Showing posts with label Jorge Perez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jorge Perez. Show all posts

Monday, June 4, 2012

Latest info & photos re The Related Group's proposed 31-story waterfront Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach; Vote is set for Wednesday night despite the fact that many nearby homeowners are away for the summer and can't participate. It needs to be rejected! Don't give away North Beach!

Above, Hallandale Beach/Broward County civic activist Csaba Kulin on Friday afternoon on the sidewalk near the western foot of the Intracoastal Bridge/SR 858 and the intersection of Hallandale Beach Blvd. and S.E. 26th Avenue, standing near one of the city's Public Notice signs about Wednesday night's City Commission meeting.
Visible in the background are the iconic, multi-colored HB Water Tower and the three towers of The Beach Club, three blocks away on the beach on State RoadA1A/S. Ocean Drive. June 2, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier 


Over the past week, as the important upcoming vote on Wednesday night regarding the future of the The Related Group's controversial 31-story waterfront Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach and the give-away deal for the city's North Beach property and parking garage has approached, my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach/Broward County civic activist Csaba Kulin and I have been busy.
Very busy.


Busy not only reading the minutiae of the proposed deal and taking note of what is and is NOT fully spelled-out on its pages, but busy walking the properties involved and the affected neighborhoods, and busy taking photographs so that I could share them with you here to give you a perspective you won't get elsewhere.


Busy, too, speaking with and listening to concerned and angry Hallandale Beach taxpayers, residents and homeowners, of whom there are many, who wonder how and why it could be that with less than a month until he retires, City Manager Mark A. Antonio and the HB City Commission have chosen NOW as the time to push this crucial vote, given that it's common knowledge in this city that lots of residents leave for the summer, or at least for weeks at a time.
(Just as is true in neighboring Aventura and Hollywood.)


But then this is hardly the first time that these characters have pretended not to know something they actually did, because to do otherwise would be to make what they were attempting to do even more transparent and calculating.

The fact that many people who live here have other homes, whether the original homes they and their families lived in before they moved here permanently, or, like Mayor Cooper and her family, a vacation home -in her case, in Colorado- is just something that everyone takes for granted. 


It's one of the least surprising things about this area and this city, given how brutally hot and humid it gets here in the summer, despite the fact that we're an ocean-side city.
(Plus, to be honest, the constant vigilance about prospective hurricanes really wears you out after awhile each summer.)


Nobody-but-nobody begrudges any other Hallandale Beach resident getting away from here for a while in the Summer, and people like me who don't have a second/vacation home up in the mountains of Carolina or on some lakefront near Tahoe or upper New York State, certainly wish we had one.


Especially on brutally hot summer days when there is no breeze to speak of, and walking even a few blocks between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. seems to sap all the energy out of your body, no matter how much water you drink.
Trust me when I tell you, NOBODY brags about being here for the entire summer!


(Which is why, at least as of now, my plan is to be in Scandinavia for a few weeks this Summer, mostly in Sweden, and then hit Iceland on the way back to Ft. Lauderdale.)


So, to recap, that people living here flee the city/area during the Summer is a well-known anecdote, rather it's a certified fact.
A fact that is nowhere more true than the neighborhood most directly affected by the prospect of a 31-story building and its attendant traffic appearing in their midst.


(Here's a link to a pro-South Florida development website that has a rendering of what The Beachwalk would look like as a 31-story bldg., looking west from the Intracoastal Bridge/State Road 858. http://exmiami.org/threads/beachwalk-hallandale-beach-305ft-31-fl-proposed.81/  )



View Larger Map

March 2011 image is from Google Maps' Street View.


But because many of these HB residents are not here during the summer, due to the scheduling of this meeting, which could easily be postponed for three months until after Labor Day and the first Commission meeting of September, they are now unable to appear in-person to have their say at the City Commission meeting about how it affects their most valuable investment, their home.
It doesn't just seem unfair to me, it seems downright cravenly opportunistic.




To give you all a better sense of what's really going on and what's being attempted on this issue, I'm posting two emails that Csaba has already written and sent.
The first is to the HB City Commission asking them to do the right thing and delay the vote, and the second is to HB residents offering his perspective on what the deal would do to this community, based on his actually having read all the documents.


Farther down in this blog post, I've posted some of the photos I took last week on two separate visits to the sites under scrutiny to better capture what's what.



Above and below, Csaba Kulin on the scene, on S.E. 26th Avenue next to the property in question, and at the city's North Beach Park. Like me and almost anyone else around here who pays attention, we're dismayed at the junk and debris, large and small, that remains on the city's public beach for months and years at a time: mounds of cigarette butts swallowed by sand but still there, next to state-protected plants that have been missing ropes on their poles for years, alcohol bottles, condom wrappers... That also includes a prime example of what looks to be 1920's-era Soviet agricultural machinery, which the city, apparently, used to use to comb the beach. Now, rusty and likely full of germs you don't want to even think about, it's NOT moved in years and is thus an eternal eyesore. And trust me, when you are that close to it, you can practically taste the decades of rust. June 2, 2012 photos by South Beach Hoosier.


-----
Email was titled, "Please Postpone the Beachwalk Decision"

June 4, 2012


Honorable Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Commissioners:

During the May 2, 2012 City Commission meeting, City Manager Antonio mentioned that The Related Group's Beachwalk development project would be placed on the May 16, 2012 City Commission agenda. At the evening portion of the meeting, I asked that in the interests of fairness, the Commission postpone any final decision on Beachwalk for a few months until the majority of the homeowners most-affected by it would have the opportunity to make their concerns known to everyone.

It only seems reasonable that people living within a block or two of the site should be able to weigh-in when they are facing the possibility of permanently having what could be a 31-story building located that close to them.

While I received no direct answer, Minutes of the meeting indicated that the Beachwalk proposal will NOT be put on the agenda “until ready.” I've interpreted that to mean be decided sometime in the fall, after Labor Day.

To be fair to all three parties, I believe that the developer, the City and the residents must all have an equal opportunity to state their case the best way they can, in-person, BEFORE a final decision is made that'll permanently transform that neighborhood. Along with many other concerned HB residents, I believe that if the City Commission goes ahead and makes a decision this Wednesday evening, even if it is “only” the First Reading, the majority of the actual homeowners most-affected by it will NOT be heard.

