Aimco proposal to build new condo tower goes South!
Only for now...
Miami Beach City Commissioner Ricky Arriola has withdrawn his sponsorship of a proposed zoning change that would have allowed AIMCO, the real estate investment trust that owns the Flamingo Point multi-family community on Bay Road, to build a new 300-foot luxury tower on a narrow piece of land on the north side of the property. The current height limit there is 140 feet.
Arriola did not have an issue with this particular project but became frustrated with what he perceived as too much of the burden for legislation falling on his shoulders. As a result, he has pulled nearly all of his sponsorships.
Flamingo Point currently has approximately 100,000 sq ft of buildable floor area which attorney Michael Larkin of Bercow Radell Fernandez Larkin & Tapanes noted in a letter to the City’s Planning Department “under current regulations can only be distributed horizontally throughout the long and narrow lot.”
UPDATE: AIMCO provided this statement with attorney Michael Larkin on Monday, July 27:
“As you know, Commissioner Arriola withdrew as sponsor from multiple legislative proposals that he had agreed to sponsor immediately before the June Land Use Committee meeting, including ours. We will likely file a private application and bring the legislation to the Mayor and City Commission in the fall of this year. This proposed building will be built using the already existing surplus floor area within the property. Our proposed legislation requests an increase in height, a slight decrease in setbacks, and a revision to the liner requirement. Collectively, these requested changes will allow the construction of a taller more elegant building with breathtaking views of the bay and larger units. As the regulations are worded now, only a short and squat building could be constructed with smaller units that would have a far greater impact upon our residential neighbors to the north.”