It’s a new year, but in Surfside, the arguments sound familiar.
A recently proposed Live Local Act project is stirring local opposition, even as state lawmakers look to double-down on the pro-development workforce housing law that has riled up residents and local governments across the state.
A pair of developers submitted plans in November for an 11-story, 33-unit residential and hotel project on 95th Street in Surfside. An affiliate of the site owner, New York-based Postal Realty Trust led by Andrew Spodek, and an entity called Ocean Walk Surfside LLC, filed the application.
The building would replace a single-story pink post office that was built in the 1950s.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett called it a “disaster.” Burkett went further. He said it’s outrageous that Florida politicians have “decided to destroy the fabric and composition of small towns” via the Live Local Act.
Live Local became law in 2023. It encourages the development of workforce housing, limited to tenants earning a maximum of 120 percent of the area median income, by giving developers density, height, parking and tax incentives, among other things.
The law has stripped cities of their approval power. If developers comply with the requirements of the law, they can bypass public hearings to obtain approvals administratively.
The law has also riled up a number of towns and their residents.
Aside from concerns over additional strain on already congested roads, opponents of the project cited potential issues with crowded schools, and an erosion of the town’s right to determine its development fate.
Town staff members are reviewing the application.
Lawmakers in Tallahassee will likely be unphased, as they have been in years past, by calls to return power to municipalities or help control overdevelopment.
Among the real estate bills that could be considered this legislative session is Senate Bill 1548, which was filed late last week by Sen. Alexis Calatayud. The bill expands the properties that qualify for Live Local to include any property owned by a county, municipality or school district. In those cases, the property owner would have to be a party to the application and those projects must be within the geographical boundaries of their respective county, municipality or school district.
Counties would also be barred from restricting height of Live Local Act projects through other means — i.e. setbacks or stepbacks.
The bill has some other quirks. Farms and farm operations are not considered commercial or industrial properties.
Keep an eye for our additional reporting on this and other real estate-related bills the legislature could take up this session, which starts on Monday.
What we’re thinking about: Do you expect more of a crackdown on Venezuelan investment in South Florida following Nicolás Maduro’s capture and arrest, or the opposite? Are your Venezuelan clients listing their U.S. properties for sale? Send me a note at kk@therealdeal.com.
CLOSING TIME
Residential: The mansion at 1460 North Lake Way in Palm Beach changed hands for $72 million. British investor Pamela W. Starret sold the nearly 1-acre property to a hidden buyer. The roughly 16,000-square-foot house has six bedrooms, six full bathrooms and three half baths.
Commercial: In Coral Gables, DWS Group sold the Alhambra, a two-building office complex at 2 Alhambra Plaza and 95 Merrick Way for $119.6 million. Dallas-based Lone Star Funds, Jay Caplin’s Miami-based Square2 Capital and David Moret’s Highline Real Estate Capital bought the property.
— Research by Mary Diduch
NEW TO THE MARKET
A waterfront estate in Palm Beach hit the market for $105 million. The seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom compound sits on an acre at 790 South County Road. It’s on the market with Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate. The Maurice Fatio-designed Mediterranean home spans more than 17,000 square feet, including outdoor space, and it includes a carriage house, four-car garage, library, gym, dining room that sits 30 people, a pool and dock. Property records show it sold for about $31 million in 2021.
A thing we’ve learned
Billionaire and Google co-founder Larry Page is the mystery buyer who purchased two waterfront properties in Miami’s Coconut Grove for a combined $173 million. Fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin also made an offer to buy a waterfront home on Allison Island in Miami Beach for about $50 million — record deals that represent the tiniest fraction of their combined net worths.
Elsewhere in Florida Miami
- The Miami Hurricanes will be playing for the championship after beating Ole Miss at the Fiesta Bowl last week. Miami will play for its first national championship since the 2001 season, and they’ll do it on their home turf at Steve Ross’ Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. (Also on that note, Ross fired former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. I’ll miss the memes.)
- The Miami Police Department’s Internal Affairs is investigating former Mayor Francis Suarez’s gifting Rolex watches to four police sergeants-at-arms at the end of his tenure as mayor, the Miami New Times reports.
A Coral Gables man pleaded guilty to careless boating in the Biscayne Bay death of 15-year-old Ella Adler, the daughter of Miami developer Matthew Adler, after running over the teen as she was wakeboarding behind a yacht. Under the plea deal, the boater will serve probation and avoid a formal conviction. Adler addressed the court and called for stricter boating regulations, the Miami Herald reports.