Even the City’s staff has admitted that the Beachwalk's paperwork is NOT yet completed but “will be completed” by whenever the second reading.

Given these facts, what is the reason for the rush now?

If the Commission proceeds as currently planned, rather than wait three months, many of the 1,460 registered voters of Precinct 7 -and the rest of the residents of the neighborhood- will be shocked to learn upon their return from Summer their input vacation that the City Commission has gone ahead and made a critical decision THEY will have to live with forever –without their input.

I do not want to talk about the complete and total surrender to all the demands/requests of the developer at this time, since I hope you will see my point and wait until the residents will be back from summer vacation. Many of the most-effected homeowners were present at January's P&Z meeting and there's no reason to think they wouldn't be as well for a City Commission meeting on this matter after Labor Day, given a chance.

Why would any of you be against city taxpayers and residents having a fair chance to speak about this issue?

The proposed new development on the Intracoastal Waterway, along with the addition of an operating contract of the public North Beach and the operation of the city's public parking garage under The Beach Club, to the same developer for the next 30 years, is beyond comprehension to me.

I believe that your consideration of giving a contract to any party to operate a full-service restaurant, as well as manage the public parking garage, that'd serve not only the Beachwalk's customers and the general public, but residents/visitors of The Apogee, just north of our public beach -also being built by The Related Group- and the eventual residents/visitors of whatever is eventually constructed immediately north of the HB Water Tower/North Beach Building, without any competitive bidding, is too much to ask Hallandale Beach taxpayers and residents to swallow.

To me, even the thought of considering a major 30-year commitment to any party there WITHOUT more input from the residents, experts and other interested parties is completely irresponsible and bad public policy.

Most HB taxpayers and residents I have spoken to, once they know the true facts of what is being considered, while supportive of the idea of a nice and reasonably-priced full-service restaurant in that area, believe that should be completely de-coupled and considered separately from building a 31-story condo/hotel blocks away on the Intracoastal.

While people can certainly understand why The Related Group might think this is a very good idea for themselves from a marketing perspective in selling units, those same residents I've spoken to do NOT see why linking them together would in any way be a good idea for them and their family's ability to enjoy the city's public beach, which they ALL believe needs drastic, rapid improvement now, NOT in five more years.

I strongly urge you to table this development item until the paperwork is not only 100% complete, but until the residents and homeowners most-affected by the proposal can be present at any HB City Commission meeting where a final decision is being made.

Sincerely,

Csaba Kulin

-----

Dear Friends and Neighbors:

While many of you are away on summer vacation, the Hallandale Beach City Commission is planning to make a decision on the Beachwalk project this month.
I've tried to persuade the Mayor and the City Commission to wait until after Labor Day based on the idea of basic fairness, and have enlisted others to try as well, but realistically, I do not expect that we will be successful in getting them to delay for three months so that the most-affected taxpayers and residents can actually participate in-person about a decision that may well result in a 31-story building being constructed in their neighborhood.

Taking a ride through and walking around that neighborhood late this past Friday afternoon, I noticed very few cars parked in the condo/apts parking lots on Diana Drive at 4 p.m. That is very telling to me, since that proves that many of you have already left for the summer, whether visiting children, grandchildren or other family members.
Even if you are here, there is a remarkable and almost shocking lack of knowledge on the details of the agreement between PRH-2600 Hallandale Beach, LLC (the developer) and the City of Hallandale Beach.

I read the 50-plus pages of documentation line-by-line after printing it out, and as they say for good reason, “the devil is in the details.”

I'm going to spend a few moments now to reduce these documents to a few pages, so that you can better  understand the main points and also be able to talk about it with your friends and neighbors.
If you are interested in reading the entire document, they are in the June 6, 2012 Agenda under Items 9 F and 9 G, and 12 A1 through 12 A4.  Here's the link to the city's website for your convenience:
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/2012-06-06/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202012-06-06%2013-00.htm

I strongly support anyone willing to develop a piece of property according to the current zoning assigned to that property. When a developer wants and insists on exceptions or variances, though, just like you, I want to look at the overall benefits to the City and to its current residents.
I read the material carefully and have asked myself if it seems to be good or bad for the residents of that area.
If the neighborhood's property value or Quality of Life is clearly going to be adversely affected, as this one seems to be, I have to ask a lot of tough questions.
In this case, though, not only are the residents closest to the proposal adversely affected, but the entire City is as well.
The reason for that is that this proposed condo/hotel tower off the Intracoastal is directly-tied into the future of our small North Beach Park.

This project has two major flaws.
The first flaw is that the project is simply far too large and out-of-scale for the less than two-acre site.
The density of 50 units per acre is not allowed and is not good public policy.

The second flaw is that the proposed parking solution is unacceptable, being roughly 167 parking spaces deficient, and each parking space is too small. Tandem spaces are not allowed and it may limit the future use of the garage. The only way to remedy the situation is to reduce the intensity of the proposed project.

ITEM # 12.A.3 Applying the Planned Development Overlay District (PDD).
The current zoning of the property does not allow any residential units to be included.
In order to include condominiums, the City first has to designate (rezone) the site to “Planned Development Overlay District (PDD)”.
This provides an optional zoning procedure to permit site design flexibility and greater land use intensity and density. The Planning and Zoning Board recommended denial of the assignment of PDD. This assignment of PDD is extremely important and valuable to the developer. Once the PDD is granted, it cannot be taken back even if the developer decides NOT to go forward with the project.
By approving the PDD designation, the City has significantly and irrevocably increased the value of the Beachwalk property.
That is the reason why any promises made by the developer MUST be tied to this approval, not to something that may or may not happen five (5) years from now. The City has been burned by other developers in the past, where zoning changes and other concessions were given and kept by the developer, but the promised “improvements and contributions” by the developer never happened or were negotiated away later. Therefore, approval of the PDD designation MUST be contingent upon the City receiving “iron-clad” assurances, possibly thru a performance bond, that the North Beach Park Improvements money of $2,500,000, promised by the developer to the City, will be available whether the project is completed or not.

