Wynwood business leaders want to revamp neighborhood

Wynwood could get a $100,000 streetscape improvement program, more police presence and change the parameters of its overlay district, if the Wynwood Business Improvement District leaders get their way.

The Wynwood BID‘s board laid out its goals, along with some funding requests for a procession of city and county officials on Tuesday.

The BID’s second annual board development workshop was held at the Palmieras Beach Club, 4 Grove Island Drive, where Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, Miami City Commissioners Ken Russell and Francis Suarez, Miami City Manager Daniel Alonso Miami-Dade County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, and Miami Dade Transportation and Public Works Director Alice Bravo, among others, heard about infrastructure, streetscape, and other neighborhood improvements the BID would like to have in Wynwood.

Joseph Furst, BID chairman and managing director-Wynwood for Goldman Properties, told The Real Deal that the workshop is a way to make sure the group communicates to government leaders what needs to be done to keep improving the trendy neighborhood. “We’re often working in a vacuum,” Furst said. “This gives us an opportunity to have a dialogue with city and county officials to make our visions a reality.”

Sidewalks are one example. David Polinsky, a BID board member who is a principal with Fortis Development, talked about getting city and county funds to finance the design of Wynwood streetscape project, which he estimated would cost at least $100,000. “We’ve made a commitment to create a streetscape that is unique to Wynwood,” Polinsky said. “We want something that’s creative and innovative that goes well with the murals on the walls of buildings.”

While the streetscape project is a long term goal, Polinsky and other board members requested that Alonso, Regalado, and Bravo find a way to fix existing sidewalks and install news ones in Wynwood in the near future. “We need to fix our sidewalks,” Polinsky said.

In addition to sidewalk and street improvements, the BID board wants more beat cops in Wynwood, recoup some of the monies collected for the city’s parking surcharge by the Miami Parking Authority, tweaking the new zoning overlay district that was created specifically for Wynwood, and to expand the neighborhood’s boundary on the west all the way to Interstate 95 and on the east all the way to the FEC train tracks.

Mayor Regalado assured the board members the city administration will work closely with the BID on its goals. “For sure, we have to help supplement the work you have done,” Regalado said. “I think you are on the right track and I am here to tell you that we are here to help.”