Residents lose battle over planned apartment hotel in South of Fifth neighborhood
A resident-led campaign to block the construction of an apartment hotel in the South of Fifth neighborhood failed Friday when a Miami Beach board voted to uphold the development.
The Board of Adjustment rejected an appeal challenging whether the city’s administrative approval of a new apartment hotel at 310 Meridian Ave. in 2018 violated a city code provision for developments in historic districts.
Residents of the upscale South Beach neighborhood argued that the city’s Planning Department did not offer the public proper notice when it quietly approved a project they said would bring rambunctious, transient guests to a residential community with limited parking. An attorney representing the residents argued that the code requires a separate vote before the Historic Preservation Board, which would have given them an opportunity to publicly oppose the project prior to its approval.
After hearing public comments from several upset residents across the city — including a Planning Board member and former Mayor Matti Bower — the board voted 6-1 to side with Planning Director Thomas Mooney, who defended his department’s practice of consolidating building permits and certificates of appropriateness into single applications as part of a streamlined review process. Mooney added that the code allows certain renovations to be approved administratively.
“The current review process does strike a very careful balance between ensuring participation by affected parties and having an efficient permit review process,” Mooney said at the meeting.
The board’s decision means the new project, called Casa Marela, will proceed as planned, said attorney Neisen Kasdin, who represents the developers.
Kasdin said the luxury project will attract “refined” travelers and not disturb the neighborhood. When construction is completed, the hotel will have 18 units and a lobby staffed 24-hours a day, he said. There won’t be a pool, outdoor entertainment or a rooftop deck, he added.
“Casa Marela will not be operating as an Airbnb-style lodging,” he said at the meeting.
The city’s approval of the new apartment hotel project — along with two others at 226 Jefferson Ave. and 33 Jefferson Ave. in the same area — sparked outrage in recent months when a neighborhood group led by resident-activist David Suarez complained that new projects were being approved without giving residents proper notice.
City commissioners, who said they were unaware of the approved projects, voted in October to prohibit any future apartment hotels in the area and directed Inspector General Joseph Centorino to hire outside counsel to investigate the approval process.
The Inspector General’s report, which was released Wednesday, found that the Planning Department violated the city code by not utilizing a separate application for a certificate of appropriateness and by not issuing a written notice of approval after the department approved the 310 Meridian Ave. project. The report also found that Building Official Ana Salgueiro violated the Florida Building Code by authorizing automatic building permit extensions to the property owner.
The report was introduced as evidence as part of the appeal at Friday’s meeting but Board of Adjustment members did not discuss it extensively. Some said they were seeing it for the first time Friday and did not have sufficient time to review the findings.
Suarez said it was “unfortunate” that the report was not released earlier, because he said it could have impacted how the members voted.
“The board was tasked to decide if the decision was done incorrectly,” Suarez said. “The IG report confirms that.”
After spending what he estimated to be about $70,000 in legal fees and other expenses fighting the project, Suarez said he does not think he will appeal the board’s decision and it was unlikely the city would admit making any mistakes.
“I don’t think I’m going to waste my time and money any more to appeal this decision,” he said.