ITEM # 9.F. Assigning 84 Residential Flex Units.
Once the Planned Development Overlay District (PDD) is approved, the next step is to assign residential “flexibility” its to the project. The number of units given depends on the availability of flex units and the site’s maximum population density.
The City's code allows a density of 35 dwelling units per acre on a site less than 2 acres. The Beachwalk site is 1.68 acres, therefore only 58 residential units should legally be allowed, not the requested 84 units. The developer is actually counting on the 0.39 acres the City is willing to vacate on Old S.E. 26th Avenue for the maximum dwelling unit calculation.
By providing 58 flex units, the City conserves flex units and reduces the shortages of parking spaces needed.

There are a total of 11 modifications the developer is asking for. Some are minor and no problems, but some are definitely deal-breakers and MUST not be allowed.

In the Development Agreement, Exhibit “E” deals with the North Beach Park Operation and Management Agreement.
It is totally unacceptable to me to tie the Beachwalk project to the future North Beach Park operation for the next 30 years, including the 91 public parking spaces of the adjacent property, The Beach Club.
I do not think there was sufficient public discussion of the future use of North Beach.
Do the residents want a full-service reasonably-priced restaurant on the beach?
(Perhaps, but first, HB residents want to actually have the benefits of the clean and inviting public beach area they've already been paying taxes for for years but not been receiving from the city.)

If a majority of the city's residents clearly want a restaurant, we need to properly advertise nationally via a competitive bid, and not simply make it a part of the deal for the condo/hotel property that few of us will ever have any relationship to.
And honestly, for the city to even consider 30 years as the “initial term,” making us their guinea pigs -and it's already our public beach?
No.
There is no logical reason for any HB citizen to want to get rid of something that is already ours, merely to help the bottom line of a large developer.

I hope you all agree that we are in no way even close to making a long-term commitment, given the complete lack of public discourse on such an invaluable and irreplaceable property to this city.

I hope this will better help you understand what's involved in this project, and urge you to attend the City Commission meeting Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m., or, at the very least, contact our City Commissioners with your comments and watch it or listen to it online at
http://www.hallandalebeach.org/index.aspx?NID=717


Sincerely,

Csaba Kulin


·         Mayor Joy F. Cooper                  954-632-5700 joycooper@aol.com

·         Vice Mayor Anthony Sanders     954-540-5100 onevision4life@aol.com


City Manager Mark Antonio         954-457-1300 mantonio@hallandalebeachfl.gov


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To increase size of photos, move your mouse over the photo and click the size you want. One of the reasons these photos are not quite what I hoped for is because at this point in the afternoon, it was becoming more overcast by the minute -and it was already hazy to begin with. Don't even think about "borrowing" or otherwise using these photos of mine without asking for my permission.




Looking west on Diana Drive & S.E. 26th Avenue, with The Beach Club towers in the distance, three blocks away on the beach. Almost all the condos on this side of the bridge near the site -upper left of photo is SW corner of proposed project- are low-slung and four-story or less. June 2, 2012.


Looking north from Diana Drive and S.E. 26th Avenue towards State Road 858/Hallandale Beach Blvd., which is a mandatory Left Turn corner, which means you'd have to go east and cross the bridge and go over to the beach. Across the street on the north side of East HBB is the area's very popular Walmart and three small shops. This area pictured, the site of the former Manero's Restaurant, would be the western perimeter of the project. June 2, 2012

Looking northwest from Diana Drive & S.E. 26th Avenue. June 2, 2012

 Looking northwest from Diana Drive, with Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa, and Trump Hollywood in distance over on the beach in Hollywood. June 2, 2012.

Looking west. June 2, 2012.

Looking west from the public sidewalk on the north side of the property, which parallels the Intracoastal Bridge and then goes under it to access the north side, adjacent to the Walmart parking lot. Tip of the HB Water Tower and The Beach Club towers in the distance. 
June 2, 2012.

Where that public sidewalk meets the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, beside the bridge. June 2, 2012.

Looking south on the Intracoastal from the edge of the public sidewalk. June 2, 2012.


The path less traveled... under the Intracoastal Bridge. June 2, 2012.


Looking west from E. Hallandale Beach Blvd. & S.E. 26th Avenue. I actually waited until most of the traffic had passed before snapping this, since traffic in this area is so terrible. June 2, 2012. 

Csaba Kulin standing on the sidewalk at North Beach Park, next to the city's public parking garage that City Hall wants to practically give away as a sweetener to The Related Group as part of the terrible Beachwalk deal. 
He's standing at an area that, logically, should be where a direct route is available for handicapped access to the beach. But this being Hallandale Beach, the underground garage -under The Beach Club's northern-most towerdoesn't have an elevator, so when you emerge at the top of the garage ramp and are now outside, the corner of the sidewalk closest to you, which used to be ADA-compliant, isn't any more. Why?
So now you have to push yourself or be pushed over towards The Beachside Cafe to get on the sidewalk. But from there you have to deal with the sand, since there are no trails to make it easier for you. June 2, 2012.

Public beach as public ashtray: Sometimes it's hard to ignore the low-hanging fruit when it's there all the time and DPW just keeps ignoring it. This is just a small patch compared to the hundreds of others I've seen over the past eight years. June 2, 2012.


So this is where our tax dollars go to die? Csaba Kulin, perhaps wondering when we're FINALLY going to get the clean and inviting public beach that Hallandale Beach residents believe we're entitled to but have never received under Mayor Cooper and her Rubber Stamp CrewInstead, we get rusty pipes in the middle of the beach and garbage cans on the beach -without lids- at the windiest place in the entire city. 
And a public building across the street from the beach that the public can't use for free but which city employees can -for their holiday parties. June 2, 2012.

Reminder: The city's election is 22 weeks from Tuesday. 

Sunday, June 3, 2012

re The Related Group's 31-story Beachwalk proposal on Intracoastal in Hallandale Beach: Why is City of Hallandale Beach rushing this vote now and having First Reading on Wednesday night, instead of after Labor Day, when all homeowners/residents in the affected area can actually participate?



View Larger Map

North Beach, Hallandale Beach, Florida, via Google Maps Street View



On Monday morning I'll be posting a lengthy fact and photo-filled look at The Related Group's proposed 31-story hotel/condo Beachwalk project on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway/State Road 858 Bridge & Hallandale Beach Blvd., the former Manero's Restaurant site, which was unanimously rejected in January by the city's Planning & Zoning Advisory Board. Officially, it's 2600 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.


