Car dealership tycoon Norman Braman’s firm proposes a pair of 60-story residential towers and an auto building, as part of a massive redevelopment of its properties in Miami’s Edgewater.
Braman Motors wants to build the towers and an 11-story automotive building on a portion of its 21-parcel assemblage between Northeast 19th Terrace and Northeast 21st Street, immediately west of Biscayne Boulevard, according to an application included in a Miami board meeting’s agenda. The sites are at 64, 106, 120, 146 and 160 Northeast 20th Street; 135 Northeast 19th Terrace; and 1930 Northeast Second Avenue.
The property is home to several Braman dealerships and an auto body shop. Most of the existing buildings will remain.
The first phase of the Arquitectonica-designed project will be the 11-story automotive building between Northeast 19th Terrace and Northeast 20th Street, west of Northeast Second Avenue. It will include a five-story showroom, service bays and service lounge, parts warehouse and inventory storage, the application shows.
Subsequent phases will be the residential towers. One tower, along Biscayne Boulevard, will have 624 units. The second tower, along Northeast Second Avenue, will have 550 units. Braman Motors has not yet decided whether the units will be condos or apartments, according to a spokesperson for the firm.
The proposal also shows pedestrian improvements, including a public park and a path leading to the park from Biscayne Boulevard.
Braman Motors is proposing the project under Miami’s special area plan zoning provision. It allows owners of at least 9 contiguous acres to develop master planned projects that can get wiggle room on zoning restrictions in exchange for providing public benefits such as parks or road improvements.
The Miami Urban Development Review board was expected to take up the proposal on Wednesday, but the meeting was canceled. The next board meeting is on April 23.
Braman Motors had filed a project application in 2022, and now resubmitted it with changes following input from city staff members, according to the most recent filing. The changes include improvements to a Shell gas station now on the site and adding more public spaces, including the path leading to the park. The path is labeled as a “Woonerf,” a Dutch term for a shared street among pedestrians and cyclists, and sometimes cars.
Braman, 92, bought some of the properties that are part of the development site for $13 million in 2022. The billionaire, who is a former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and an art collector, also has been politically active in South Florida. He was a major financial backer of the successful recall election of former Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez in 2011.
In 2020, Braman, developer Jorge Pérez, the Brickell Homeowners Association and the Morningside Civic Association sued the city of Miami in a push to stop a planned jai alai fronton in Edgewater. A Miami-Dade Circuit judge granted them a win in the case in 2021.