In one day, 1,750 more housing units

If you think Miami’s building boom is slowing, try telling that to the city’s Urban Development Review Board.

In one afternoon last week the board reviewed about a half-dozen planned projects that would total 1,750 new residential units in the city – the bulk of them rental apartments.

And the pockets of growth stretch from one side of the city to the other, from Edgewater to Coral Way, from downtown to the river.

They include:
•Yotel, a mixed-use 45-story tower offering 180 condos, 254 hotel cabins and about 16,000 square feet of commercial at 227-235 NE Second St.
•Chiquita North and Chiquita South, multi-family housing offering 700 rental units in several buildings, eight stories and one section at 12 stories, at 2900 and 3010 NE Second Ave. The angular site hugging the FEC rail line was once a Chiquita Banana distribution center.
•Edgewater Tower, a mixed-use 27-story building with 56 condos at 522-526 NE 34th St.
•River Central, a mixed-use project to include 633 rental units in two eight-story buildings connected by a parking garage, and two 1,500-square-foot commercial spaces, at 650 NW Eighth St.
•Modera Station, Phase II of Mill Creek Residential’s development on Bird Road just west of Douglas Road, with 181 rental units at 3750 Bird Road. Phase I, which is nearing completion, includes 262 apartments in an eight-story square next door.

The Chiquita development stirred negative reaction from several board members mainly due to its size – the layout or massing of the low-level buildings. Board member Willy Bermello also said the drawings lacked needed detail. The bulk of the project was deferred until September.

The board recommended approval for the other projects, some with conditions.