As of today, the proposal is still scheduled to be heard during a First Reading on Wednesday night in the Commission Chambers at HB City Hall, 400 S. Federal Highway.


I must tell you, among well-informed HB residents and civic activists I've spoken to the past week, there is a heightened sense of concern and even shock in some quarters, about why this particular proposal is being rushed right now, even while everyone in town, including at City Hall, knows perfectly well that many Hallandale Beach taxpayers, homeowners and residents who will be most-affected by this proposal have already left for the summer to escape the brutal heat and humidity we've been experiencing the past month.
And the developer's own paperwork on this project is STILL not even finished.


So why the rush NOW?


To me, perhaps the most discouraging thing, apart from the very bad idea of scheduling such a key vote now, is that what is being largely overlooked by some parties outside of Hallandale Beach, including the South Florida news media, is that the city seems perfectly willing to hand-over the future and development of the northern portion of this city's very small PUBLIC beach, North Beach, to The Related Group as part of the Beachwalk proposal.


They clearly want to be able to tell potential condo buyers.and hotel customers that they will have access to the beach, even though it's actually three blocks away.


Meanwhile, the North Beach area has been VERY POORLY maintained by the city for YEARS, as City Manager Good and Antonio and their highly-paid assistants -and the city's own DPW- already know quite well.
The public beach is not just poorly maintained, but actually filthy in places, with litter and maintenance problems left to linger for years at a time, as I've mentioned here many times previously with photos to prove it's a fact, not just my opinion.


Yes, it's all rather quite the ironic and bitter pill for HB taxpayers that the environmental legacy of Mayor Joy Cooper's self-serving ten years in office -where she has, despite the crappy facts here on the ground that we've all been forced to live with for years- that she has wormed her way into being the Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors' (USCM) Environment Committee, despite having just about the worst beach in all of South Florida -and not at all by coincidence.
Really.   


Try not to let the rusty, filthy bacteria-covered pipes that have been left for years in the middle of the public beach ruin your good mood next time you take your family to the beach. 
Just ignore the condom wrappers and the liquor bottles and the mounds of cigarette butts next to the plants that have been there for weeks or months on end... since that's what the city's DPW Director does.


FYI: That's The Related Group's Apogee condo project -in Hollywood- being built at the top of this first photo, all of which I shot in February of 2012, except as noted..
















Not that you asked, but as I've been saying for years, in order to get things turned around on the public beach as quickly as possible, and finally bring some degree of public accountability to the area, I've been in favor of hiring a contractor whose only job is to keep the beach areas clean, inviting and properly maintained, since the city's own DPW has consistently shown over the years that they not only lack the will or desire to do so, but consistently seem to try to do as little as possible.
And it shows, too!!!






Tomorrow, you will see further proof of that, but for now, linger on this March 21, 2008 shot, one of dozens I could post, of the city's tenant, The Beachside Cafe, abusing the public beach and our good will, something they have done for YEARS.


This also includes illegally using the public's right-of-way on the sidewalk they aren't entitled to use, on the south side, and placing their chairs and tables there, or, as many people know from experience, actually having the gall to move the public beach picnic tables from the beach over to the sidewalk near their property, and serving food and alcohol.


In this particular 2008 shot above, though, they're using the public beach as a place to dry out their trays on state-protected plants, to break-down their cardboard boxes on the beach and leave them there for hours.
This exact location is also where the restaurant daily dumps dirty water mixed with cleaning chemicals into the ground from their mop bucket, which they often leave on the sidewalk.
They have been doing this and much more for years, with no fear of punishment from the powers-that-be at City Hall, even after you complain as I have.
Why do you suppose that is?


Just this past week, I saw them dumping dirty water and cleaning chemicals from their mop bucket onto the beach for myself yet again.
You may even see a photo of that tomorrow.


Also, if you didn't already know, former Hallandale Beach Development Services director Richard Cannone is working on this project for his new employer, Calvin Giordano & Associates, which means that he is also considered a registered lobbyist for the city's purposes.
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/files/Lobbyist%20Registration%20List_CURRENT_3_16_12.pdf
   
Again, I will have lots of photos and facts for you to consider and mull-over tomorrow, and if everything goes as planned, I'll have that up on the blog before Noon.
Right now, though, I need you to make plans to be present at City Hall Wednesday night -and to bring your kids and neighbors, since we all have a stake in this issue.


It's vitally important that you let the elected City Commission know that you are not only NOT in favor of this important issue being decided right now while so many stakeholders are away, but to also let them know that you are opposed to any part of our small public beach being a throwaway sweetener in a 30-year deal for a real estate developer, one who bought the old Manero's property at deep discount -only $2.92 Million.
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2011/05/05/related-group-buys-waterfront-site.html


Until then, here's the current information on the city's website: 
http://www.hallandalebeachfl.gov/index.aspx?NID=805


PRH-2600 Hallandale
Beach, LLC
Beachwalk 2600 E.
Hallandale Beach Blvd
#47-11-DB (Major Development)
#48-11-CU (Conditional Use)
#49-11-Z (Rezoning)
#51-11-RV (Road Vacation)
31-story mixed-use building with
84 residential units,
432 hotel rooms and
1,225 sq.ft restaurant
 Scheduled for City Commission Hearing on June 6, 2012  DRC

Planning and Zoning Board (Recommended Denial by 4-0 vote)

City Commission

Estimated Site Plan Approval:
May 2012
Plans
Application
Traffic Study

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Hallandale Beach P&Z Board unanimously REJECT The Related Groups' Beachwalk project on Intracoastal; vote is also a rejection of Bill Julian's support for it


By turns surprising and forceful, and much to the delight of the clear majority of the dozens of Hallandale Beach citizens who came to City Hall on Wednesday afternoon to oppose it, the Hallandale Beach Planning & Zoning Advisory Board unanimously REJECTED The Related Groups' Beachwalk project on the Intracoastal by a vote of 4-0.


