Mayor says he’ll block Legion West in Miami’s Upper East Side

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado said he would veto the second phase of a redevelopment plan for the American Legion site in the city’s Upper East Side neighborhood.

The Miami City Commission would have to approve the SAP, or special area plan, for the second phase. As proposed, ACRE GCDM Bay Investments, a company controlled by Global City Development principal Brian Pearl, Midtown Group principal Jon Samuel, and Asia Capital Real Estate partners Leslie Menkes, Blake Olafson and Michael Van Der Poel, want to build 476 condos and three towers as tall as 176 feet for phase two, called Legion West.

Phase one, a bayfront 237-unit apartment complex and new American Legion Hall called Legion East, is moving forward. The SAP would allow for an additional 200 condo units and taller towers than what’s allowed under current zoning.  The developers can still build a second phase without additional zoning changes.

Regalado, responding to a Miami Herald reporter following a contentious town hall meeting on Wednesday, tweeted that he’s met with residents and that “in the long run, it will hurt the historic neighborhood.”

Nearby residents said the development would make traffic worse and dwarf the neighborhood, and had issues with the developer’s request to have the city sign off on 2 acres that would give ACRE GCDM the 9 acres it needs for a SAP, the Herald reported. In exchange, the developer would make improvements to Legion Park, at 6447 Northeast Seventh Avenue. [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis