Developer Rishi Kapoor is a step closer to bringing his Urbin Retreat concept to South Beach.
Kapoor and his partners won the unanimous endorsement of the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board Tuesday afternoon for a mixed-use co-living and hotel development on Washington Avenue.
Unless the decision is appealed, the developer can now move forward with demolishing a one-story retail building at 1260 Washington Avenue that was constructed in 1948, to replace it with a six-story building with 56 hotel rooms, 49 co-living units and suites, a 104-seat restaurant, a rooftop pool deck, and micro-retail, according to records filed with the city. The neighboring four-story office building at 1234 Washington Avenue, which was built in 1961, will be renovated and preserved.
The project also includes a “green buffer” facing Drexel Avenue with shaded trees, an outdoor conference area, community gardens, a community water filling station (which utilizes rain water collected by cisterns), and publicly accessible outdoor phone charging stations. There will also be solar panels on the top roof.
Kapoor, founder of Coral Gables-based Location Ventures, told the board that Urbin Retreat’s goal is to promote “inclusion in the urban core” in a “preservation-oriented” way.
“Our ultimate purpose here is more attainable housing in desirable areas,” he said.
Location Ventures is under contract to purchase 1234 and 1260 Washington Avenue from 1234 Partners Ltd., a venture that includes prominent Miami Beach property owner Jonathan Fryd and the Resnick family. Both office buildings last sold in 1994 for $2.8 million.
Urbin Retreat is one of five Urbin residential projects planned by Location Ventures within Miami-Dade. In October, Kapoor told The Real Deal that he intended to rent out the residential units at South Beach’s Urbin Retreat between $1,000 and $2,000 a month.
Kapoor’s partners in the South Beach Urbin Retreat project include real estate developer David Martin, Banyan Street Capital’s Rudy Touzet, payment processing company UnitedTranzactions founder Marty Halpern, and former NFL player Jonathan Vilma.