“Way out of scale”: Miami board rejects SB, Hazelton’s 55-story Edgewater tower

Amid intense neighborhood opposition against a proposal for a 55-story tower in Edgewater, a Miami project review board rejected the plan by SB Development and Hazelton Capital Group. 

The Urban Development Review Board voted 6-0 on Wednesday to recommend denial of the 463-unit project proposed for a 0.3-acre lot 419 Northeast 19th Street, between the Cité on the Bay and the Quantum on the Bay condominium complexes. The board’s vote isn’t final and is a recommendation to the city’s planning director, who has final say.

The developers haven’t clarified whether the 463 units would be apartments or condos. 

The vote marked the second time SB and Hazelton, both based in New York, exited a UDRB meeting without a vote of approval. The developers first presented their project in October, but withdrew their application to tweak plans after some board members and Edgewater residents spoke out against the project. 

At issue now: Although SB and Hazelton reduced the podium’s size to preserve some views for Cité residents, and also tweaked façades, including adding a fountain and plants that create a green wall effect, the tower’s height and unit count remain unchanged.

These changes weren’t enough for some board members. 

“I think it is a real pity that you’re coming back with essentially the same thing, but a little more perfume,” board member Dean Lewis said. 

“It’s a very elegant, slender building,” said board member Francisco Perez-Azua. But “to withdraw this thing [application] and come back with essentially the same project is just not really a good move.” 

A major issue for the board is the proposal for 180 parking spaces, after the developers added eight spots to the originally proposed 172. 

“This is not New York,” said board member Ligia Ines Labrada, adding that a developers’ representative had said that the project’s parking operator had overseen a similar project in New York. “We do not have the infrastructure to sustain the amount of parking that is lacking in this building.” 

Labrada echoed a common sentiment by board members and Edgewater residents. The tower “in a vacuum is a great design” but it’s just not right for the small, irregularly shaped lot, she said. 

“Just because as-of-right you can build this, urbanistically it’s way out of scale,” she said. “It’s taking no consideration to the adjacent residents, and I have a really hard time being able to digest something like this.” 

Javier Aviñó, an attorney representing the developers, told the board that the site actually allows for an even taller tower that reaches up to 60 stories. And, if this project is developed, development regulations allow for another 900 units to be developed in the area of the proposed tower. 

“The argument that this is an extreme over-densification is just not correct based on what the zoning regulations allow,” he said, adding that the project was peer reviewed by engineers and architects not involved with the development. 

“People get accustomed to certain views, but I’d like to remind this board that views are not something that is protected,” Aviñó said regarding neighbors’ argument that the tower would block their views.  

The distance between the tower and Cité is 64 feet. The project is separated from Quantum by a 50-foot wide street, and the distance that the Quantum is set back from the property line.  

The meeting led to tense exchanges. Some board members asked for architectural boards showing specific aspects of the project, and inquired if the parking consultant can opine on the planned number of spots. The consultant wasn’t at the meeting, and Chris Fogarty, founding partner at architecture firm Fogarty Finger, directed board members to the digital application package for some of the schematics. 

“You are presenting in front of the UDRB. We asked you for several sheets, and your answer is, ‘I don’t have it.’” board Chair Ignacio Permuy said. “You guys should come prepared.” 

Nine Edgewater residents, including condo owners at Cité and Quantum, spoke against the project at the meeting. Their concerns included: The development site is slightly bigger than a basketball court, the low parking ratio would lead to more woes at the already overburdened small area streets and existing on-street parking, and the project could lead to more flooding in the high-risk flood zone. A Change.org petition against the project had 364 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. 

Some Cité residents also are upset that their past board in 2022 awarded the project 300 unused density units at a cost of $14,000 per unit and additional floor lot area at a cost of $14 per square foot, according to records. The board also approved a covenant in lieu of title, solidifying the density transfer to the project. 

“The previous board that this was brought to processed the original agreement to sell these density units to the developer with no oversight, no communication, no anything to the Cité owners,” one condo resident said. “There was a quick signing of this agreement that none of the owners were aware of.”

The Cité association has maintained that the board had the right to vote on the density transfer on its own, but residents have argued this should have been put to a vote among all unit owners. 

SB, led by founders Joseph Stern and Roni Benjamini, bought the 0.3-acre site in 2022 through a bulk purchase of all 13 units at the five-story Belmar Condominium for $12 million. Hazelton is led by principal Adam Westreich. 

Despite voting against the project, board members weren’t opposed to the developers building on the site. “I think it’s doable, but I think [the proposal] needs work,” board member Fidel Perez said. 

Board member Gia Zapattini called for a change in some of the building materials. “We want to help them develop,” she said, “not prevent them to develop.”