It's also noteworthy that former HB Comm. William "Bill" Julian, a 2012 candidate for the City Commission and a longtime object of scorn and enmity on this blog for reasons that are well-known to regular readers, typically, showed the sort of VERY BAD judgment that marked his ten years on the city commission, by choosing the wrong time and the wrong place to come out in support of a 30-story-plus development project on an already gridlocked road -a block from a drawbridge no less!- that was completely out-of-scale for the area.


And this came after he prefaced his remarks by verbally patting himself on the back and engaged in revisionist history by implying that he had a been an eagle-eyed watchdog for the community, when the reality is that he was one of the most disconnected and oblivious of all of Joy Cooper's Rubber Stamp Crew while he sat up on the dais.


Julian WASN'T a watchdog by any stretch of the imagination, rather he was the proverbial Wooden Indian that just sat there and consistently said and did the wrong thing while the city continued its sad decline into incompetency and irrelevancy, even while its budget nearly doubled in six years.
(And where's the tangible proof now of any of that spending?)


Many of the people in the room who pay close attention to what goes on in this community and who are, thus, all-too-familiar with Julian's troubling history on the commission and well-known knack for making bad things worse, made a point of speaking to me in-person immediately after the public meeting or thru emails later, all asking a variation of the same thing: "What the hell was Julian thinking?"


But then one need only ask when WASN'T that the question in everyone's mind after watching him in action, even when he wasn't in action but rather in repose?
Julian is nothing if not consistent in his ability to make HB's citizen taxpayers cringe and flinch, and even occasionally recoil in horror or dismay.
And he showed why again on Wednesday.


Among the well-informed Hallandale Beach residents from all over the city who made it a point to see for themselves what the P&Z Board would do, Julian's botched effort and the Board's rejection of his points was almost as much of a reason to smile as the decision itself, which will now go the full commission for further action.


More particulars on the Beachwalk vote and how it came to be rejected, complete with photos and videos, should be up on the blog on Saturday.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The Related Group's 31-story Beachwalk project in Hallandale Beach -on the Intracoastal- goes to HB Planning & Zoning Board Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

Above, looking east from the south sidewalk of the Intracoastal Bridge/State Road 858 over the Atlantic Intracoastal waterway, looking towards State Road A1A and the city's iconic beachball-colored water tower and the adjoining three condo towers of The Beach Club. If the Beachwalk project is approved by the Hallandale Beach City Commission in a few weeks, it would be located just south of this bridge and this particular view will never be the same. September 8, 2008 photo by South Beach Hoosier.
The Related Group's proposed 31-story Beachwalk mixed-use development project in Hallandale Beach, to be located at 2600 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd., on the south side of the Intracoastal Bridge/State Road 858, where the old Manero’s restaurant was formerly located, and across the street from Walmart, goes before the Hallandale Beach Planning & Zoning Advisory Board Wednesday at HB City Hall at 1:30 p.m.


The official name for the group behind this proposal is PRH-2600 Hallandale Beach LLC




Above, an admittedly not-so-great photo I snapped of one of the artist's depictions of the project during a Power Point presentation by attorney Debbie Orshefsky at the developer's October 11, 2011 Community Forum at the HB Cultural Center. This depiction is looking southwest from the beach/State Road A1A. The Beachwalk is on the extreme right, on the south side of the bridge. 
One of my last posts on this project -full of useful information I encourage you to read before the meeting if you never saw it the first time- was on October 3rd, 2011 titled,  October 13 Community Meeting re Beachwalk - 31-story mixed-use project at old 'Manero's' restaurant site; new gridlock-inducing plan for HB?
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/october-13-community-meeting-re.html

Wednesday's agenda is here: 
http://www.cohb.org/files/PLANNING%20AND%20ZONING%20BOARD%20AGENDAS/2012-01-25-Planning%20and%20Zoning/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202012-01-25%2013-30.htm

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South Florida Business Journal
Related Group buys waterfront site for 60% off
by Brian Bandell
Thursday, May 5, 2011, 3:42pm EDT -
Last Modified: Thursday, May 5, 2011, 4:20pm EDT

After handing over several of its condo projects to lenders, this time Jorge M. Perez and his Related Group are buying a property from a bank.
PRH-2600 Hallandale Beach LLC, an entity ultimately managed by the Miami-based developer, bought a Hallandale Beach site along the Intracoastal Waterway from TD Bank for $2.92 million.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2011/05/05/related-group-buys-waterfront-site.html


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Monday, August 23, 2010

"Hello Betty Liu, Goodbye heart, Sweet Betty Liu, I'm so in love with you..." -Betty Liu in Miami at Dinner Key Tuesday morning!


So, I got the strangest out-of-the-blue email this morning.
"Would you like to see Betty Liu with me on Tuesday morning?"

Tell me, does a pro football fan want to visit Canton? A baseball fan to Cooperstown?
Does a college basketball fan want to make a pilgrimage to IU's Assembley Hall or UK's Rupp Arena and just soak up the atmosphere?

Of course!

So now comes word that Bloomberg TV's morning weekday anchor Betty Liu will be in Miami Tuesday morning outside of the City of Miami City Hall as part of her road trip around the U.S. and her "Property Pulse 2010" series.
It will run from 8-10 a.m. in her usual time slot.

http://www.bloomberg.com/personalities/betty_liu

She will have the following folks as guests -which I'm not so crazy about-
City of Miami mayor Tomás Regalado, our old friend(!) from The Related Group, Jorge Perez, no doubt to explain away all the empty properties and make a pitch for luxury condos, and some chap who is the president of the Florida Bankers Association but who sounds like he ought to be the Toronto Blue Jays' shortstop or an outfielder with Los Angels de Orange County, Alex Sanchez.

If you can't make it down there in person on Tuesday morning, you can watch it here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9vmbw3ajF0



"I saw your lips
I heard your voice
believe me I just had no choice
Wild horses couldn't make me stay away..."

Ricky Nelson-Hello Mary Lou

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XYp7-gX8tM





http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/bloomberg/betty_liu_on_the_road_for_bloomberg_144612.asp

http://www.businessinsider.com/women-of-bloomberg#betty-liu-11

Bio of Tomás Regalado
http://www.miamigov.com/city_officials/

Marc Sarnoff Met With Jorge Perez, But Mercy Condos Never Came Up

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/03/marc_sarnoff_met_with_jorge_pe.php

Monday, March 12, 2007

Connecting some dots on Miami-based The Related Group & Jorge Perez

Wanted to share with you a connection that I made today that I doubt you've heard or read anywhere else -yet.

