Hard Goods?

Hard Goods?
Application for 78,000-Square-Foot “Building Supply” Center on West Avenue to Be Heard by City Board

On Goldwater Realty’s submitted plans, it is described as a 78,400-square-foot “small shopping center” and as “retail — hard goods/building supply.”

By Erik Bojnansky

An application to develop nearly 160,000 square feet of commercial space on West Avenue, including a 78,400-square-foot “hard goods/building supply” retail center, will be heard by the Miami Beach Design Review Board on April 4.

But unless the developers, Goldwater Realty, decide to scale down their plans for Westside One and Westside Two, as they are called in current plans, they will also have to come before the Miami Beach Planning Board for approval.

Representatives of Goldwater Realty did not return phone calls from the SunPost.

On February 28, six days after Goldwater Realty submitted plans to build Westside One and Westside Two, the Planning Board recommended the passing of an ordinance requiring conditional use approval for commercial projects exceeding 50,000 square feet within areas zoned Industrial-Light Industry. The Planning Board’s action created “zoning in progress,” meaning future applications will be judged by the proposed code’s language until it is fully approved or rejected by the Miami Beach City Commission.

Since Westside One and Westside Two are being developed in an area zoned Industrial-Light Industry, the 50,000-square-foot rule was applauded by condominium owners living in Sunset Harbour who worried that the projects would bring increased traffic to roadways they say are already congested with tow and delivery trucks from existing businesses.

But local businesses, many of them tenants of Goldwater Realty, which owns much of the commercial land there, claimed that plans to bring in a Whole Foods Market would only enhance the area. Ed Arenas, who owns Unique Casting, even held a casting call for models just outside of City Commission chambers on the third floor of City Hall as the Planning Board deliberated other issues. Arenas claimed that the faces of chosen models would surround the commercial block that Goldwater Realty planned to develop.

To be located at 1824 Alton Road, 1235 18th St., 1825 West Ave. and 1843 West Ave., Westside One will consist of a 55,820-square-foot supermarket, 16,000 square feet of light industry and a 200-seat, 12,076-square-foot “quality restaurant.” It will be 40 feet tall, have 295 parking spaces and be built on a lot area of 70,000 square feet.

Westside Two will be developed at 1801 Bay Road, 1333 18th St., 1824 West Ave. and 1874 West Ave. On plans it is described as a 78,400-square-foot “small shopping center” and as “retail — hard goods/building supply.”

Some opponents of Goldwater Realty’s proposed project claimed there are plans to construct a Home Depot there, a charge that Solomon Fellig, part owner of Goldwater Realty, has previously denied to the SunPost. 

After the February 28 meeting Fellig told the SunPost he planned to build regardless, even if it meant shrinking the project.

Unit owners of Sunset Harbour South, meanwhile, remain interested in what may be constructed just a few blocks from their homes, said the condominium’s property manager, Claudia Sculthorpe.

“I do know they are very, very concerned about what goes up there,” she said. Unit owners want to be sure nothing will be constructed that will diminish their quality of life or property values, she said.

Comments? E-mail erik@miamisunpost.com.

© Miami Sunpost 2006  

http://www.miamisunpost.com/sixthstoryfrontpage.htm