Glass box of penthouses crowns Miami Worldcenter project

A mixed-use development will bring new office space and residential units, including a glass box of penthouses, to the northern boundary of Miami Worldcenter.

Abbhi Capital is the owner-developer of the two-tower project for a site at 1001 NE First Ave.

The project will help complete the area known as Miami Worldcenter Block A.

It includes a 61-story residential tower and 35-story office tower, which will share a podium of parking and liner units, and about 7,100 square feet of ground floor commercial use.

The development will be home to 558 residential units, and about 307,000 square feet of office space, and related amenities.

The podium is to have enough room for parking up to 1,319 vehicles.

Miami’s Urban Development Review Board is recommending approval.

Brian Dombrowski, an attorney for the owner-developer, said the property is about 2.1 acres within the MWC District overlay area, and has a land use designation of Restricted Commercial.

The site is currently improved with surface parking.

The property has frontages on Northeast First Avenue on the west, Northeast 11th Street on the north, and Northeast 10th Street on the south.

In a letter to the city Mr. Dombrowski wrote, “… a warrant is required for the development of a new building within the Miami Worldcenter District.

The purpose of the warrant shall be to ensure conformity of new buildings (within) the Park West Commercial-Residential District … and the Miami Worldcenter Development Standards.”

Mr. Dombrowski said the project will satisfy the goals and guiding principles of the Park West Community Redevelopment Plan by creating jobs within the community, improving the quality of life for residents, and ensuring strategic transportation routes.

He said the developer is seeking a second warrant to allow for a Loading Management Plan that implements a dock master and delivery schedule for scheduled deliveries as well as tenant moves.

In addition to the warrant requests, the developer is asking for special district permits to allow:

■A 10% increase in the permitted lot coverage. The project proposes a lot coverage of 87.75%, which represents a less than 10% increase in the maximum lot coverage.

■A 10% increase in the maximum floorplate length for residential uses above the eighth story from 200 feet to 220 feet.

■A 10% decrease in the required frontage at front setback from 70% to 63%.

Arquitectonica is the architect. Ray Fort of Arquitectonica presented details of the design to the review board.

He pointed to difficult traffic patterns in the area with one-way streets.

Mr. Fort said, “Given the size of the project, we wanted to make sure we weren’t going to have a project that wouldn’t handle the inflow of traffic into the site. We didn’t want cars to have to circulate around the block.”

He said they designed a type of valve entry to bring vehicles into the structure through 10th Street and Northeast First Avenue, with an internalized drop-off zone instead of on the street.

The podium parking levels factor in two separate ramps to bring in vehicles for residential uses and for the offices.

“We want to make sure there isn’t a conflict of ramping at the garage … they circulate independent of one another,” he said.

The top levels of the tallest tower will be capped by a glass box of several corner penthouses and some of the required mechanical systems.

Board member Anthony Tzamtzis said, “I think it’s an exceptional, exceptional project – as usual. I’m very impressed with the articulation at grade with the two towers.

“The only thing that sort of jumps in my eyes is that penthouse. It’s interesting. It almost looks like a hat … a hat that doesn’t belong to the building, in a way,” he said.

Mr. Tzamtzis asked what type of material the penthouse box was framed with, and Mr. Fort said it was glass.

Mr. Tzamtzis said, “In your rendering it looks like a cloth, like a canvas.”

Mr. Fort said, “It’s intended to certainly have a softness that is the iteration of what’s happening on the lower floors, keeping its form.”

Mr. Tzamtzis said, “It’s an extremely interesting concept … but I have to stop and look at it. I mean, one would expect more of a ceremonial, more of a celebration and instead it’s sort of static. But I’m not criticizing it, I’m just saying it leaves me a little bit perplexed.”

Mr. Tzamtzis went on to praise the overall design of the towers at different heights “and changing that pattern between the two buildings, the sculptural effect.”

Board member Agustin Barrera said, “I really like the design overall. I like the ground plane, the scale of how the building meets the ground and how it interacts with the pedestrians.”

Board member Dean Lewis said, “I like the fact that you take a very organized, efficient plan and start to really articulate and push and pull in a very subtle way, the columns, the fins, and then introduce the vertical and horizontal scalloping to create a language that’s quite original.”

Chairman Ignacio Permuy said, “You have a beautiful design. Very well executed. The massing is very well done. The articulation is great. I don’t have any other comments but just good things about it. I do like the hat, by the way. A job very well done.”

The vote to recommend approval was unanimous.