Miami-Dade County commissioners gave the go-ahead yesterday to prominent developer R. Donahue Peebles and Peebles Corp. executive Barron Channer’s plan to redevelop commercial properties in the impoverished, largely black section of Overtown in Miami.
Each team will take one block south of the Lyric Theater, where several redevelopment efforts have failed in the past. Plans call for a hotel, parking, retail and a residential component that will include 60 affordable housing units, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The developers would pay a total of $5.5 million for the land and a total of $1.25 million into a benefits fund to better the community.
The theater, which was restored in 2000, had been the main venue for musicians Ella Fitzgerald, Patti LaBelle and Sam Cooke.
The Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency approved the project last month. Peebles and Channer requested 36 months to finish the project after they break ground. [South Florida Business Journal] — Mark Maurer