Brickell Mixeduse Project Goes To City This Week

By Deserae del Campo
A Brickell mixed-use project of nearly 1 million square feet of office space and hundreds of hotel rooms and residential units is to go before the Miami City Commission this week for building permit approval.

The two-tower 600 Brickell and its approximately 952,000 square feet of office space can’t come soon enough to the area’s space-strapped leasing market, said Bert Checa, a Holly Real Estate broker. "The vacancy rate would go from 8% to 17% if the building was going up now.

"The project would bring a very healthy amount to the market, which is starving right but it’s not coming soon enough," Mr. Checa said. "This is a project that the market desperately needs."

600 Brickell is among several projects in the works that could ease pressure on the leasing market. City records show downtown Miami is expected to see more than 5 million square feet of office space from projects in the pipeline.

The shorter tower of 600 Brickell, standing 485 feet, is to be completed ahead of the taller one, by the end of 2010. It’s to include 490,126 square feet of office space and 14,030 square feet of retail space.

Work on the second tower is to begin in 2011. The 903-foot structure is to include 134 residential units, 360 hotel rooms, 463,483 square feet of office space and 3,917 square feet of retail space.

Developer 600 Brickell LLC is to go before the commission today (6/22) for a major use special permit. The city’s zoning board approved the project in March.

"We received approval from the Urban Development Review Board and the zoning board," said attorney for the developers Gil Pastoriza of Weiss Serota Helfman Pastoriza Cole & Boniske during a planning and zoning meeting this month. "They were all ecstatic about the project.

"We have a truly unique building here, the first of its kind on Brickell Avenue that has a significant amount of public space with three quarters of an acre of public plaza."

Ron Henderer, architect with RTKL Architecture, said "600 Brickell draws a parallel with Rockefeller Center. This project will bring significant value to the city of Miami with a vital urban space that will be a magnet for people."

The project has also received city commission approval for the land and zoning use changes. The final reading for the land-use change is also scheduled today. A six-story building at the site is to be razed to make way for the project.

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