Buena Vista Residents Resist Proposed Developments

As South Florida grapples with a housing crisis and developers propose building more high-rises in Miami, BVM Development LLC (BVM), developers and owners of the Upper Buena Vista outdoor mall, and Design District Studios (DDS) have requested rezoning changes for planned multistory residential buildings in the Buena Vista neighborhood.

However, residents worry those changes could alter the face of the neighborhood and set a precedent for future multistory development proposals.

“As you look to develop this, we want you to think about how is that going to work in our existing neighborhood, that it doesn’t take away the charm of Buena Vista,” said Williams, a five-year resident.

BVM’s rezoning request comes as several surrounding properties, such as Miami Jewish Hospital and the Avenues school, seek to construct more buildings. The hospital, according to the Upper Buena Vista Neighborhood Association, plans to construct an eight-story building along NE 50th Terrace, while the school will construct student housing and create a registration and parent center nearby.

There also exists a proposal to create Sabal Palm Village, a 25.97-acre development for residential, commercial, civic and industrial use.

According to Kim Aviv-Keats, BVM’s liaison, BVM and DDS submitted a joint application to the City of Miami Planning Department and Office of Zoning proposing that the front-facing property on NE Second Avenue be rezoned to allow up to five stories to be built on that parcel of land, instead of the three-story height restriction that now exists.

The application also requests that real estate agent Arthur Porosoff’s properties be rezoned for a three-story townhouse.

“We can’t look at it in isolation,” said Williams about BVM’s rezoning plan, asking developers to be amenable. “Yes, it’s your project, but then we’re going to have the school coming on board, potentially Sabal Palm ... and the hospital … If you’re going to scale up to five floors, it’s going to look different.”

Residents, who gathered at the Little Haiti Soccer Park in February to hear more about the plan from developers and share their concerns, asked BVM to consider scaling the residential building to four stories instead of the proposed five.

“I would like to see something that looks more residential; I don’t want to see them go that high and I don’t want the number of apartment units, either,” said one resident. “You’re saying 60 or we’re only going to do 40 … You guys have hopped back and forth about what the use of this building is going to be from the time we started meeting, so the trust there is completely gone. And that’s part of the problem.”

BVM says the upzoning will help compensate for areas where construction would be restricted because of surrounding trees. So instead of building out, they would build up.

“What is proposed [is] a very modest rezoning of the site,” said Neisen Kasdin, a managing partner of Akerman Law firm’s Miami office and a former mayor of Miami Beach, “which will allow the development of some medium-rise, low-rise I should say, multifamily usage while keeping the character of the immediate area.”

“The residential second phase was always a part of the project,” Aviv-Keats explained to residents at the meeting, which included Miami City Commission Chair Christine King, who represents District 5.

“By listening to you and listening to all your concern, they’re able to take your concern back and I can say, ‘Hey, this was a big issue, what are you going to do,” said King, assuring residents that their voices would be heard. “I have included the community in projects and for the most part, we’ve always been able to come to a consensus.”

While a few Buena Vista residents and some from neighboring communities showed support for the plan, tensions were high as others sought answers for how the project could impact the community.

“What is in it for the youth, what is in it for our seniors and what is in it for our veterans?” asked a resident who did not provide their name. “As we see, there’s a bill coming out of Tallahassee that’s talking about arresting homeless people.”

“No project is meant to address all the issues that we have as a society,” said Fernandez. “What’s unique about this project is that it’s really micro retail … trying to give local entrepreneurs a platform to grow and build their businesses.”

That sat well with Upper Buena Vista business owner Mayra Gonzalez, who has been priced out of numerous gentrified neighborhoods and forced to move.

“We have hundreds if not thousands of women like me looking for a little store that they can make into a living … so if they want to open another place that's going to give that availability to other people like me, I think that in itself right there is perfect,” she said.

Meanwhile, concerns were expressed regarding neighborhood safety and crime, encroachment, increased traffic, construction job opportunity access, short-term rental use of the property and parking shortages.

Aviv-Keats says BVM is committed to hiring locally and will conduct a traffic study, as well as maintain on-site security at the premises.

“If the zoning changes take place, we’re still talking about a very small project with maybe 61 residential units at most,” said Kasdin. “So, it’s not a massive project with hundreds of units or thousands of feet of retail. This is very small and the impacts that it will have are small.”

If the zoning change is approved, BVM anticipates breaking ground in five years, after spending the years prior drafting plans and obtaining permits.

Yet, as concerning as the BVM development is for some of the neighborhood’s residents, it dwarfs in comparison to the $2.6 billion Swerdlow Group mixed-use public housing project proposed for the Little River and Little Haiti neighborhoods.

That project would span 65 acres and include nearly 5,000 workforce and affordable housing units, and 700,000 square feet of retail space in addition to retail and private land space, according to the Miami Herald. It would take almost a decade to complete.