Urban Development Review Board - Regular Meeting

In addition to the comment provided here at City Hall, the public may submit comments via the city's online comment form. The comments submitted through the comment form, if any, were distributed to the board members and city administration throughout the day so that the board can consider them prior to taking the action. Additionally, the online comment form will remain open during the meeting to accept comments and distribute to the board members up until the chairperson closes public comment. All comments received will be included in the public record of the meeting. These public comment options established and provided for this meeting comply with Section 286.0114 Florida Statutes. Board members, are you comfortable with all the notice provisions set forth in these uniform rules and procedures we have established for this meeting?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you. We could please rise for a Pledge of Allegiance. I'd like to call the meeting to order. It's 2.04. Do we have any requests for absence waivers?

Yes, we do. Member Lewis, Member Behar, and Member Zamstis.

We have a motion.

I move we approve.

Second.

Second.

Ready to vote? Madam Chair?

Yes.

Vice Chair Barrera? Yes. Member Gallardo?

Yes.

Member Perez-Azura?

Yes.

Member Pamoui? Yes. Member Zapatini?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you. Please do a roll call.

Roll call. Madam Chair?

Present.

Vice Chair Barrera?

Here.

Member Behar? Member Gallardo?

Here.

Member Lewis? Member Perez-Azura?

Here.

Member Pramui?

Here.

Member Zamstis? Member Zapatini?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you. And can we get a motion for last month's minutes? It's a short meeting, is that?

I move we approve.

Second.

Mr. Perez-Esua, second.

Madam Chair.

Yes.

Vice Chair Barrera? Yes. Member Gallardo?

Yes.

Member Perez-Azul? Yes. Member Zapatini? Yes. Member Pramui? Yes. Thank you.

They know we had some public comments. Do we have any new ones?

No, just the one from this morning. Could I ask that we close it, if that's OK? Yes. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Item number one, minute track number 18610. Property address is 250 Southwest 7th Street and 296 Southwest 7th Street. Project name, Live Local Act, West Brickell. transit zone T6, 2480 square footage, just over 1 million square foot, stories 42, residential units 1,011, commercial property 2,980 square feet, parking spaces 269, application type warrant pursuant to Article 6, Table 13 permits micro-dwelling units within a TOD area by process of warrant UDRB requirement pursuant to Article 7, Section 7.1.1.2.10. The project exceeds 200,000 square feet. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Board. Brian Dombrowski, 333 Southeast 2nd Avenue. I'm joined today by Javier Font with Behar Font Partners to present this project. As Citi said, 250 Southwest 7th Street. It's currently a vacant parcel. You all have probably driven by it a million times trying to get on a 95, especially if you're leaving the city's administrative building downtown. It is located behind a CVS and a McDonald's, as you can see on the map here. There is a special area planned just to the north that has started to be built out. so that area is coming along. This is a live local project. We are proposing 1,011 residential dwelling units. Of those, 609 are micro-dwelling units. We're seeking a warrant today because the micro-dwelling units in the podium are permitted by right. However, the ones in the tower are by warrant. So we are seeking that entitlement. Of those 1,011 total residential units, 40% or 405 of those units will be rent restricted for a period of 30 years pursuant to a covenant under the Live Local Act. This is a 42-story building. We are not exceeding the height that we could achieve under our existing zoning. We are only using the Live Local Act in order to increase the density at the site. I'm gonna have Javier walk you through the design of the building. We're here for questions and we look forward to your comments.

Good afternoon, Javier Font, Behar Font and Partners, 4533 Ponce de Leon Boulevard. Thank you for the opportunity. As Brian pointed out, this is an as of right project. except for the micro unit. Just an acre piece of property on a gray corner, southwest third and seventh. The proposal is for a 42-story, just over 1,000-unit project. I'll take you through the floors first. So on the ground floor, we've obviously placed our lobby on the hard corner. We've done a two-story volume on the hard corner, turned the lobby on Southwest 3rd to keep the pedestrian activity going, stretched the length of the lobby along 7th, and then we've placed retail on the ground floor along 7th Street as well. just to create, you know, this is a really great pedestrian street. If you move east a couple blocks, it's become a very nice pedestrian street. We're hoping to make that transition so it'll continue towards I-95. The back of the property has a spine road, if you will, that will house all of our loading, trash, all of our ingress and egress for vehicular traffic, so everything is hidden behind this great active facade on the ground floor. The second floor, once again, becomes very active. The corner gets the two-story volume for the lobby. Then there's some additional amenities on the mezzanine level. Along 7th Street, along the face of the parking garage, we have the micro units that Brian spoke about, completely lining that garage. On the third floor, we continue with the micro units in front of the garage. And then we do our first set of units on the hard corner. And we've actually wrapped the units on the south side of the property because this property has an exit where you, just south of us, there's a pretty important intersection there. So, you know, there's people parked there all the time. There's people obviously waiting for the light to change. So we wanted this corner to be as nice as our main corner. So you see these units turn the corner and you'll see in our elevations or our renderings that that portion of the building is just as nice as the corner on the main intersection. On the ninth level, we've got our amenity floor. The entire floor is dedicated to amenity. Everything you could think of is on this floor. And then obviously the pool deck on the eastern portion of the property with all the units looking down onto it. That's another rendered site plan that shows you not only the streetscape, but also the ninth level pool amenity area. And then finally, our tower. Our tower is a U-shaped tower. We've sort of hidden the core, so we've got views all the way around. The amount of glazing on the building is just tremendous. You see the columns that are evenly spread to create a nice rhythm in the facade, but these units have huge floor-to-ceiling glazing. Then as far as our facades are concerned, we've got a very stately building. The idea is these are strong horizontal lines, and then these great, and vertical lines that transact them. There's a small portion of the building which anchors the corner, which is the liner of the parking garage that we talked about. But one of the nicest things of the building is that for a good chunk of Southwest 7th and for the entire facade on Southwest 3rd, the main tower comes down. We've stepped it back to create a great corner on the hard corner. and so that the tower can come straight down to the ground and create that great activity. We've also given it this really nice sweeping feature at the corner that you can see just to give it the importance that it needs. So these balconies come in, this thing rises up about eight stories and comes down the other side and just creates a really nice focal point on that piece there. And then, of course, all our materials are clean, modern, you know, straight line kind of finishes. So, happy to answer any questions you may have.

We'll get started on our left, Ms. Apatini.

Can you walk us through why do you think that the micro units are a good thing for this project? I'm sorry? Can you walk us through why do you think the micro units are?

Well, that's a developer issue, right? This is the second building we built for them. Their first building is being TCO'd right now. It's the same 42-story tower in downtown Miami. They've got a very strong demand for those micro units. They're obviously a price point unit, but it's part of the program that the developer has.

One of the goals of the city as well when they adopted the ordinance for micro units was to try and drive affordability on these units. So there are micro units which are inherently smaller and are going to be cheaper, but we also have the rent restricted units in the building.

And you have parking for a lot of them, right? You have the correct amount of parking or are you depending on public transportation for them?

Micro units don't require any parking count. Under the live local within a TOD, there is no parking requirement, but I believe we have about 300 parking spaces on site. Like 270, give or take. Seventy.

So almost, I don't know, a third of what?

Thereabouts.

Are you compensating for that with bike storage or additional?

Yes, there is on-site bike parking. Within the TOD, we're required the one space, one rack per unit. Yeah, we've got just over 1,000 bikes. As you know, it gets to be a lot of bikes.

And then can you just walk us through the drop-off? Let's say that you probably take an Uber since you don't have a car. How does that work? Where do you get... Big tap and drop off and all that. Yeah.

So we've got two curb cuts, one on Southwest 3rd, I mean 3rd and one on 7th. And the idea is that the traffic will flow like this. This is all our loading, all our pickup drop off areas and our entrance to all our vehicular parking, obviously. So everything is hidden behind the two facades, right? So you'll come in through here, come out through here. On this one, you can come in and out. And on this one, you'll come in in a one-way direction. We pick up the trash here as well. There's a two-story volume piece carved out so that you can bring the trash truck in, dump the trash, and keep on going. So the idea is that everything that has to do with vehicular traffic is completely concealed.

And you have a turnaround radius for a larger truck, right?

