As if Brickell weren’t posh enough, one of regular folks’ last havens about to be lost | Editorial
There’s nothing more symbolic about Miami’s rapid transformation into a city that only few can afford than the proposed conversion of church-owned land into another luxury, waterfront high-rise in Brickell.
Members of the First Miami Presbyterian Church voted Sunday to sell land behind the historic building for about $240 million to developers planning to erect an 80-story tower, one of the tallest in Miami, the Herald reported.
Who can blame the church’s members for taking advantage of its prime location at 609 Brickell Ave.? Some even called it “God’s will.” Of course, Miami’s burgeoning luxury-housing market might have something to do with it too.
The church will remain in place because it’s designated a historic site. Being sold would be land that houses a school and a parking lot that has been converted into a de facto public space where locals and office workers gather to eat at food trucks, walk their dogs and enjoy the outdoors.
Yet again, a space that’s available to all will become exclusive to the very few who can afford the price tag of living on the water. Many residents and people who work in the area are upset about losing the green space, limited outdoor eating options and the increased traffic gridlock from new construction, which will be worse when the Brickell Avenue bridge is raised for river traffic.
Call it market forces, or just the way things are in Miami. But we can still lament that in a city known for its waterfront, more of it has been put beyond the reach of most Miamians. Not to mention the visual intrusion of a high-rise that looks like an 80-story Slinky, another addition to a canyon of buildings that leaves very little space for residents to enjoy.
The land sitting across from Brickell Key is one of last remaining open waterfront properties in the area. Walk around Brickell and you might spot other holdovers from a different time. Tucked in between posh high-rises and office buildings remain older three-to-four-story apartments, especially on the western side of Brickell. It won’t be long before that kind of more-affordable housing also gives way to the next $1 million-or-$2 million condos. That’s happening throughout the city, including in historic Black neighborhoods such as Little Haiti and Overtown, where longtime residents feel the pressure and wonder where they will live once their homes are bulldozed for the next shiny tower.
Some are fighting back, like the residents of Hamilton on the Bay in Edgewater who are being forced to leave by developers who plan to renovate the building to compete in Miami’s luxury market.
The old cliche that you can’t stop progress is correct — where there’s demand for expensive living, developers will meet it. But we must ask the question: Who is Miami really for? Apparently, less and less for people like us.