Today's USA Today has a largely flattering profile on the front page of its Money section (by David J. Lynch) on Jorge Perez, CEO of Miami's own The Related Group -complete with a Tom Wolfe-style "Master of the Universe" photo of Perez towering above a scale model of his Icon Brickell project. http://www.iconbrickell.com/
Titled "Executive Suite — Today's Entrepreneur: Miami magnate gives city a makeover," it's the latest in USAT's continuing Executive Suite series.
See this link or the copy of the article I made at the bottom of this posting.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/2007-03-11-perez-usat_N.htm

And just so you know, Mr. Perez isn't just any 'billionaire developer" of properties "in what was once a desolate downtown landscape." Heavens, no!
You see, Mr. Perez has bigger dreams; he wants to be one of Hillary Clinton's future ambassadors. "If the New York senator goes all the way to the White House, he muses, an ambassadorial post would be a nice career capstone."
Lest you think Mr. Perez doesn't have true artistic aims for his condos, "The entryway to Icon Brickell, the triple-towered 2,000-unit condo and hotel project, will be adorned with a series of enormous heads modeled on the statues of Easter Island." http://www.iconbrickell.com/

(Personal note: My mother was a secretary for the principal general contractor that built One Biscayne Tower on Flagler Street & Biscayne Blvd. in the early '70's, when it became THE largest skyscraper south of Atlanta.
She still has photos of various phases of the project as it grew, and when you see them, it really gives you a remarkable sense of how small -or should I say short- the downtown Miami area really was. And I say that as someone who has seen almost all of the photos of old Miami in books and myriad local museums.
Obviously, this was before Brickell was home to million-dollar condo complexes with iconic holes in them, made famous by the opening credits of Miami Vice.
While 1BT was going up, her firm had their offices across the street on the north side of Flagler in a building that no longer exists, and one of the perks of that was that familes of the firm could watch the annual Orange Bowl Parade pass by from an immense second-story balcony overlooking Flagler that looked like, well, something out of a large-budget antebellum flick starring Elizabeth Taylor. Or Cleopatra! It was great!!!)

The USAT story is replete with the usual South Florida touches: overblown ego, lots of hype masquerading as fact or philosophy, and a general glossing over of inconvenient facts, with revisionist history thrown in for good measure.
And, of course, because he lives in South Florida, lots of nuggets are dangled about the CO$T of things:
"Perched in a corner office that offers a sweeping bay view, Perez exudes a spend-what-it-takes ethos. There's enough modern art, much of it from Latin America, to outfit a first-class gallery. He sports a purple-checked shirt, purple tie and matching cufflinks. His driver ferries him between development sites in a gleaming silver Mercedes S550, which carries a list base price around $86,000."
In short, it's what South Florida has come to accept as the norm down here everytime an 'outside' publication has tried to tell part of the confounding story of South Florida and the people who make it so unique or bizarre over the past 40 years.
(Read the excerpt from Joan Didion's "Miami" on this blog or my other one, http://www.southbeachhoosier.blogspot.com/ for a good example of that unreality.)

Even during the 15 years I lived in DC, and would habitually pick up a newspaper or magazine at a great-but-tiny new stand next to the Farragut North Metro station -just a few feet away from the WSJ's Washington HQ- I could smell those crazy half-baked assumptions, agenda-driven, slice-of-life stories on Miami or one of its myriad 'personalities' from a mile away.
But for whatever reason, the country has never tired of hearing about South Florida's quirky, dysfunctional nature, and why it was the way it is, even if the people down here were actually suffering under an acute civic leadership shortage while Miami Vice was suddenly making this area seem sexy and wild instead of backward and dowdy, esp. over on South Beach when Lincoln Road was like a crypt.

What's really missing from the USAT story though is the current condo conflict that today's Daily Business Review cover story captures perfectly in a three-page spread by their Oscar Pedro Musibay, who ties together the reality that you and I have seen or heard about for months, no matter where we go: Has the market for expensive or over-the-top condos hit a plateau?
It's a story which should be required reading for everyone in South Florida with a brain and a long-term interest in the area, esp. local TV station news directors, who seem to shy away from giving this kind of story the amount of time it deserves, perhaps for fear of alienating potential advertisers: "Escape Act: In Down Market, Condo Buyers Need Houdini Skills To Break Contracts, Avoid Costly Purchases"

And guess which company the DBR story mentions that seems to be taking the most adversarial p.o.v., and fighting buyers the hardest to get out of contracts when costs, esp. monthly ones, are 100% higher than buyres were told? That's right, The Related Group.
It recounts a particularly typical deal which, when the buyer tried to flip it due to the additional costs, the sticker shock, "Related made it clear the Miami-based developer would fight him."
"They tell us, 'We are not accepting cancellations." If you want to get out, you are going to have to fight them, and in the end you will not win." "They bring you into this trap, and then you are done."
The story gives lots of evidence to the current state of murky FL law that some legislators, inc. usual consumer-friendly local favorites like Sen. Gwen Margolis, are trying to clarify in favor of, yes, developers, though it does say that some efforts are underway to require "developers to prepare budgets using "good-faith estimates" and "keep a record of how the numbers were
generated."

The odds of something the developers hate actually passing in Tallahassee are oh, what, a thousand-to-one? About what the Marlins chances of ever getting a stadium in South Florida as long as their current brain trust of Jeffrey Loria and David Samson is running things.

[Giving credit where credit is due, I only first became aware of Mr. Perez and his role in things down here a few weeks ago, when he headlined the Miami SunPost's list of "Super Developers."
http://www.miamisunpost.com/archives/2007/02-01/superdevelopers.htm

Super Developers
What better way to honor some of the pillars of the real estate industry than by having a special section dedicated to them in our Super Bowl issue?
Below are some of the individuals who are now actively reshaping Miami-Dade County with brand-new residential, commercial and mixed-use projects. We say “some” because there are so many more than just the few we have listed below. South Florida still remains one of the most desirable places to live. As such, the demand for new projects is ever present and ever growing.
However, we feel we have compiled a fairly diverse and accurate list of some of the influential and potent players in South Florida real estate development. So for the tens of thousands of Super Bowl visitors, as well as our loyal local readers, we give you the Super Developers.