So the trucks will come in. They'll stage, and then they'll come out the other side. So they don't come back in the way they came in. They come out the other side. But, yes, we've done all the truck radiuses and everything else, and it all works.

Okay. Those were my only questions. Thank you.

Thank you.

You have an option of entering through 3rd Street and then going up the ramp?

Correct.

And what is, you have a right of micro units, but what are you exceeding?

So it's just the size of the unit is less than 400 square feet, correct?

But you have a right of so many exactly, you know, of locations or something you mentioned?

Yeah, so after we submitted the project, the city ended up changing the code. The micro units that are in the podium are allowed by right, but we have micro units that are also in the tower. So we would have had to stay with our warrant. So we just are continuing with the entitlements.

And our density is within the live local. Correct.

I like what you did with the offsetting or increasing the setback on 7th. You made the building more elegant. Also, your design is very slick, very... Very elegant. It's not massive. I really don't like the garage side, the south side. I think, you know, you need some screening on the garage side. I think you did excellent on the other sides, but on that side, I think you're neglecting the south side.

We've kept the garage 10 feet away from both property lines just so that we could have an open garage. It's obviously our opinion that the lots next to us will be developed with something very similar to that. As a matter of fact, the same developer is looking at the one next door. So our hope is that by the time this gets built, that area either has other buildings built or planned.

But they still have a visual look to your building because you have a setback.

Yeah, but it's, I mean, we're at 10 feet. Somebody can be at zero, right?

I just think it just... And that portion of the garage is pretty far from the actual street. And there are units that wrap around.

No, I'm referring to somebody, like he's saying, developing maybe on that side, or somebody higher on some other building, some other place that they're looking into this hole, you know, a bunch of holes.

Parking garage, which is not very aesthetic. So our side for the garage sort of runs from here to here, which is all... No, you did a nice job on the other side.

On the other side, you did a nice job. I'm just critical of that side only.

Understood. It's really an interior property line, so we were trying to spend the money elsewhere.

You just had a conflict. I see the elevation and then I see your materials board and the glass on the storefront and the lobby is different. I don't know which one you're using. On the top right on the material board?

Yeah, we'll probably use something similar to that.

Okay, you're not using the other one then?

And we probably won't use, I know we won't use, you know, curtain wall. We'll use some sort of just regular storefront system, you know, very similar to that.

That's it.

Mr. Gallardo, does that conclude your comments? What's that? Does that conclude your comments? I'm finished. Okay.

We'll go back to Mr. Perez. Yeah. Hi.

How are you doing, guys? Not very elegant building. I really like the elevations. And... I have a little concern with this traffic circulation, though. Maybe you can explain to me better because I know, hold on, let me look at the sideline here. Southwest 3rd, that street is very congested, right? Very congested. It backs up a lot. That intersection is a mess. People are trying to take it to go to the highway and whatnot. So it concerns me that that's a two-way entrance. it's gonna be pretty messy there, I'm thinking. Because it just, I see in one of the renderings, it shows this as a one way out, so I'm wondering if that was a thought originally, to have just that as a way out instead of a way in and out. I just caution you on, and the city for that matter, about people coming in a street that is already extremely congested, people coming out and in, people going into the highway and then people trying to make a left into your building, it's gonna be pretty messy.

Yeah, so we looked at traffic patterns a lot on this, and the idea was that if you're coming from downtown, you're gonna come westernly, correct. Yes, that's one way in. Yeah, what he's saying, he's worried about somebody making this left with everybody coming northbound. So the idea is that if you're coming from the east to the west, you would enter here, right? So that we don't force you to come in here.

Which I think it makes a lot of sense, especially seventh is a one way, it's not really a big deal. Correct.

And we worked with zoning pretty extensively on the ingress and egress of the project. Correct.

And then the idea was that if you come off you come from that busy intersection to south of us, that if you're coming north, you can make this quick right, because if not, you can't come, obviously, on 7th. That's why this is the out.

And that's what I'm concerned about, right? It's much better to have people go down 8th, you know, and go around the building to go in, as opposed to fighting, you know, on a street that's already traffic. There's nothing wrong. You know, that's why we have this one way, is to manage large flow of traffic in certain directions. I don't know why you're not utilizing that.

You would be surprised that the traffic coming this way is not half as bad as the traffic. The traffic coming north off that intersection is not half as bad as the traffic coming this way.

Except that there's also people trying to get out and not being able to get into traffic because it's backed up by the highway, right?

Making this loop is horrible. really horrible because you get jammed up in the traffic or the bridge for the bridge so that's why we said okay if you're coming down you make a quick left or if you're coming off that off ramp of 95 you go straight and you make a quick right and you're in the building. Come around, you park, and then when you come out, you come out on 7th and then you go back towards 95. We looked at this so many different ways. Yeah, but there's no solution, right?

There's no solution.

The zoning code also requires us to bring our loading access from 3rd Avenue instead of 7th Street. Right, right.

Yeah, and I think that's our principle, right? So we can only go one way on 3rd.

Mm-hmm.

Mr. Barrera?

No, I like the project. I think it's very elegant. I like the podium and the way it addresses the pedestrian scale. I'm in support of the project. Thank you. Mr. Pamuy?

Thank you. I agree with my colleagues. The building is a beautiful, clean lines, very elegant design. The program, I think, is very well articulated and resolved. I do like the proportions of the building. So you got a lot of good things going. So I want to commend the architect and the whole development team. Job very well done.

Thank you very much.

Can you talk a little bit about the materials that you've selected in particular? The rooftop parapet, as I see it has like a halo, but I don't really see the detail on the very top.

Obviously, in the base of the building, we're trying to do as much glazing as possible, right? And that's what we did in the building that the developer's finishing now. And the views out of these smaller units are just fantastic. So we went with glass railings, right? Just to give it that clean look. Very simple, clean slabs, right? So we'll stucco the end of the slabs. We recessed the top piece for the... for the parapet that hides all the equipment so you don't see any equipment here i mean everything's sort of completely concealed there is a halo on the top and there will be a sign on the top of the building um you know most of the building is stucco we'll go with you know a darker color on just that anchoring piece for the base of the parking garage but everything else just wants to look light airy um obviously an aluminum finish kind of on the storefront system.

Okay, on the lobby, it shows it as if you have like stone or something, the dark gray. Is that stucco painted to look like stone? Right underneath that arch. So you're right, yeah, that like dark column there. In the renderings, it looks like it's a granite tile or something.

This column, you're saying?

To the right of the glazing.

No, I think that's just the shadow line from this. But no, that's going to be a stucco column.

Okay. It's just, it looks scored as if it were tiles. Yeah.

Maybe it's a rendering issue. But yeah, all the columns that come down, we worked very hard to get them all sort of symmetrical so they all come down nice and clean. They'll be all like a darker gray stucco on those.

Okay. And then the parapet for the mechanical area does have, it is illuminated? Yeah.

It is illuminated. It has just a very nice, simple halo.

And then the very last comment on your amenity deck, that eyebrow just above that deck looks like it's, in your rendering, looks like it's metallic or aluminum or something because it's reflecting the light from the program. Is that still to be stuck up? Which rendering? That one? A906.

I may not have, we doubled up some of these renderings just not to have so many boards.

In other words, you differentiate any of the eyebrows in the tower.

They're all going to be stucco. They're all the same stucco, yes.

I don't have anything to add. I think it is nice for the product. You guys came up with a nice solution.

You emphasized that corner. And then I think your circulation on the ground floor, you did the best that you could. Thank you very much.

We don't have any other comments? No.

What really concerns me is what the lady mentioned at the beginning, the micro units. You said your developer already had done a building that was very successful with the micro units, correct? Yes. I'm trying to figure out how does it work. Let's say you got one third of the parking in relationship to the units. The guy wants to go to whatever, some place outside the transit area.

It's within a transit corridor.

No, I understand that, but let's say he wants to go outside, let's say visit Kendall or something. How does he get around?

It's about a five-minute walk to the metro rail.

Well, you know, it's, well, then he has to...

I understand, but people aren't going to rent these units who... want a space for a car. I think that's part of the incentive here is people who don't want to have cars don't want to rent a place that they're going to have to pay more because it comes with a parking space.

