay would most likely be denied." Only a few properties in Miami have received the overlay status in the 15 years since the ordinance was passed.
While the idea of preserving the home and restoring it to its original splendor is certainly appealing to BHA, residents feel the same uneasiness with the commercialization of the property as with the 1900 Brickell Avenue issue. BHA directors have asked their attorney to look into the issues surrounding 1548 Brickell.
The home is one of only four single family homes remaining on Brickell, once known as "Millionaire's Row" for all its grand estates and mansions. Only one other, 1870 Brickell Avenue built around 1940 may qualify for historic designation, Ms. Parks said.
Reprinted
from BHA News, Winter 1999
 Residential Ambiance
and the Stallone Estate
The BHA will continue its mission to monitor
developments in the neighborhood and surrounding community. This
includes any changes that might be sought in the residential
zoning codes governing the Stallone estate near Alice Wainwright
Park which could impact the neighborhood. BHA directors met at
the estate a few months ago to hear the Orient Express Hotels'
plan which the company recently aborted.
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