Jorge Perez
For the Related Group of Florida, there is no such thing as a real estate market slowdown. Even now, the Related Group is actively forging partnerships throughout South Florida and beyond. Among its latest projects: 300 Grove Bay Residence, three condominium towers, the tallest 410 feet high, that will be constructed beside Mercy Hospital in Coconut Grove. The 300 condos will go on the market for between $3 million and $15 million, according to a recent Miami Herald article.
Founded in 1979 by Chairman and CEO Jorge Perez, the Related Group has constructed more than 55,000 condos and apartment buildings all over Florida. Last year, Related racked up sales of more than $3.2 billion while its real estate portfolio assets grew to more than $10.7 billion. Perez has been hailed by his peers as being on the cutting edge of South Florida’s urban growth. Some of his better known projects are Portofino Tower, Murano at Portofino, Murano Grande in Miami Beach and CityPlace in West Palm Beach. In Sunny Isles Beach, Perez partnered with Michael and Gil Dezer and Donald Trump to develop the ultra-luxurious Trump Towers.
A collector of Latin American art, Perez is on the board of directors of the Miami Art Museum and is part of the fundraising campaign for the construction of Museum Park in Bicentennial Park. Perez is also vice chair of the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Council, director of the Miami Film Festival, a member of the board of the Downtown Development Authority and a member of the University of Miami’s Board of Trustees. UM’s Architecture Center has been named after Perez, while the Miami Wellness Center has been named after Perez and his wife, Darlene.]


One of Mr. Perez's 11 projects that I'm particularly peeved about is The Beach Club, right on AIA and Hallandale Beach Blvd. http://www.beachclubstyle.com/
It's a triple-tower project like Icon Brickell, and is a property that the incompetent HB mayor and city council approved a few years ago without requiring a 'shadow study' on a once popular family-friendly beach.
When my family moved down here in 1968 when I was seven years old, from Memphis, it had beautiful Australian Pines and actually had some height to the shore, which made it very unusual, and the iconic HB Water Tower was a greenish color very different from its current beach ball colors.
For this blog site, I've been watching it closely as it continues to pollute the public beach next to it, North Beach, with garbage and debris from the site regularly winding up on the beach or even greeting you as soon as you walk up to the sidewalk. Things that people going to the beach would not be bringing along, like crumpled up boxes that had once contained kitchen, living room and bedroom decorations and supplies, as well as large chunks of Styrofoam.
Last Friday, I found large chunks of insulation material wafting along the beach, and made a point of getting some new photos to add sometime soon to the blog.
Believe me, seeing is believing, and it's all right there in the open.

Last year, I made a point of going into the sales office of The Beach Club underneath the HB Water Tower, and told them in very direct terms that they had a real problem with garbage and debris from their property getting onto the public beach, and that it needed to be solved pronto.
While the City of Hallandale Beach seemed to just wink at the problem and act like it wasn't happening, the residents and citizens of the city had noticed.
In the intervening months, they've made little tangible effort to prevent it from happening over and over on a daily basis, since their large dumpsters on the north side don't even have regular lids or makeshift ones to contain their loads.
Practically every day, you can find material from their construction activities on the beach or on the access road that connects to the HB Fire Station and The Beachside Cafe.
The Beach Club really should've listened to the warning I gave them last year.
Now, like HB's own incompetent and apathetic city govt., they'll see that actions have real consequences

Check out the DBR story where you can, for instance, at the public library branches in Hallandale Beach and Hollywood and see for yourself, and then let me know what you think.
____________________________
Executive Suite — Today's Entrepreneur: Miami magnate gives city a makeover
By David J. Lynch, USA TODAY

MIAMI — If you stand in just the right spot on the Brickell Avenue Bridge, it's possible to think that every new building in this rapidly evolving city — every single glass-walled pillar of aspiration and ambition — belongs to one man: Jorge Perez.
Of course, that's not the case. Even an urban developer as ubiquitous as Perez can't be everywhere. But visible from the modest concrete span over sparkling Biscayne Bay are the three towers of the $1.5 billion Icon Brickell hotel and condominium project, the multihued facade of another condo building called 500 Brickell and the eye-catching Loft 2, distinguished by a public transit system that passes through an opening in its midsection.