I just don't want it to become a burden two other blocks away, six blocks away that they walk over and they park some other place where they shouldn't park. That's the only thing I'm worried about.

Understood. And that's why the city has safeguards in place for the location that they can be in comparison to the lower scale single family neighborhoods were outside of that zone. Okay, thanks.

I have one last comment. Can you clarify the height of that wall that we see at the pedestrian level? This? No, the podium. The podium. How high is that?

At this location, so we've got, this site is really atypical in that we've got about an eight-foot drop from the actual hard corner to the other end of the property. So in 300 feet, we dropped eight feet, which is unheard of, obviously, in Miami. That's a mountain in Miami. So there is a slight podium on the hard corner that then starts to step down as you go back. Where is that?

Can you show us that? And how high is that wall again?

How high is that? It's about three feet. It's not like a huge eight feet long. We're trying to keep it as low as possible. We're actually working with a consultant to see how we can split up so that this elevation is higher than this elevation, but that we drop with the street. So we're working that now on this project.

Yeah, ideally if you don't have that, I think it's nicer because you're creating almost like a barrier in your best corner.

Yeah, we completely understand it. We're working hard to try and eliminate it as much as possible. But there is, unfortunately, this is still in the flood zone. The flood zone literally goes like this through the project. So it hits a portion of our property.

You don't really need that part elevated there because you're not accessing from the corner. You're accessing, like, why wouldn't you have the storefront go to the grate? Right.

Well, we've got access from this side and this side, so.

I don't understand. Like, if you bring the storefront to the great level, your stairs are not necessarily in the corner.

Correct. So we'll come up to here. You're saying cut it here, let this come down.

Yeah, so you don't have that at the corner.

We can look at that. We can look at it all.

I frankly think it's a positive. Yeah. Just it's a high traffic area. I think it gives a little bit of that sense of security. And you've kept the clear banisters around it.

I mean, obviously, that's the most important part of our building. So we're working to try and resolve that and see if we end up with a little podium, we'll probably put a little bit of furniture out there and make it a feature. But we are trying to get it down to as low as possible and as close to the street level as possible, obviously.

Do we have a vote? Or a motion?

We can make a motion to approve as presented and then study the corner.

You can figure out a better way to resolve it, but it's not a condition.

Thank you.

I'll second.

I'd like to approve it, but with the condition of the screening of the garage on the south side.

We just made a motion. Do you want to?

I would like to suggest that one.

Okay, so we need to.

If she's okay.

Yeah, we can include that.

Okay, thank you. As long as she's okay with it.

Are you okay with that or do you want to discuss it?

The concern is that as of today, we have exactly the amount of square footage that we need to make it an open garage. If we screen it, it will become a mechanically ventilated garage, which I hate. but I understand.

We have plenty of open garages that are screened.

One of the trade-offs, though, for having it open on that side, facing the rear of the property, was so that we could fully line the garage along the street front, which is the city's goal in their recent podium legislation, was to try and fully line garage instead of having those parking spaces up to the setback line, which is what we tried to do here on the street fronts.

But that makes it so that almost the entire two facades that are left have to be open for the majority of the facade. And as soon as you screen it, you reduce the amount of square footage. And thus, you force yourself to a mechanically ventilated garage, which we understand. We don't like it. It's not the greatest thing in the world. And I truly feel that the properties adjacent to us are going to be developed anyway.

Would there be any visibility to that side of the garage that the cars are exposed? What's the setback to this adjacent building?

On that side, it's 10 feet. It's a 10-foot setback. But where the garage starts is actually pretty far removed from the actual street. So the pedestrian walking along the street would not be able to see into that space.

So... That's behind the CBS building, right? Exactly.

Yeah. Right. So... This building actually has, this street has a 10-foot setback, right, which is this red line here at the top. And we're back, I don't know, maybe 40 feet or so, 45 feet before we start our garage. So this is a solid facade before the garage starts. And then on this side, we've got even more. We come all the way back to here. know so we probably have i don't know 60 feet on that 70 feet on that side from the corner so any little building on there will screen that portion of the garage um and the the garage does have the crash walls so we don't get the light spillage so we're halfway to screening it um but i mean if you see them on the elevation i mean you see it there it just looks nice and clean and and that's This entire piece, this is the Southwest 3rd elevation that comes down here, right? So as I said before, we wrapped the units on Southwest 3rd just because of that busy intersection here and just so you get a great view. But you can see how far back the garage starts and you can see how clean it is. It's just a very simple, straightforward garage. I mean, I just typically push for screening garages, but I really don't think that this one needs it.

Mr. Gallardo, was that a recommendation or a condition?

A condition, because I'm familiar with Dayland Mall. I mean, the buildings around Dayland. And, I mean, you go there and you see an elegant building that has these open garages that look horrible. Aesthetically, they look horrible. I know functionally, you save money.

Keep in mind, those buildings are, that open garage is fronting the street. Here, that's not the case. Miami 21 doesn't allow that, whereas the county does.

Can I just say just something quickly here? To fully line a garage at the more visible street, that has to be taken into account. It is a lot more costly, and it's very well done. So I personally, I understand, and I'm all for it, for what you did.

Thank you. Thank you. What about the view from the gas station side, right? You've got the, from the east side. Is that, I'm trying to look for it, but I can't see it. What does a garage look from the east side?

Front. From this gas station side? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So our garage starts, you know, probably back here.

But it is exposed to that side as well. It is exposed to that side. And in that side, we do see it from the street and coming down 7th, right?

Correct. So it's exposed probably, I don't know, from here to here and then turning.

And I agree with you. Like, I'm not that concerned about... the south side because it's pretty much screened by that CVS building. But it is very visible on the south, right? As you come down 7th, there's this gas station, which is like a little one-story element. But I don't see an elevation of that.

The hope is that that's not a one-story gas station for very long, right? It'll probably be there for a while.

And the closest thing that you have is the rendering in A904, where you see the microunits turn and expose parking garage. A904.

I like the microunits.

Would you be amenable, Mr. Gallardo, instead of a screen of doing maybe artwork?

Something that makes it more aesthetically. It doesn't mean solid. It doesn't mean 75% corrugated. Just something because the gentleman was mentioning something will be blocked, but it won't be blocked by somebody living there.

I think that might, would that be a compromise?

Something that they can develop that makes it a little nicer.

Could that be a recommendation and we can work with urban design staff?

Are you okay with that? Make that a recommendation.

I really think that's a really good point. Even for you as an architect, I mean, that's going to be a primary elevation of your building coming down, coming up 7th or heading west on 7th. And you're gonna see that. Obviously there's no windows from the micro units on that side, so it's just really a flat. I think you can come up with something that's really gonna make you feel proud, whether it's art or whatever. And I agree with you. I would suggest staying away from screening the garage. You wanna keep it open. But it's gotta be something that you guys can do creatively to make that elevation, make you proud of that elevation.

Make it coherent with the niceness of the rest of it.

Because your building is super nice. I love the building all around. It's very elegant. I like the way you've treated every aspect of it, and that elevation is a little forgotten.

Thank you. We will definitely look into that for sure.

We'll add that as a condition then?

What's the verdict? Is it with a recommendation that they study that? Yes, yes, yes.

Okay. Yeah, I agree. I think it'd be much nicer if it's green, if it doesn't trigger a closed parking garage.

Thank you. Thank you. I'll second that again.

So there is a motion on the floor, I believe, a motion to approve and a second. So would you like to amend your motion? And then we'd have to have you amend, and then the seconder has to agree, and then we can vote.

I'll like accept the condition, I mean the suggestion to amend. Okay, and the seconder agrees that?

Yes, I agree with that.

Okay.

And then my understanding also is that somebody just came in and wanted to make a public comment if the chair would allow it at this time.

For this project?

Oh, I'm sorry, it's online. So I don't know if you want us to read it?

Yes, please.

Thank you.

I thought we closed public comment at the start of the hearing.

Was this one that we missed?

It came in this morning, actually. And so we would like to, it came in before the public comment was closed.

