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Miami commissioners give preliminary OK to rezone Polish American Club
Organization is planning to redevelop Allapattah headquarters into eight-story mixed-use project
A photo illustration of Mayor of South Miami Javier Fernandez and the Polish American Club’s proposed project at 1250 Northwest 12th Avenue in Miami (Getty, Polish American Club, Facebook/Javier Fernandez)
Polish American Club of Miami is closer to scoring a rezoning of its longtime headquarters in Allapattah to make way for an eight-story mixed-use project.
The Miami City Commission on Thursday voted on first reading to change the zoning designation for the club’s property at 1250 Northwest 22nd Avenue from “medium density restricted commercial” to “restricted commercial.” The site straddles the Miami River.
In 2018, Polish American Club of Miami demolished its meeting and event hall that was built in 1941, as the organization embarked on its plan to build an income-producing building that will also house its new headquarters.
The planned eight-story building would have 102 apartments, 40,000 square feet of office space, 20,000 square feet of new banquet hall and meeting space and roughly 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
Roughly 20 percent of the 102 apartments would be set aside for workforce housing under an agreement with the Miami River Commission, which recommended approval of the rezoning in 2022, city records show.
The Miami Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval of the project in March of last year. The city commission then deferred a first reading vote four times between April of last year and last month, city records show.
Miami city commissioners granted preliminary approval for the rezoning on the condition that the Polish American Club of Miami agrees to cap the proposed building’s height at eight stories. Javier Fernandez, the club’s zoning lawyer and South Miami’s mayor, informed commissioners that the organization’s board of directors will vote on the height restriction at its monthly meeting this Saturday.
The city commission’s second reading vote is scheduled for March 14.
The Polish American Club of Miami would need to partner with a developer to build the mixed-use project.
“There has been interest from third parties,” Fernandez told The Real Deal. “But everyone is waiting to see what happens with the rezoning.”
Developers have launched a dozen projects along the Miami River that will add 10,500 condo and apartment units in Allapattah and downtown Miami, according to a November analysis by TRD. Among the recently planned developments is Nexus Riverside 1B, an apartment building with 345 apartments and a 393-space garage. Miami-based Adler Group is developing the 36-story tower.