Developer tries to revive Miami riverfront project that a 2007 court ruling sank

An appellate court ruled in 2007 that Miami wrongly permitted the 689-unit Brisas Del Rio residential development

Miami River (Credit: Getty Images)
Miami River (Credit: Getty Images)

A developer plans to build an apartment building on a riverfront site in Miami more than a decade after a state court stopped residential development on the same site.

Belinda Meruelo of Miami Beach, who owns the 9.44-acre development site, has applied for a rezoning and comprehensive-plan amendment for the land in the 1500 block of Northwest 24th Avenue.

Meruelo plans to build a new street called Northwest 16th Road, which would divide the 9.44-acre into two parcels north and south of the road.

The 3.68-acre southern parcel would be rezoned to permit a residential building as tall as eight stories with as many as 230 units.

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The 5.76-acre northern parcel would have marine facilities including a yacht club and 45 slips for boats.

In 2007, a court ruled that the city of Miami wrongly changed the zoning for the site to permit construction of a 689-unit residential development called Brisas Del Rio.

The Miami River Marine Group, an association of marine businesses along the river, filed the lawsuit that led to the 2007 ruling by the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami.

The association successfully argued in court that the Brisas Del Rio development would threaten marine businesses near the development site. [South Florida Business Journal] Mike Seemuth