Good afternoon, UDRB board staff and applicants. This comment is regarding the proposed project at 250 Southwest 7th Street, the project fronts Northwest 7th Street, a one-way westbound street, and Southwest 3rd Avenue, a bidirectional street that also serves a significant number of southbound vehicles across 8th Street and onto the I-95 ramps for northbound travel. Southwest 3rd Avenue is a significant traffic bottleneck in Brickell. It is abundantly clear when looking at how vehicles back up on 8th and on Southwest 2nd as a result looking to make the turn onto 8th. The ground floor plan sheet A101 shows that I believe to be a vehicular entrance on Southwest 3rd Avenue with traffic heading west into the project. Is that the case? Southwest 3rd Avenue lacks good stripping, but even with proper striping, my concern is that vehicles hitting southbound on Southwest 3rd Avenue will make left turns eastbound across northbound movement into the project entry drive. This will slow down movement southbound onto I-95. As cars look to make a left onto Southwest 8th Street, They will move into the right southbound lane to pass around vehicles waiting to make the left into the building, thus impacting the traffic heading to I-95. The driveway appears to be a bit wider than a standard one lane, but may not be wide enough for a vehicle to pass another one, depending on how cars are parked.

Thank you.

Oh, no, there's a whole lot more. All right. I just had to move my screen down. The driveway appears to be a bit wider than a standard one lane, but may not be wide enough for a vehicle to pass another one depending on how cars are parked, meaning cars may quickly queue and back up, potentially slowing or blocking traffic on Southwest 3rd Avenue in both directions, thus causing far-reaching congestion throughout Brickell, as this street is critical for high volume movement onto I-95. While the existing issue of the bottleneck to I-95 is not for this project to solve, my request is that the driveway movement on the ground level within the building be westbound, exit only to Southwest 3rd Avenue, not an entrance from Southwest 3rd Avenue. And it is wide enough for two vehicles to pass by one another, so it is a functional and your residents, guests, and delivery drivers want to use this great amenity drive and not depart on the curb at this important location in this way. building will likely have less impact on surrounding vehicle movement and will also function much better for residents. Thank you for your consideration.

I think we addressed all those points during the presentation. I think you guys had a lot of the same comments.

Very smart comment.

I mean, I think it's, it's tough. I understand the concern. I mean, the fact that you're providing maybe a third of the parking for the building, it's not a building that's going to be heavily trafficked with residents, as far as parking. I think you're, you know, having the egress in both streets is going to alleviate some of that. Does anyone else have any concerns, comments? All right. So does our motion still stand? Is our second still good?

Yeah.

OK. I think we're ready to vote.

Madam Chair?

Yes.

Vice Chair Barrera?

Yes.

Member Gallardo?

Yes.

Member Perez-Azura? Yes. Member Pamoui?

Yes.

Members Zappatini?

Yes.

Vote passes. Thank you all.

Thank you very much.

Item number two, UDRB 18630, property address 2923 Northeast 2nd Avenue and 200 Northeast 30th Street. Project name, Pad 8. Location, Edgewater Overlay District. Transit zone, T636A0. Square footage, 2,699,400 square feet. 42 stories, 588 residential units, 841,702 commercial square feet, office space, 31,000 square feet, 1,533 parking spaces. Application type, waiver. Waiver pursuant to Article 4, Table 4, to allow up to 30% reduction of required parking, waiver pursuant to Article 5, Section 5.6.4 to permit along a primary frontage parking above the first story to extend into the second layer along the frontage waiver pursuant to Article 5, Section 5.6.4 to permit along a secondary frontage above ground parking to extend into the second layer beyond 50% of the length of the frontage. Waiver pursuant to Article 5, Section 5.6.1G, to allow development of the ground level to match the dominant setback of the block of its context. UDRB requirement pursuant to Article 7, Section 7.1.1.2.10, the project exceeds 200,000 square feet. Thank you.

good afternoon members of the board ethan wasserman with greenberg charg 333 southeast second avenue here on behalf of the applicant uh very proud to bring this what i'll call sister project uh before you all you may recall a project on the block east of this at 2900 biscayne came before you all a couple years ago that now has its ceo very recently just a couple months ago that project was 36 stories tall 588 units and a very successful ground floor Whole Foods Activation This is the project just west of it west of second court. This is 42 stories tall and contains 360 units we also have here a 31,000 square foot office component and about 7,000 square feet of commercial activation at the southwest corner the main difference in terms of the site between a The project to our east of this project was we owned the entire city block on the east. On this block, there are two small pieces that we don't own. There's a religious institution and a two or three story commercial parcel on 29th Street. So what we did was we placed the commercial and the office activation at that corner of 29th and 2nd, which Bernardo will show you. And we feel it's a very nice fit as it transitions upward towards the tower. We do have four waivers, as staff mentioned, but one waiver I want to focus on is very interesting. It's the dominant setback waiver. We're not actually moving the podium. We're not utilizing the dominant setback waiver. But one of the things this project tries to do is to share the amenity programming. So 2900 had a robust, very large amenity space. This project will also have a very large amenity space. and we are going to bridge over Second Court. Second Court is a dead-end street. It's just a street to 30th and to 29th. It doesn't continue north or south of it. That will require city commission approval, so that's not an approval under our warrant or waiver or site plan, but we wanted to show you all that's one of the ways we're going to connect these projects, and I think it's very interesting. The reason it's a waiver is because the city commission can approve it, but you can't actually connect it to your building. There's a gap. If you have a 10-foot setback, then you can't connect to the bridge in the right of way. So it's a little bit of a unique circumstance. That's why we're able to ask for the dominant setback here. It's just for the bridge, not the actual podium itself. So I will turn it over to Bernardo to walk you through the design.

Hi, good afternoon, and Merry Christmas, everybody. This is phase two of a project that we recently completed, Forma One. It's a project that you must remember. It was a long while back. It's at Whole Foods downstairs, and it has that sort of interlocking rectangles marching down the facade. The client is very happy with the result, and now when we do phase two, he told us, I don't want anything that competes with my phase one. I want it to keep standing out. I want something more calm and to make a contrast with the other building. And maybe something more minimalist and less expressive and less movement.

And you can see some pictures, can you point out, of the existing Forma building.

And this is a friend next door, but not on Biscayne Boulevard, behind, one block behind. It will eventually, as I just explained, will be connected by a bridge, so they'll share the amenities. But it's still a residential tower, not a condo. rent okay it's uh the rentals have done very well in phase one and so he's ready to do phase two and uh maybe i should take you through the project is this yes you can see here the completed phase one uh of forma and uh there's a whole foods um of course whole foods requires a lot of parking and uh but it was good that there was a grocer for the neighborhood. And you can see where Forma 1 is and why he didn't want to. He's too busy to do the two. And maybe, and I agree, it's cleaner and nicer. There's a glass box in the corner. That is a low rise, which will have retail, restaurants, office building. And behind it is the new tower that you see here in the elevations. This is maybe this is a better, this was just to show you the context. This is format one. This is format two. This is more delicate. And this is a little bit cleaner but bolder. in the thickness of the lines. But you can see that is somewhat related, but not. And it was meant to be more quiet and next door to it. You can see the two buildings here in these images. And more importantly, what happens on the ground floor, where you can see the glass cube that marches up with a series of special spaces, art spaces. on the way up that will mark the corner that is next to the synagogue, synagogue, right? Yes. And you can see here phase one, of course, and these are the elevations of phase two. It still has, like phase one, the active use on the top of the building. And it continues the idea of the mural that he did on the phase one for phase two. They have an art consultant that they have been using for the selection. It is not just about any mural. They're actually very careful to find an artist, and they do almost like a bidding of the different artists for the murals that they use in front of the building. Sorry if I've been blocking you. No, no, you're good. But you can see here in site plan what I'm referring to. You can see Forma 1 over here. You see the second tower. They're intentionally staggered from each other in site plan. so that they clear the sidelines from one and the other. You can see here the pool deck, where we're going to have the bridge, because there's a very large fitness center here that can be used by both sides. It's truly oversized for Phase 1, but the owner always planned to have a Phase 2, which is made out of these four pieces. You can see here Phase 1. And these are properties that he doesn't own, two different properties, and where you see that Commercial building in the corner is the little tongue, the panhandle that extends towards the corner. So we kept the parking clean within here and it doesn't extend into the corner. This is two prominent corner. I know that the lines, the streets don't exactly align, but that diagonal forces the view diagonally to the corner of this building. So the decision was to do more levels of parking here and not build a garage all the way to the edge. And we kept the alley. The alley is serving these two buildings, but we took it all the way across and under and connected back to Second Avenue so the maneuvering would be appropriate. If you look at the floor plans, we have entered, do all the loading from that alley, and that way we're actually using it for the purpose it's supposed to be. There's active uses at the entire frontage here. There's retail, leasing offices, lobby. Everything is lining up along Second Avenue, along that side. and the drop-off is kept to the rear where the ramp takes off from it. So that gives you a general sense of the organization of the building. Sorry, I lost my voice. It was below zero in New York, and I just flew in for this. But you can see here how I meant we kept the parking to this side and kept the vertical building on that side. And you see here the amenities onto the deck where the bridge will be located, and then And eventually, you can see where the tower is located, as I mentioned, shifted with respect to the other tower. I hope this gives you a good summary. I don't know what else we have here. It's just a section of the building. And I'm not here to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Pramui, would you like to get started? We'll come down.

