Clevelander submits plans to turn South Beach party spot into housing. Here are the details

The owners of the Clevelander Hotel and Bar submitted plans to the city of Miami Beach on Monday to transform the famous party spot into a restaurant and 18-story housing development, shorter than the 30 stories first floated last month but substantially taller than other buildings nearby on Ocean Drive.

The proposal calls for a 200-foot tower above a ground-floor restaurant where the Clevelander currently stands. The project would have 137 residential units, 55 of which would be designated as workforce housing.

Representatives for the owner, Montreal-based Jesta Group, said they took community feedback into account.

“This is a result of a lot of listening, a lot of discussions, and hopefully now some constructive discussions we can have with the city,” Anthony O’Brien, Jesta Group senior managing director, said. “Our great hope is that we work in partnership with the city and stakeholders so that we design a project that everyone is happy with.”

Monday’s submission comes more than six weeks after Jesta Group announced its intention to redevelop the Clevelander and adjacent Essex House hotel under Florida’s Live Local Act, which lets developers circumvent local height and density regulations if they commit to designating 40% of new housing units as affordable to renters earning up to 120% of the area median income.

The median income in Miami-Dade County is $74,700 and 120% of that is $89,640. Rental units in the proposed development could go for more than $2,100 per month for studios.

Mayor says it would ‘stick out like a sore thumb’

Many Miami Beach officials and residents were quick to denounce the idea last month, saying it would jeopardize the historic Art Deco character of the city’s most iconic street. Mayor Dan Gelber called it the “worst idea ever.”

On Monday, Gelber said the 18-story proposal is still problematic. He suggested it would lead to the “demise of Ocean Drive as we know it,” as other developers would pursue similar projects.

“Such a building would stick out like a sore thumb,” he said. “The only idea worse than this one was the first version.”

READ MORE: Plan to replace Clevelander with housing is already a political football in Miami Beach

On Sept. 7, the Clevelander owners issued a press release about their intent but didn’t submit plans to the city.

The site plan application submitted Monday features designs by prominent Miami architect Kobi Karp to preserve the historic facades of the Clevelander and Essex buildings. Units above the present-day Clevelander would be market-rate condos, while workforce housing would occupy the Essex property. A five-story annex would be demolished.

Jesta Group, which bought the nearly one-acre site in 2018, initially said it could build up to 30 stories under the Live Local Act, which allows projects with at least 40% of units designated as workforce housing to be as tall as local zoning allows within one mile.

In Monday’s submission, the real estate investment firm revised that assessment, saying it could actually build as tall as 52 stories and 519 feet based on the height of Five Park, a condo tower under construction a mile away at Fifth Street and Alton Road.

At 200 feet, the proposed tower at the Clevelander site would still be the tallest along the row of hotels and bars on Ocean Drive, where heights are limited to 50 feet.

Monday’s application includes a traffic analysis conducted by the firm Kimley Horn, which concluded that the development would decrease car traffic. That conclusion makes sense, said O’Brien, given the Clevelander’s current use as a party destination that frequently hosts hundreds of guests on its patio.

Jesta Group representatives said the property is too small to provide parking onsite. They said the project would comply with city requirements to either provide parking nearby, pay an impact fee, or obtain a waiver.

Can the city still fight the plan?

Planning staff will review the application for compliance with setback and parking requirements, along with other land development regulations that remain under city control. If approved, the developer could then bypass public hearings and seek a building permit.

Under the state legislation passed earlier this year, developers can bypass the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board, which previously had the power to review the redevelopment of all historic structures.

On Tuesday, the Miami Beach Planning Board will consider proposals aimed at lowering building heights allowed for new buildings within a mile of Ocean Drive in response to the Live Local Act and the Clevelander plan.

Alexander Tachmes, an attorney for the Clevelander, said he feels confident that the Planning Board items “won’t affect an application like ours, which has already been filed.”

READ MORE: Miami Beach considers ways to fight against the Clevelander’s affordable housing plan

City officials have also discussed a potential legal challenge to the Clevelander proposal because it exceeds the city’s allowable floor-area ratio, a method of regulating building size. Lawyers say it’s not clear from the Live Local Act whether developers can override those regulations.

The Clevelander owners portray their proposal as a way to meet the city’s desire for more affordable housing and a different vibe in South Beach.

Residents and elected officials have for years decried the raucous atmosphere on Ocean Drive and sought ways to address it, sparring with the Clevelander and other business owners over attempts to move last call for alcohol from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m.

“This would encompass a transformation of one of, if not the most important outdoor venue on Ocean Drive,” Tachmes said.

But Gelber says this isn’t the right approach.

“They’re trying to destroy arguably our most significant landmarks,” he said. “These are not people who care about our city or our history.”