A deal with the city will allow property owners to build a new four-story complex around the Coral Rock House. Photo by Erik Bojnansky

The fate of the 89-year-old Coral Rock House at 900 Collins Ave. is still uncertain after owners came before Miami Beach’s Historic Preservation Board Tuesday, requesting approval of some modifications to the architectural designs for the restoration and partial demolition of the site.

However, a deal was crafted in which developers will attempt to save the current structure. If they can’t, under the agreement with the city, they’ll have to replicate it.

The design modifications presented by the house’s owner illustrate the next step in the almost four-year battle between preservationists fighting to keep the historic structure standing, and developers 900 Collins, LLC, who have bigger plans in mind.

In an effort to come to agreement, the house’s current owner, Michael Stern (also a City Commission candidate), employed architect Les Beilinson to design a four-story apartment complex, including a ground floor of commercial retail space, that would replace the also historically significant structure at the rear of the property. They would, in effect, build around the historic one-story coral structure.

City officials agreed to the designs as a way to save the Coral Rock House while still allowing the owner to build something financially lucrative on the site. HPB board members suggested minor tweaking to the design of the proposed rear structure to create a better visual fit with the Coral Rock House.

The sentiment that the proposed construction “hovers over” (as board member Norberto Rosenstein put it) the diminutive historic structure was on more than one mind.

“I request that it have some more character and charm,” said neighboring property owner Roberta Waller. Waller owns the building on the west side of the site, at 245 Ninth St., and isn’t happy about the towering modern-architecture walls that will face her building. “It’s in the middle of an Art Deco District.”

Tearing down the building at the rear of the property at 209 Ninth St. was the result of a compromise between Coral Rock House owners and the city. That property was built in 1924 and is designated as “contributing” in the city’s historic properties database.

“The basis for allowing the demolition of the west building was to allow for economic viability for the project,” the city’s historic preservation coordinator, William Cary, explained. Allowing it at all “was an agreement reached … as a way to save the Coral Rock House.”

Another problem is the building has been ordered condemned as an unsafe structure — a court order the developers themselves petitioned for, and a fact the project’s attorney Carter McDowell admitted during the meeting.

“There is a court order because the property owner petitioned for a court order,” said First Assistant City Attorney Gary Held.

The Historic Preservation Board was hardly sympathetic to the demolition order. They still wanted assurances that attempts would be made to save the Coral Rock House.

“We’re trying to make this project work economically,” Beilinson said. “It will probably cost more to restore [the Coral Rock House] than to build this whole [new] building.”

Options ranging from extracting the coral to saving the façade of the house, to changes in materials, to demolishing and then exactly replicating the structure as it now stands, were explored Tuesday. Beilinson offered that should a complete replication be necessary, full documentation illustrating the construction of the house is on-file with the city, and the coral rock material itself is not in short supply in South Florida.

But in the end, the back-and-forth resulted in minor changes to the current site plans to make them more amenable to neighboring building owners who have had to put up with what they say is an eyesore of a property next door.

“I’ve suffered great financial losses while this has been going on,” Waller said. “The property has not been maintained. I’ve lost tenants and had to reduce the rents. Now [with the design of the proposed building] I feel I’ve been wronged again.”

Ilana Cohen owns the Stardust Apartments, another historically significant property, located at 910 Collins Ave.

“I couldn’t rent a space for two or three years while this was going on,” Cohen told the board. “I’m paying taxes like they are. Please help me. It’s strange that three years ago the house could not be saved, and now it can be saved. It’s a slum.” Cohen, who was applauded by the board for investing large sums of resources into restoring her own Art Deco building, was referring to the site’s current state and problems with vegetation, trash and mosquitoes.

But the state of the neglected property is only a soliloquy to the whole play. On Oct. 19, 2006, a demolition permit was granted after the Miami-Dade County Unsafe Structures Board issued an order requiring demolition of the Coral Rock House, city documents show.

“There is currently a court order requiring us to demolish the building,” McDowell said. “We cannot stand here and tell you we can restore this building, although we’re willing to make every attempt to do so.”

Another problem for developers, according to McDowell: The project won’t be able to get a building permit for the new rear structure while there is still a structure actually on the site.

“We’re beyond the date in the [court] order,” McDowell said. “If someone wanted to file a motion [to enforce the order] it would come down tomorrow.”

McDowell also says he will now have to obtain another court order allowing the owners to not tear the Coral Rock House down, and indicated that other legal meanderings for the project are far from over.

“The zoning review says we will also need variances for the project,” McDowell told the board Tuesday. “So you could give it to us and another board could take it away.”

The project developers have to obtain their building permit by Nov. 3 to avoid paying hefty impact fees. In accordance with some changes to the language of the requirements, the 5-1 vote Tuesday allowing the project to move forward requires that if the rear structure is torn down before restoration attempts are made on the Coral Rock House, and then developers come back before the board and say they can’t restore it for any reason, the project will be required to exactly replicate the entire site as it now stands.

The Coral Rock House is one of only four completely coral rock structures still standing in the city. It was built in 1916 as the home of Miami Beach pioneer Avery C. Smith. Smith is credited with having created the first regular ferry service between Miami Beach and the mainland, a feat considered crucial to the development of the city.

Stern told the SunPost he will now have to convince the court to allow him to restore the structure. He is doubtful he will succeed, predicting that “it will end up being replicated.” Stern is also resentful of the interference imposed on him by preservationists and the city.

“You know I believe in karma. You don’t know how much believe in karma,” Stern said, later adding. “I can understand [the feelings of preservationists] but they also have to be reasonable. My experience with historic preservation is there is no reason, they don’t believe in being reasonable to anyone, just making you spend [every dollar you have].”

Comments? E-mail angie@miamisunpost.com.