Thank you. Beautiful design. I think first you complement your other tower very well. They both work in unity very well. And I like the positioning, the way you position the tower and the spaces are very well done in a program, a challenging program. So that was very well done. And I don't have anything, I don't think I have anything else. You did everything. I like it a lot. Thank you very much.

Hope I'm reminding, the bridge is not part of this.

I know it's not part of it, but I kind of like the idea, so good luck with that one. Thank you. Hope it happens.

Mr. Gallardo?

I like the way you separated the traffic. I like the way you left enough space for pedestrians on the ground floor. I like the repetitiveness, not repetitiveness, but the continuity of the artwork. Sometimes you go through the expressway or whatever, and the billboards are more attractive than the buildings themselves. I hate to say that, but it is. So I think it's just, it's something that seems like Miami Vice, you know, it seems something very slick. You mentioned minimal. I think, you know, I'm looking forward to seeing it built. That's my only comments.

I like how the buildings complement each other, and you can tell they're related, cousins. I love the artist. I hope that's the artwork that's going to go up because it's really very dynamic and very energetic. And I like how the podium is broken down so that creates that pedestrian level at the ground floor. I agree with my board members. It's very well done, so I'm in support.

Mr. Rupertis?

No, nice project. Again, I'm just going to be repetitive here, but I like how the buildings complement each other. I like the office piece, you know, a little office component there that kind of breaks down the scale. I like the alley, and you separate the loading zones from the residential parking, so I feel the site plan and the traffic works really well. Yeah, no. Nice project.

I agree. I think they are a great project, beautiful work. They coordinate really well, and I really like the artwork. I just have one question. In the sheet A903, there seems to be a very small building in between the two projects. What is that? A903. No.

The ones not included?

Yeah, what are those?

One is a religious institution, a three-story religious institution, and then a commercial facility on the corner.

Got it. So you couldn't build a tower in those two sets?

We don't own them, yeah.

Very unlikely.

Could you please use the mic so we can capture it? Can you please use a microphone? Thank you.

It is unlikely that there would be a tower there because by the time you do the 30-foot setback from the side, 20-foot setback from the two streets, and the rear setback 30 feet, there would be a poster stamp. It would be a core with no building. Got it. It's very unlikely.

Okay.

Yes.

That's it. Thank you. Thank you.

Can you talk a little bit about the materials you're You have, in particular, in sheet A907, it looks like wood. Can you find it? Or is it formed concrete, like poured concrete?

This is the image, right? Yes. Just to confirm?

That and above.

Right. So we spoke with the city because the thing is that we're proposing to keep this open air since it is going to be a dog run for large dogs and small dogs. So what we're trying to do is create these walls while still letting the wind go through. So we've got the wood panels that give us that solidity, some greenery to sort of soften it up, and then the gates so that the dogs don't escape. The back wall will have some kind of treatment. We'll want to make it nice, a nice space there. But we did speak with the city that the fact that it's not an air conditioned space, the fact that it's not enclosed, and it seemed that because of the program, because of the use and the materials that we were okay in that front.

And then the materials above that?

Oh, the materials above that. So what we're doing is that we're taking the same material that you see on Forma on the first phase, their garage, we're using the same system for Pad 8 to help unify them. So the podiums are very You know, they have the art piece and they have the metal louvers.

These are the primary frontages. This is the portion of the street that is largely a service street. That is a loading dock.

That's that elevation, correct? Yes.

This is facing the loading docks of the Whole Foods. And so it was not ideal for the F&B and the retail, but it was an opportunity to put the dogs on the ground level instead of the upper level, which is what we have in the other building. And it's more practical here. It was a logical place to have it on that sort of backside of the building.

I see. Thank you. No, I have to agree. I think the programming and the way you've broken up your party really works. I appreciate it. I think you've been great neighbors to the synagogue and the retail by just placing the office component and keeping it at that scale. I think it really adds a nice dimension. And I don't have anything further to add. I think it's a great project. Thank you very much. Thank you.

I'd like the motion to approve as presented. Second.

Mr. Perez-Azul was the second.

Madam Chair?

Yes.

Vice Chair Barrera? Yes. Member Gallardo? Yes. Member Perez-Azul? Yes. Member Pamoui? Yes. Member Zamses? Members Appatini?

Yes.

Motion passed.

Congratulations.

Madam Chair, I need a break for two minutes.

Okay.

Thank you very much and happy holidays all.

Thank you.

631. PZ 2519369. Property address 220 Northeast 43rd Street. Project name. Cube 3 Live Local Act. Location Brentwood, Little Haiti. Transit zone T4L and T50. Square footage 971,000 square foot. 36 stories, 278 residential units. Commercial space, 56,000 square feet. Office space, 101,000 square feet. Parking spaces, 613. Application type, SAP. UDRB requirement. Pursuant to Article 7, Section 7.1.1.2.10, the project exceeds 200,000 square feet. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the board. For the record, Javier Fernandez, counsel for the applicant. Law office is at 201 Alhambra Circle, Suite 1205 in Coral Gables, Florida. I'm joined today by our project principal, Eyal Horitz, Mr. Noah Bacow, who's on his development team, and the team from Q3, led by John Cordello, Brian O'Connor, and presenting today, Jorge Somarriva. Again, as I mentioned, George will walk you through a brief presentation of the design. I will just share a brief overview of the project in context. This project is located, or this property is located in the design district. It is the northeasternmost commercial site in the district. It is approximately 1.89 acres in size, just below 81,000 square feet. It is part of the Miami Design District Retail Street SAP, and it is denominated under its regulating plan as Block 5 East. It has specific standards that apply to the development of the site. The property does have a dual zoning character. The northern 50 feet working from 43rd Street South is denominated T4L. The balance of the property is T5O. Again, the T5O portion is roughly 62,304 square feet of the total site or 1.3 acres or the total 1.89 acres. On December 20th, 2023, we received a zoning verification letter from the city confirming that the site was eligible for development under the Live Local Act. So this is a live local execution that is before you today. That letter confirmed that the site can be developed to the maximum density allowed of 1,000 acres, as well as to a maximum height of 36 stories given neighboring comparator sites within one mile that permitted that maximum height. The project before you today totals 278 dwelling units. They're all located in the easternmost tower. 116 of those dwelling units will be affordable, consistent with the state statutory requirements, so at or below 120% of AMI. The balance of the 162 units will be a for-sale condominium product. There's also in the eight-story western tower that is on Second Avenue, 100,001 square feet of office use on levels two through eight, and then 56,409 square feet of retail on both ground floors and the mezzanine levels, which comprise the balance of this mixed-use project. It is supported by a total of 613 vehicular spaces. Those spaces are located at a below-ground level, serving the commercial and office, and then in the eastern tower, structured parking serving the residential. Again, that parking requirement is consistent with the underlying SAP regulations, which do allow us to take a 30% parking reduction pursuant to that regulating plan. I just want to quickly highlight how this design is also consistent with the underlying SAP regulating plans by briefly stating the following. The design of vehicular and service access here is located on 42nd Street and 4th Avenue. Again, that is by mandate of Miami 21 and the SAP, which does not allow any vehicular access from 2nd Avenue or along 43rd Street in the north because of its adjacency to the residential. It provides for a combined total of just under 20,000 square feet of civic and open space on the site, most of which you'll see is located along Northeast 43rd Street. The buildings are also organized on the site in a manner that reflects the original massing intent of the underlying regulating plan, with the lowest intensity buildings in terms of height located on 2nd Avenue, closest to Buena Vista and the adjoining residential, and the massing for the residential tower here, located on the easternmost site, closest to the commercial district, and also the abutting railroad track. And lastly, I would mention that this plan does include a crosswalk passage, while not required, provides greater connectivity and helps mitigate some of the potential pedestrian and vehicular conflicts if pedestrians were to use Northeast 4th Avenue to access the southern portions of the commercial district nearby. Lastly, we only have one request for relief from the city on this application. That is an SAP permit. On Northeast 2nd Avenue, we are required to maintain a zero-foot setback. We have asked for additional flexibility to set back five additional feet to enhance the width of the sidewalk, and we hope by doing so, enhance the pedestrian experience. With that, I'll turn it over to my colleague, who will walk you through the design. Thank you.

Good afternoon, everybody. George Samariba, Cube 3, 111 Southwest 3rd Street, 4th floor. As I've already mentioned, this is a 36-story mixed-use live-local development and design district, 278 dwelling units, with 40% of that being workforce housing, expansive indoor and outdoor amenities, rooftop pool deck, 56,000 square feet of commercial, 101,000 square feet of office space, 600-plus parking spaces with a basement level, and an expansive civic space north of the site. So when we talk about the building's architecture, our design concept here was derived from a series of layered step backs as a response to the urban environment. We wanted to make sure we created a nice, seamless transition from the pedestrian scale to the podium and the architecture to the tower itself and the sky. Therefore, you'll see that the step backs and the towers help create that gradual increase in height, accompanied by soft curves in the frame of the architectural expressions add to the softness of the floor shapes here. Being that we're in the design district, we want to make sure that we're providing something that is elegant, high energy, transparent, and most importantly, activating that public realm. You'll notice that the design consists of primarily expansive glass at the ground floor, clear glass, to really enhance that pedestrian activity. Above that, glass also encapsulates the office space to create a sense of transparency between the urban and the architecture. The glass, as well, is accompanied by an additional layer of texture through the arches in the architecture itself of the facade to create some nice framed views from the interior of the building. As you see far beyond in the parking podium, Similar arches are also being utilized with a series of metallic panels to screen the garage, which are folded, creating an additional layer of texture and rhythm to the parking podium itself. And then as the building progresses and it steps back further, you'll see that the same arches are also being utilized in a different scale to help that transition and to enhance the rhythm of the balconies on the tower itself. As I mentioned before, we do have a level of basement parking, which will be accessed off of northeast 4th Ave by the train tracks. So here at the ground floor, the first thing we did, just to help with the programming and the massing of the building, we split the massing in two with the cross-block passage that runs between 43rd where the civic space is located down to northeast 42nd, where you do have the drop-off zone. the retail space on the left-hand side, and the residential lobby on the right-hand side with some additional retail spaces. The drop-off zone is going to be a one-way drop-off, which will be screened by a landscaping element to help conceal any vehicle lights. Along Northeast Second Ave, we have a five-foot setback. We're lining it completely with commercial space and clear glass. to enhance that pedestrian experience. As you go through 42nd, you turn the corner on Northeast 4th Ave. Northeast 4th Ave faces the train tracks. This is where we have located our back of house spaces. We've also placed our garage entrance ramps in here to help with the queuing of the vehicles and try to keep everything far away from Northeast 2nd where we have the heavier pedestrian use. On Northeast 43rd Street, we have that transition zone. We're providing the civic space as a public space to really enhance the neighborhood's character and provide some congregational areas for the pedestrian realm. Here we can see just the landscape plan of the ground floor. Again, just really touching on the street canopies of the trees that tie into the design district street canopies. the landscaping and the civic space, as well as the drop-off zone to screen the vehicles. So here we're looking at the two massings. The left-hand side is the massing that houses both the commercial space and the office spaces. As this goes up, you'll see that there is a tiering effect to help that transition and scale, create some nice amenity terraces as well on the right-hand side. You're looking at the parking garage, which will be fully screened in the framed arches with a perforated metallic screen that has a folded pattern to add some texture to it. As we keep going up, once we get to level nine, the left-hand massing drops off and we transition into the rounded edges of the residential tower here where we are housing our typical workforce units. We keep going up with the same shape of the floor plate here.

Excuse me one second. As you're presenting, is there a way that somebody can go to those floors or perspectives?

Oh, yeah. Sorry. I was plugged in here. Sorry. Yeah.

We can't see it on screen.

Oh, you can't see it on screen? Yeah. That's fine. I can just talk to the boards here. It'll be fine.

Do you have the handheld mic and maybe just point us? Yeah. It's easier to follow you that way. Thank you.

Great. Let me just recap on some of the elements.

Wait one second, please. Thank you.

Yeah, it's not pulling up, but it's okay. I can go through the boards here. I'll just take you back a couple steps. Starting off here, we're looking at the tower from Northeast 2nd Avenue and 42nd Street. This is where I was talking about, you know, the design itself is, you know, a derivative of these layered step backs in the tower itself. You can see we transitioned from the pedestrian scale to, you know, a smaller massing over here to the tower, which is pushed further back towards the train tracks area. You'll see that we're using a lot of clear glass to really activate the very heavy pedestrian use here on Northeast 2nd Ave that faces the design district. Up above that, in this portion, which houses the office spaces here, the clear glass is also encapsulated in these beautiful arches that creates some additional texture to the exterior of the building, but from the interior side, it also frames the scenic views of the design district itself. As you push down this way, you also see we have our parking garage podium further back away from Northeast Second Ave. We're utilizing the same architectural expression of the arches with some additional texture in the garage screening, which is a metallic panel which has been folded to create some texture there. Further back, you'll see that the tower steps back and it goes up. The arches are also playing into the rhythm of the balconies to really enhance that pattern there. So just moving over to the ground floor, you can see we went ahead and split the massing in two, you know, to help with the scaling and not provide something that feels too big over here. Northeast second half, the primary frontage, is full commercial lining with clear glass for that pedestrian realm with a five-foot setback. Down here on Northeast 42nd Street, where the massing splits, you'll see that we have the crosswalk passage. that connects from Northeast 42nd to 43rd Street where we have the civic space with the landscaping and trying to cater to the pedestrian realm and provide a nice place for congregation there. On this part of the massing, in the drop-off zone, which is a one-way drop-off zone screened by landscaping, we have some additional retail spaces, the residential lobbies as well. On Northeast 4th Ave, we're facing the train tracks. We took this side as the opportunity to house our back-of-house elements as well as provide access into our parking garage so that we provide enough queuing area along Northeast 4th, and we try to maintain as much traffic off of Northeast 2nd over on this portion over here. And then on 43rd Street, as I mentioned, this is the civic space up front in this neighborhood, so it's a nice transitional buffer with plenty of landscaping here for the tower itself. So once again here, we're looking at the building right here from the curve on 42nd and 4th Ave. You'll see the real expression of the parking garage screening, which is that metallic folded screen with the texture, you know, activation along here for the residential uses, some of the retail spaces in here as well. And this is the portion where we're housing for the garage entrances back over here. you'll notice that the tower steps back to create, again, that transition in scale and mass with the framed arches to enhance that rhythm up and down the tower with the balconies. Along this picture, we're looking at it from 2nd Avenue and 43rd Street. Over here, you can really appreciate the step backs in the podium itself of the towers, helping that scale. facing this way with the large expansive glass and the framed arches over here, the retail space down in this portion over here, all this clear glass over here that turns the corner, also fronts the civic space over here, and then the civic space sitting back here with the parking garage back there with the metallic screening and the tower up above. Down in this view, we're looking at the building from the civic space. The intent here is to have some nice landscaping to create an area for the public realm with some bleachers style seating for everybody to congregate, have nice conversations. And then here, along from 42nd Street, you can really appreciate the split in the two massings. This is the cross-block passage between both of the massings over here. Their drop-off zone down in this portion over here, which will be screened by landscaping. Retail and commercial space along this edge, leading over here to our parking garage entrances. Parking garage here, tower, and rhythmic pattern on the balconies up here. And just to touch on the elevations, just to give you another perspective, you can really see in these views how we're framing the balconies themselves with the arches, with the balconies, trying to create that movement, that feeling that is part of the design district. And you'll notice that our color screen revolves a lot along these bronze colors to create more of a warm tone for the building itself. And over here in our material boards, you can see what we're proposing for the garage screen itself, that folded textured pattern for the metal screen. You know, some of the areas will be smooth stucco bronze. The artistic frames to, you know, really frame those moments in the architecture itself. And the glazing system itself will be very similar in color tone with the bronze for the mullion system. Thank you for your time. If there's any questions, comments, happy to hear them.

