
FYI
Miami is a weekly feature of Miami Today, keeping readers ahead
of the news. Here are highlights from the most current edition. |
ONE
MIAMI FIX:
The Miami city commission will reconsider a major-use special permit granted
last month to One Miami for a mixed-use project at 205 Biscayne Blvd. Miami
One Centre, headed by Ned Seigel and Morris Stoltz, owns the land and the Related
Group of Florida, headed by Jorge Perez, will go before the city commission
Jan. 25 to see if the permit is still applicable. The project had to be substantially
modified after representatives for neighboring Hotel Inter-Continental Miami,
100 Chopin Plaza; Miami Center, 201 Biscayne Blvd., and the First Union building
on Biscayne teamed up to persuade the developer to come up with a less intrusive
design. Commissioners told One Miami officials last month they needed to work
something out.
COBB
AT DOLPHIN: The Dolphin Mall announced a summer opening is planned for
a 19-screen Cobb Theatres cinema megaplex at the 1.4 million-square-foot shopping
center. Plans call for Cobb to build and operate an 85,000-square-foot facility
in a location formerly planned for use by Regal Cinemas, which Cobb bought in
1997. The mall is to open March 1 with about 150 stores but executives expect
nearly 200 retail outlets to be open for business in the mall by the summer.
Robert Cobb, Cobb theaters president, called the chain's new home in the Dolphin
as "beginning the next chapter in the history of Cobb Theatres." He
said the company expects to employ up to 150 at the complex.
LANCHILE ADDITION:
LanChile announced the introduction of a daily nonstop from Miami to Guayaquil,
Ecuador on a Boeing 767-300 aircraft with introductory rates offered through
Jan. 21.
WORTH
KNOWING: The Miami Beach Commission on the Status of Women is seeking
nominations for its 2001 Women Worth Knowing Awards. Four women will be feted
as part of Women's History Month. Qualifications include residency in Miami
Beach or business involvement or ownership of a Beach-based business for at
least two years. The deadline for nominations is Feb. 1. Details: (305) 673-7782.
INTERNATIONAL LAW: Miami Today's International Roundtable
will focus on the globe-spanning activities of Miami's legal community at a
7:30 a.m. breakfast session Feb. 16 in the Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key.
The free program is sponsored by the hotel and the law firm Gunster Yoakley
Valdes-Fauli & Stewart. Reservations required. Details: Jody Bray, (305) 358-2663.
ATLAS SLUGGED:
Demolition began last week on the former Eastern Airlines headquarters building
at Miami International Airport to pave the way for development of a facility
for Atlas Air that will bring 500 new jobs to the community and may lead to
as many as 800, airport officials said. Demolition is to take 90 days. The Atlas
facility will be capable of housing three Boeing 747 freighters in the hangar
and four on the apron. Construction is to begin in September and be complete
in October 2002.
MIAMI TO PARIS TO MIAMI: Miami International Airport
officials say they are making plans with the Beacon Council to attend the Paris
Air Show together again in June, as they did last year, to seek to lure aviation
businesses to Miami. Airport officials said they expect to have contact with
several hundred potential business links for the community at the world-renowned
show.
TAGGING UP: A second office to issue identification
tags to persons working at Miami International Airport is to open within 30
days, says Nelson Oramas, assistant aviation director for security and facilities
management. The office, in the airport's west cargo area, will be open initially
two to three days a week to renew identifications, he said. He expects to renew
50 to 60 a day. The main identification area at the heliport, he said, handles
up to 150 identifications daily for persons who work on airport property
about 45,000 persons in all.
CAREER DECISION:
Faced with a choice between creating an urban development group at his new law
firm or preparing for an election battle to be mayor of Miami Beach for two
more years, "the decision in that respect was easy," said Neisen Kasdin,
who last week announced that he would not seek re-election. Instead, he'll head
a 10- to 12-lawyer urban development group at Gunster Yoakley & Stewart, which
he joined in April. Group specialties will include brownfields development,
special assessment districts, eminent domain, environmental concerns and infill
development. He had served two terms as mayor, he said, but "it's not my
career."
TARGETING REGIONALISM: Mr. Kasdin may be leaving the mayor's office but
not public life. He's spearheading a regionalism initiative that's a joint project
of the Urban Land Institute of South Florida Council and the Collins Center.
The session, with a focus on the local officials of Broward, Palm Beach and
Miami-Dade counties, will be held Feb. 9 at the National Car Rental Center in
Sunrise. He expects the session to help shape the tri-county agenda on regionalism.
DOUBLE
LUXURY: As outgoing mayor, Mr. Kasdin welcomed developers Friday night
at the unveiling of The Setai, an Asian-theme, ultra-luxury resort hotel and
40-story oceanfront condominium development at 101 20th St., Miami Beach. How
luxurious? J. Steven Manolis, CEO of Manolis & Co., which is marketing the hotel,
said the 87 rooms will have 700 square feet each and cost guests twice the rates
of the Mandarin Oriental, the world-acclaimed five-star hotel that just opened
on Brickell Key.
SYMBIOTIC LIVING: How can a small hotel offer ultra-luxury service? Mr.
Manolis said it's piggybacking on the condo tower next door, offering condo
owners who wish to furnish their units in the Asian style of the hotel the opportunity
to add their units to the hotel's inventory when they're away and split the
revenues.
BIG SMILES: At least two persons attending The Setai's
opening said they were happy that Mayor Neisen Kasdin won't seek another term.
"I'm doing it," said Commissioner Nancy Liebman, who is prevented
by term limits from running for a commission seat again and now will jump into
the mayoral race. "I would like very much to be the first lady mayor of
Miami Beach." And Ana Kasdin, the mayor's first lady, looks forward to
more time together as a family: "It's the happiest day of my life."
LOOKING NORTH: If Ms. Liebman becomes mayor, look
for a northern focus. In a booming city with hotels and condos continuing to
rise, she sees North Beach lagging behind and needing special attention.
MARINER LANDS BERTH: Jonathan Mariner, who came
aboard with the Florida Marlins expansion baseball team before a single pitch
had been tossed and disembarked as executive vice president and CFO last October
after the cruise industry torpedoed a plan he floated to build a baseball stadium
by taxing cruise passengers, has a new berth. He was hired last week by Charter
Schools USA of Fort Lauderdale as COO. He'd been a Charter Schools investor
and director for more than two years. Charter now has five schools but plans
more than 50 within five years.
BLACK
& DECKER: Black & Decker Corp. named M. Anthony Burns a director. Mr.
Burns is chairman and former president & CEO of Miami-based Ryder System Inc.
He has been a Ryder director since 1979 and become Ryder's board chairman in
1985, stepping aside as president in 1999 and as CEO in November. The appointment
of Mr. Burns to the Black & Decker board came on the heels of a resignation
as director of 93-year-old Alonzo G. Decker Jr., who began working at the age
of 14 for the corporation, which was founded by his father and S. Duncan Black.
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