Developer plans to replicate rentals with no parking

Developer Andrew Frey plans to build an eight-unit rental apartment building with no parking spaces on a vacant lot in East Little Havana, then replicate the small-scale development on other vacant lots that pockmark Little Havana.

In doing so, Frey would take advantage of a zoning amendment that he helped to persuade Miami city commissioners to adopt, which allows construction of small buildings without parking in some sections of the city.

The zoning amendment approved last October by the city commission eliminates the requirement that developers build parking spaces for new buildings with less than 10,000 square feet if they are near streets with high-frequency public transit service.

Frey, who runs Miami-based Tecela, and his designer Jason Chandler, Florida International University’s architecture chair, aim to provide an affordable alternative to single-family homes and high-rise residences.

They say developers have virtually stopped developing small apartment buildings and small commercial buildings in Miami, even though small-scale construction was commonplace in the early development of Little Havana, Coral Gables and Miami Beach.

Frey and Chandler told the Miami Herald their 25-foot-wide, no-parking townhouse design for Little Havana represents “surgical infill.”

Frey told the Herald, “Like New York or Boston, you can repeat it down the block, with variations in the facade. Over time it will result in that urban fabric everyone loves.” [Miami Herald] — Mike Seemuth