Thank you. Mr. Barrera, would you like to get started?

I like the massing of the buildings and how it's done and how they're separated. The main issue I have is that view from 42nd Street, the parking garage just, it doesn't, you try to maintain the same, I guess, module that you're using on the tower, and I think it gave you an opportunity to maybe do something a little bit different, to be a little bit more excitement. I mean, it's just so monolithic that I just think that's the only real issue that I have. I like the scale, I like how it ties down to the pedestrian level, but that view of those bands of just perforated metal, that's really the only issue I have. I mean, the way it's been laid out, it's a complex program with condos and residential and office and the way you do the circulation, but my only issue is that view, that parking garage just, I think it could be more exciting, something more artistic possibly could be done there. That's really the only challenge I have with it. Other than that, I like the project.

Mr. Gallardo?

I agree with my member, board member. I think there's a lack of cohesiveness. At least for me, a lack of intent. I don't know. I don't understand the architecture on it. You got these units that seems like they were designed by three different people or something. So from that point of view, it doesn't excite me. The commercial looks like a bank maybe, bank building. The other one, I'm not even sure what it looks like, the pedestal, which you mentioned, the corrugated vertical arches or something, I don't understand. I just don't really understand. I don't know if you can maybe explain it in some type of architectural way, the intent you try to... So you're referring to the screening element on... Not the massing itself, but more or less the elements.

Yeah, I think, again, I want the architect to address it, but that, just to give the board, I think, a contextual reference, that is a street that has no access from the east. So in terms of where I think the client and the design team were trying to kind of spend dollars to really create a sense of arrival at the project, The focus has been on the west side, on Northeast 42nd Street and 2nd Avenue, where people will first interact with the building. As they'll drive along the front of the building, they'll drive along 42nd Street into the garage, And that will be probably not as easily perceived because there's not, I would say, the depth necessary to really see that frontage. You may see it on Federal Avenue, I would say, maybe across the way. But in terms of your sense of arrival at the project itself, I would say that that perspective would be de-emphasized because you're not going to have the longitudinal point of view in order to really engage with that side of the building.

I mean, John and George, you want to elaborate on that? Yeah, I mean, I think Javier hits the nail on the coffin there, right? We really want to focus our efforts on second and 42nd. Along this view over here, right, we believe that this, the expansive glass here really enhances that at experience with pedestrians in line with Miami 21 with the clear glass requirements for the retail space. As far as the arches themselves go, you know, we felt that this was a soft touch that relates a little bit closer to the curve of the floor plates itself. You know, the design district is very ornamental. These are very ornamental pieces as well. And I think, you know, once you're on the interior side and you see the view from the interior and the glass, the frames themselves help kind of frame that area from the interior. And then, you know, We wanted to make sure that this language, although it does change a little bit when we get to the parking garage, but I think maybe there's a little bit of difference in scale between what we're doing here and here. But the overall design approach with the ornamental arches, I think we really try to enhance with some texture over here.

Thank you. OK. I think you have a beautiful project, beautiful design. I love the scale, the proportions, the massing. And I truly appreciate these small models that you gave us because it truly shows how all the different parts work together. One thing I would mention, so you guys did a great job. I think it's an excellent project. Can you bring up the tower on 42nd, the corner down there? That one. Okay. In here... To piggyback on what my colleague was saying.

So we have a reference. You're referring to the left image or the right image? The left. Okay. Thank you. The right. I love how you cascade.

You guys have a lot of things going on in this project that are very, very good. With this corner, you have a beautiful tower and you have the beautiful retail level or the ground floor. I think this is a missed opportunity for anchoring the tower down to the ground. Basically, you're 90% there. So it's such a powerful corner that if there's something that could be done in this area, Anchoring it, I don't know how you feel about that, but it's a very powerful statement if you bring that tower down or some major elements of that tower. Yeah, not in this corner, the one in the left. So if you, it's just a, it's a different thought, but that's the only, my only concern. Again, you have a, exceptional project and a very well-defined program. Like everything about it, it's just that one corner, it's a different opinion, different design, but if there's some way of anchoring that building down to the ground, it's a very powerful statement.

That's it.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Ms. Appetini?

I think there's a lot going on in this project.

There's like curves and arches and a lot. But I really like the massing. I think in general you distributed the site correctly. I understand that you're trying to do something unique for the design district and trying to do something, I would say, cool. I think there's a lot going on. That's my general consensus. I would try to simplify it. I don't know if you need all these balconies and moves and arches. I mean, it's a very ornamental building, and maybe that's what you're going for. But personally, I think... There's a lot of complicated details that in the execution of these is going to be very costly and very difficult to do them all correctly. I would focus on some key and then make sure that you build them right. You have, I don't even know how many unique conditions here that are going to be very difficult. And it might look like great rendering, but in reality it's a very tricky project to build. I also agree with my colleague on the suggestions of understanding a little bit of the pedestrian experience. It feels very heavy, especially in that rendering where everything is in the same plane. Maybe you can push in some of the glass inside so it doesn't feel like you're walking next to a What is this? A nine-story facade? Yeah. That is 100 feet at the same plane. It's not the most comfortable option. You could look into perhaps an awning or something that reduces the scale at the pedestrian level. It's just going to feel a little bit more comfortable. I don't know if you have the setback, but...

17, I think on that point, if I could just add this by way of observation, I think the goal there was to discourage people from exploring that corner, north along Northeast 4th Avenue, because it is organized back of house. And I think the reason we decided to incorporate a cross-block passage, and this is project to site has gone through various iterations, was to encourage people to, at the midpoint, they're going to points north, head to the civic space, and explore the site that way. So I believe that was part of the design intent. I don't want to step on my colleague's toes here, but certainly if it feels that way, I think we're trying to give the pedestrian the visual clues that here are the places that we think are worth exploring to also mitigate the attendant possible conflicts between vehicles, service vehicles, and pedestrians along Northeast 4th Avenue, since that's very heavily concentrated as a back of the house.

Is this a rental or a condo?

It's a combination building. The workforce housing piece will be a rental execution, and there will be a for-sale condo component for all but the 116 workforce housing units.

I guess I don't understand the project. It looks very high-end condos, but you are also mixing workforce housing You have this, I guess, business component where you're doing a retail. It's a very complicated little project. I think my one suggestion would be see if you can simplify it to actually build it correctly.

Yeah, and I think we can take a look here at 42nd Street and 4th Ave on this portion over here. But just to reiterate again, we're It's not shown here, but this is the side that faces the train tracks as well, which is kind of why we're trying to keep those elements over here, but we can look at some of those elements.

But you have the same condition in the office component, where you have everything on the same plane. I don't know how many stories, right? So that one rendering that you have, it's a flat facade of, I can count...

We actually have a series of step backs here. We go a couple of stories.

But not on second, right?

Where it's your main... No, it isn't.

Your main circulation, pedestrian of the design district, that's where people will walk. So the main avenue that you're kind of targeting, it's like you have this massive... And it could be easily fixed by an overhang or a detail in the facade that you already have. It's just going to feel more comfortable. So anyway, those are my suggestions.

Okay, thank you.

