A German group scored design approval for a 214-key hotel with condos in Wynwood, amid a continuing flurry of development proposals in Miami’s arts district.
On Tuesday, the Wynwood Design Review Committee voted in favor of the eight-story building with 87 condos and 11,400 square feet of commercial space on the southeast corner of Northwest 23rd Street and Northwest First Place. The site, which spans nearly an acre, consists of the warehouses at 2215 and 2200 Northwest First Place, 175 Northwest 22nd Street and 170 Northwest 23rd Street, as well as the vacant lot at 2237 Northwest First Place.
The development partners include hotel chain Motel One; Sebastian Lüdke, founder and CEO of real estate and infrastructure investment firm ALP.X Group; and Ralf Büschl of Büschl Group of Companies, according to attorney Steven Wernick, who represented the developers before the Wynwood board.
Motel One and ALP.X are both based in Munich, Germany.
The Cloud One Hotels, the lifestyle brand of the Motel One Operating Group, will brand the building’s hotel. It will run from the second story through the fifth story, according to a news release from Douglas Elliman, which will market the condos for sale. The condos, which will be on the sixth through the eighth floors, will consist of studios, one-bedroom to three-bedroom units, and penthouses.
The developers, through an affiliate, bought the site last year for $24 million from real estate investor and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine, according to records.
Goldman Global Arts, a Miami and New York-based collective that’s the curating arm of Wynwood redevelopment pioneer Goldman Properties, will manage the art curation at the project, including the graffiti. Jessica Goldman Srebnick and Peter Tunney are founders of Goldman Global Arts.
Next, the project is expected to go before the Miami Urban Development Review Board on Sept. 18. After that, it only would need administrative approval.
The development team plans to start construction next year, according to Wernick.
Wynwood, historically a garment district, was redeveloped over a decade ago from a warehouse district to a global art gallery hub with retail and dining options. In more recent years, developers have added office, condo and multifamily projects, and some now are seizing on the Live Local Act with plans for new towers. The state law, approved last year, allows taller and bigger projects than permitted by zoning in exchange for the inclusion of affordable housing.
Developers have proposed five Live Local Act projects in Wynwood, which would bring towers from 18 stories to 48 stories to the traditionally mid-rise neighborhood. In the past, the Wynwood Design Review Committee has raised issues with some of the Live Local Act proposals over their failure to fit into the neighborhood’s character. The board took more kindly to the latest proposal for a hotel with condos.
“This will be an exemplary project for Wynwood,” board member Andres Arcila said. “There seems to be some sort of optical illusion quality to it in the way you guys set up the columns because it looks like there is more depth.”
Matthias Hollwich, founder of New York-based architects’ collective HWKN, told the board that the design team worked to tie in Wynwood’s “industrial heritage.”
The design review board’s approval included suggestions for tweaks, including adding art on the east elevation of the project and possibly making the building corners more experiential for pedestrians.
Also in Wynwood, the Miculitzki family’s Block Capital Group bought into Bel Invest Group’s planned eight-story, 159-condo Diesel Wynwood project at 148 Northwest 28th Street this summer. Block Capital, which plans to relaunch the project in November, could tweak plans.
In June, More Development landed a $76.8 million loan, with plans to build a mixed-use project that could span 2.5 million square feet on 8 acres in south Wynwood. More is the developer of the original Baha Mar in the Bahamas.