NEWS, PROFILES, TIPS: Executive Suite index

The three projects are among 11 freshly minted buildings that Perez, chief executive of closely held The Related Group, has under construction in what was once a desolate downtown landscape. Coupled with earlier projects already completed, the distinctive cluster puts Miami on track to have a people-friendly downtown worthy of a city that bills itself as the unofficial capital of South America. And it's cementing the Cuban-American entrepreneur's standing as one of the nation's most prominent Hispanic businessmen.
"We're going to finally have a center!" Perez enthuses. "This is going to be the epicenter right here!"
Yet, even as the contours of Miami's years-long downtown renaissance materialize, Perez, 57, is shifting focus. After a decade-long run, South Florida's real estate wave — like housing markets across the USA — has crested and turned down. So, the developer is turning his attention to foreign turf, seeking to export the dealmaking savvy and creative vision that transformed a one-time municipal planner into a billionaire who hobnobs with A-list celebrities from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton.
"There's a lot of capital in the world," says the man Forbes magazine ranks No. 197 on its list of richest Americans.
A recent day spent touring his premier South Florida projects provided a glimpse of the Perez style: hands-on, jocular, cost-conscious but intensely focused on the artistic element. His developments are intended to be distinctive, inside and out. Example: The entryway to Icon Brickell, the triple-towered 2,000-unit condo and hotel project, will be adorned with a series of enormous heads modeled on the statues of Easter Island.
A born salesman
Perched in a corner office that offers a sweeping bay view, Perez exudes a spend-what-it-takes ethos. There's enough modern art, much of it from Latin America, to outfit a first-class gallery. He sports a purple-checked shirt, purple tie and matching cufflinks. His driver ferries him between development sites in a gleaming silver Mercedes S550, which carries a list base price around $86,000.
At each development, Perez indulges in the superlatives of a born salesman. Icon Brickell's spa is "like nothing you've ever seen." The French architect Philippe Starck is "the most creative mind I've ever met." 50 Biscayne is "an amazing building." Striding through the morning's fourth lobby, he suddenly pivots: "The mailroom! Let me show you the mailroom!"
And as mailrooms go, this one is a winner, shimmering with mirrored metal, bathed in light from a gleaming chandelier.
But Perez isn't blinded by self-regard. After crawling through northbound traffic on I-95, he reaches Ocean 4, the last in a quartet of condo towers he's erected along Miami's Sunny Isles Beach.
On this day, residents are moving in, although the building still isn't 100% done. As Perez steps into an elevator, he's accosted by Oscar Torres, who's upset that he has to wait while workers use the elevators.
"I'm an owner, and I'm not too happy with the way things are going," he tells Perez. The developer offers sympathetic noises, hands him his business card and tells him to e-mail if the situation doesn't improve. Torres seems mollified.
Later, inspecting a commons room with a sweeping view of the ocean, Perez instantly sizes up deficiencies in the Spartan decor. Comfortable chairs are needed, here, here and here, he gestures. "Have them come back," he orders the building manager, referring to the designer.
"That one is definitely, definitely not finished," Perez says as he climbs into the back seat of the Benz.
Miami's real estate market peaked almost three years ago, and last year's sales of 137,000 units represented a 34% decline from 2004, according to Michael Cannon, managing director of Integra Realty Resources. Perez acknowledges that new sales of his condo units have slowed, but he seems to be insulated from the full brunt of the downturn thanks to heavy pre-sales. A full 100% of the 633 units in the 500 Brickell development, for example, already have been sold.
But Cannon says an unknown number of buyers who've signed contracts to purchase condos may walk away from their down payments. "The real losses haven't arrived yet. We'll see in '08 and '09," he says.
Perez already has begun targeting other domestic markets, such as Atlanta, as well as underserved foreign markets, where his skills will face less competition. He also has minimized his financial exposure to any market plunge, Cannon says. "That's what's smart about Jorge. It's other people's money and his expertise," he says.
Leaving Cuba for good
Perez was born in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires to Cuban parents. His father was an executive with drugmaker Eli Lilly, his mother, a pro-Castro intellectual. The family returned to Cuba six months before the 1959 revolution to retrieve an inheritance only to see their ancestral wealth nationalized, spurring a decision to leave for good. As they flew out of Cuba for the last time, Perez says, "I remember clearly leaving the airport and the people taking the jewelry away from my mother as we were getting into the plane."
Perez grew up in Colombia before studying urban planning at the University of Michigan. After graduation, a year spent touring Europe — through London, Paris, Rome, Barcelona and Istanbul — launched his life-long romance with the world's great cities.
He worked as a planner for the city of Miami before bureaucratic torpor drove him into the private sector and a successful vocation as an entrepreneur. In 1979, he established The Related Group, which concentrated initially on affordable housing and garden apartment rentals.
The work married his father's gift for sales with his mother's sympathy for the downtrodden. But Perez chafed at the creative limitations involved in affordable housing, ("You had to build boxes") and turned in the mid-1990s to luxury condominiums instead.
As other developers pushed west with new suburban communities, Perez zeroed in on the city. His affinity for authentic urban cores, where people could walk, eat, shop and be entertained, thus made it an easy sell when Miami Mayor Manny Diaz sought his help in revitalizing the city's nondescript downtown.
Among the first residential projects that jump-started the long-overdue redevelopment was a pair of condo towers called One Miami that Perez erected at the mouth of the Miami River. "Developers don't like to be pioneers," Diaz says. But, "Once somebody with the reputation of The Related Group or Jorge is present there, everybody else says 'he must see something.' Lots of people followed."
Today, Related Group says it has built and managed more than 55,000 condo and apartment units in Florida. Revenue grew from $683 million in 2002 to more than $3 billion in 2005 before slumping to $1.4 billion last year. The company blames the drop-off on a decline in the number of projects completed. "This market was insane. It was on fire. We had to exploit that. … We felt we exploited it well," Perez says with a quiet chuckle.
Seeking international buyers
There's long been an international dimension to the company's business. Roughly 50% of the condo units sold in Miami are purchased by foreign buyers, according to Cannon. Many are Latin American business executives, but as the dollar sagged against the euro in recent years, Europeans likewise have poured into the market.
To attract Latin American executives who have frequent business in Miami, Perez is offering a number of furnished floors in Park Suites at 50 Biscayne, slated to open later this year.
As the South Florida market crested a couple of years ago, Perez began scouting for opportunities outside the USA. He ruled out Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, because the main language is Portuguese, not Spanish. Likewise, Venezuelan officials who have sought to lure him into their oil-fueled market, have gone away empty-handed.
To Perez, two Latin markets hold great potential for his Icon brand: Mexico and his native Argentina. For Americans seeking a retirement or vacation home, a familiar name from back home provides comfort. For an affluent Mexican or Argentinean, it promises cachet. "There's a large premium paid in these countries for what I would call branded product," Perez says.
Last month, Perez announced plans to invest $1 billion in Mexican projects over the next two years. First up: Icon Vallarta, an upscale oceanfront condo where units will be marketed at between $200,000 and $1 million. Opportunities in Argentina, which has rebounded from defaulting on its sovereign debt in 2001, he likens to South Florida "10 or 15 years ago."
Yet even as he readies his international foray, Perez, a father of four who married for the second time in 2001, is looking beyond business. A Democratic stalwart who displays prominently in his office a golfing photo of himself with former president Bill Clinton, Perez blasts President Bush for "killing young men for absolutely no reason" in Iraq.
In recent months, several Democratic candidates have come courting, seeking his support. ("I'm a pretty good fundraiser," he says. "I know how to squeeze.") Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have been to his home. But the developer is a Hillary Clinton fan who happily recalls during the Clinton administration when the president would tap his knowledge of Latin America.
Now, Hillary Clinton's status as the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic nomination allows Perez to indulge himself in speculation about his own possible foray into public service. If the New York senator goes all the way to the White House, he muses, an ambassadorial post would be a nice career capstone.
"The money's been made. More money or less will not change my life. Now, the important thing is legacy," he says.