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Tuesday, February 24, 2004 Group combs South Beach for development ideasBy JOHN BOZZO | News-Journal Staff Writer MIAMI BEACH — A steady stream of people enjoy the ocean breeze as they walk past shops and restaurants that stay open late, as traffic fills the busy boulevards.
It's not Bike Week in Daytona Beach – it's a weekday in Miami Beach's trendy South Beach district. "As a freshman at the University of Miami, people said 'don't go to South Beach, it's too dangerous,'" James Lanni said. "Now, if you live in Miami, this is where you want to go." Lanni was among eight members of The Chamber, Daytona Beach/Halifax Area and two Daytona Beach city planners who traveled south last week to see the impact of mixing residential condominiums in tourist areas. Their trip is a prelude to debate here on a $200 million project proposed by Swerdlow Group to build three 25-story oceanfront condominiums and a sports-aquatic center for Olympic teams and the International Swimming Hall of Fame on a 6.5-acre site south of Harvey Avenue between the ocean and Atlantic Avenue. A zoning change up for review Thursday would allow condos from Oakridge to International Speedway Boulevard east of Atlantic Avenue – an area that now caters mostly to tourists. "I'm for the project, because I've seen what it's done down here," Lanni said during dinner at a restaurant on Miami Beach's pedestrian-only Lincoln Road, where sidewalk cafes were filled with a diverse crowd, including families with children. The Daytona Beach delegation, which arrived Thursday morning by bus, was joined by Kevin Crowley, Miami Beach economic development director, as the bus rolled past a swanky shopping district with stores such as Kenneth Cole, Banana Republic and Versace. He said the area, also known as South Point, was established as the first redevelopment district in the state in 1973. Property values there have grown from $60 million to $1.2 billion — but the growth has brought one major problem: noise. "Residents might not complain about the (everyday) noise if they weren't dealing with extra noise every other weekend," Crowley said, noting the city has high-decibel events such as the Boat Show and Memorial Day hip-hop festival. During a lunch briefing on development, Miami Beach officials told their visitors that, while tourism fuels about 90 percent of the shopping in Miami Beach, residential development helps provide steady customers for entertainment and dining businesses. Miami Beach Planning and Zoning Manager Richard Lorber suggested strong enforcement of ordinances regulating noise and loitering, as well as telling future residents they'll be moving into a tourist zone. The Miami Beach officials said their city loosened regulations to spur development when the area declined in the 1970s. After the first 45-story building went up, ordinances limited proposals to 22 stories. Lorber said Miami Beach has evolved from a 1960s "slash-and-burn" approach to development, in which everything is torn down and replaced by new construction, to a view of historic preservation as "almost like a religion." The city became a partner in some private projects, most often buying land and entering into an agreement with a developer, and used incentives to lure a much-needed grocery store to an urban area. Federal Community Development block grants promoted improvements and home ownership in the North Beach area of Miami Beach. Miami Beach has used its power to force the sale of property, but officials from that city cautioned against using the power as leverage in negotiations to buy property because prices of property can end up being much higher than they wanted to pay. "Don't do it," Lorber said. "Drop the development. You don't want to get caught up in court." John Ferguson, an attorney with the Cobb & Cole law firm in Daytona Beach who represents Swerdlow Group, said, "That's not our city's concern if the developer's paying the cost." Swerdlow has offered to buy land for the project and pay legal costs to force the sale if negotiations for voluntary purchase fail. Miami Beach officials talked about how they built on exposure the city received through the "Miami Vice" television show and high-profile advertising campaigns, which helped fuel revival of an entertainment district on Ocean Drive and bring in corporate offices for 125 companies in TV and music businesses. During a stop in Fort Lauderdale on the way home, developer and former city planner Doug Eagon told the Daytona Beach group that Daytona Beach is perceived as "a big speed and bike zone" without much else to attract tourists. Eagon said Fort Lauderdale designated some areas of the beach for tourism and others for residential, keeping the tourist area limited. "You can only have so many rooms," he said, noting that planned construction of a 500-unit condo-hotel on the Boardwalk near the proposed aquatic center might be enough to meet the city's needs. On the ride back home, Bobby Thigpen, chamber chairman and president of Lloyd Buick-Cadillac, said the sports-aquatic center would capitalize on Daytona Beach's sport reputation. "We have a chance to get at least six Olympic sports," he said. "You've got to do the condos to do the project. That's what's paying for it." Half the taxes generated by the condominiums, about $20 million, would be used to build the sports-aquatic center. Swerdlow Group has also offered to help fund other sports facilities through donations and loans. Peter Aluotto, Daytona Beach development services director, agreed that the sports venues make the condo-aquatic center project "different from the garden variety condo project." Aluotto said any new project must have amenities such as better ocean views, more beach access, public art and parks. "If we insist on quality for what we build now, in 100 years people will say, 'Back then, they did it right,'" he said. 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