I really like the massing. I really appreciate how you created that public space on the residential side. I love how you softened up the tower, you know, making triangular. I like the floor plan of the tower and, you know, I do think it's a little eclectic, but I don't mind that. I think, as you mentioned in your presentation, you did that intentionally to mimic the dynamism of the design district. And I happen to like the multiple uses, the office component. And I know it's a little strange, but I do like it. Condo, a little bit of housing. I can understand how you've pushed the, you know, you've got to put this parking garage somewhere and you sacrificed that public plaza. So I see how you've pushed that back to the railroad track side. So I completely understand why you did that. You know, it does, that mesh, you know, does look a little industrial, which I respect because it is on the railroad track. So I actually don't mind that. You know, it is, I don't disagree that it's a little bit two-dimensional. And, you know, if you could do some, you know, more three-dimensional elements, so just to break up this massive, you know, nine-story wall or something, I think that would be great for you. But, you know, overall, I just happen to like the project a lot. You know, again, yes, I can disagree that it is a bit eclectic and you do have a lot going on, but I see the value of that and the interest of that, right? So, yeah, I mean, I think on my end, it's a nice project.

So I think you've nailed the branding for a design district. I think it's very sophisticated. Some of the comments that we've heard as far as on the ground floor, I think they're great suggestions in working with a little bit of the setbacks and not having just a straight facade. I think that would be helpful. Your elevations are really tough to read. and I'd love to, and I think your renderings look beautiful, but they're renderings, and we know, you know, on the east side, along northeast fourth street, you know, you show this kind of transparent box, but you have that, your program is chopped up, so you're not really going to have that, like, transparency, so it'll be a little darker, and then it, Looks like you have program on your second floor and the double height on that elevation. Is that parking garage that you're seeing through the glass?

In this portion right here?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, well, the parking garage entrance is over here, so we're giving some additional height to the residential lobby, which is housed over here as much as we can as the ramp itself actually goes up.

So do you see the cars drive through?

No, no. That's going to happen over in this portion here.

Okay. That's not how I read it in your plans. And then it just looks in your elevations and in your renderings on a five one, which is right. So can you show me that elevation where you enter it where you enter with a car?

Yeah, so that's going to be from this view over here. Parking garage entrance is going to be out in this location. So some of this is the back of house space, some of the bike storage, fire pumps. So this will be more of a darker spandrel type component over here to just house some of that back of house and the garage portion as well.

This is the ground floor. And on the second floor, I'm still not seeing how you're not going to see the cars on that double height in the lobby on that elevation. Maybe I'm just not reading. So on sheet A3.3, you're already in the parking garage. Is that right? Okay. So when I look at your renderings.

Yes, I see what you're saying. So, you know, we're keeping most of that double high space is going to be out in this portion. You know, some of that floor staff for the second is going to land over here, but that's something we can study as well as, you know, with the screening and, you know, the materiality of this portion right here, if we need to make something darker to screen anything there.

But your entire second floor in your floor plan shows that it's a parking garage, even on that elevation. I'm seeing, in your renderings, I'm seeing program that's not parking.

Yeah, that's intended to be fritted glass, that's a term I'm not familiar with, along that section of the second level. So what you're seeing...

Okay, so then just for the record, rendering is just not reflective of your plan.

Maybe not the glass treatment, to be clear. In that section, yes. Yeah.

Rendering sheet A5.1. I see desks on the second floor, people hanging out. That's parking. Okay.

Yeah, it is parking along the backside. We wanted the continuity of the appearance of the glass being double height there, but we will have fritted glass there so you don't see it into the parking.

The entire second floor. In the floor plan, I see the entire second floor being parking.

Well, 3.3, the left-hand side, is occupiable space, and that's the second floor retail, which is above the drop-off zone.

Yeah, so you can see that's going to be out in this portion right here.

She's looking at A5.1, different rendering.

Right, so this is second floor. A3.3. Yeah, I was looking at the same one. So I guess, hold on, let me look at section 4.9.

Maybe that will help clarify my confusion.

Yeah, we can provide that section. But if we just look real quick at A3.3, you'll see that part of that parking garage is housing that double-headed space for the commercial retail, which is right above the drop-off zone. The rest of it, you're right, it does transition into the parking from this portion over here.

It's much more than that. I mean, we're talking about... This is your retail. Correct. What is that? 30 feet? 20 feet? The rest of the floor plate is parking garage.

Yeah. That's correct. Yeah. It's about 30, 35 feet on that portion of the retail.

Okay. So from those columns all the way around, you don't have clear glass. Okay.

Yeah. So we'll treat this with a fritted glass to create some, you know,

That was my confusion. It's just the programming looked different to the plans. Okay.

I just realized you have a basement. Can you walk us through the basement? I didn't realize that.

Yes. So on Northeast 4th Ave, we have two entrances, one entrance to the upper portion of the garage itself, There's a second entrance along this portion that leads down to the basement, which is a product of the whole site itself. And what we're doing right above the ramp is where you see in the civic space rendering, which creates those bleacher-style seating components.

Oh, hold on.

So what you'll see here is that the garage itself is happening. The basement garage is down below over here.

So the entrance to the garage is underneath those stairs?

Correct.

Got it. Okay. Okay.

Yeah, and the point of those stairs is to try to...

So it's a separate entrance altogether.

Yep. And that's how we're screening it with the stairs.

And that's the entire... Okay, that's what I'm reading.

All right.

All right, I think, you know, the terracing that you've done on the office space, I think it's a really nice touch, just adding that outdoor space, the way you've handled the circulation on the ground floor, those, you know, plazas that you've given the pedestrian experience, you know, I think is very sensitive. I would take into consideration the recommendations of, you know, kind of activating that ground floor a little bit more and just giving it that depth. And I think you need to, you know, just address the renderings and make sure that they jive with your floor plans and the intents because it's deceiving. I don't have any other comments.

Thank you.

So we have a motion.

I'd like to motion to approve and one recommendation is in the corner to revisit, again, a recommendation just to revisit that garage corner, the big end of the tower. See if you could bring some of the elements from the tower on down to anchor.

to anchor down and open to any other... Could we add something about addressing the pedestrian facade, at least at Second Avenue, because it's 125 feet?

Sure.

Do you want to add some detail?

Yeah, maybe a condition where they could study an option of having an overhang or some form of not having a flat hundred and actually more.

We'll take a look at that and try to see how we can enhance that pedestrian a little bit more.

Thank you. So we have one recommendation, one condition. And would that be it?

And then also to make sure that the second floor glazing on the parking garage side is not transparent, is not see-through. It is treated.

Second. Ricky, can you repeat that? Or Paul, sorry. Two recommendations in one condition.

Yes, we have a recommendation to revisit the southeast corner design to bring elements of the tower down to the ground level. Also want to better activate the ground floor to show more depth. And the third, to address the renderings more accurately reflect the floor plans, specifically the glazing on the second floor.

Thank you. I understand the condition about addressing the pedestrian.

Can you repeat that one?

To activate the ground floor further and to show more depth. Do you have any edits to that?

It's activating the ground floor. I think it's treating the facade in a way that it's not flat for 140 feet. the ground floor is activated, it's retail. So it would have to be some architectural detail or some study in the facade.

A long northeast second, yes?

All right, how about a ground floor facade to add architectural detailing to break up the horizontality? The height verticality, got it.

All right.

Chairlady Labrada?

Yes.

Vice Chair Barrera? Yes. Member Gallardo?

No.

Member Perez-Azura? Yes. Member Pamoui? Yes. Member Zapatini?

Yes.

Motion passes 5-1. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you all for your time.

Happy holidays and happy new year. Congratulations.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

So we have one last item on the agenda.

Yes, item number four is the UDRB Annual Report for 2024-2025. Our Chief of Urban Design, Paul Genovese, will cover that.

Yes, Madam Chairwoman, we have our report for this year. In total, UDRB reviewed 37 projects. 11 were recommended for approval as presented, 20 were recommended for approval with conditions, and four were recommended for disapproval with conditions. We currently have nine board members, including one new appointment this year, Mr. Gallardo, and one vacant position currently.

That's about all that I have on that.

We have a copy for you to sign and as well one for the city manager after the meeting.

Thank you. Thank you all for this.

Can we get a motion for the annual report please? Thank you.

Motion.

I move it.

Second.

Mr. Pramui seconded.

And vice chair was the motion?

Yes. Thank you.

Madam Chair?

Yes.

Vice Chair? Yes. Member Gallardo?

Yes.

Member Perez-Azura? Yes. Member Pamoui? Yes. Member Zappatini? Annual report passes. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you all. It's been a great year.

And now can we get an adjournment, please? Move to adjourn.

Second.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

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