Miami Beach

Do Over

Following guilt trip, design for new JCC approved — again

By Erik Bojnansky

Board members of the Miami Beach JCC plan to replace its 10,000-square-foot facility on Pine Tree Drive with a 64,000-square-foot complex. Photo by Josh Becker

Its construction was mandated by a voter referendum back in 2000. Its design was given the final OK by the Miami Beach Design Review Board in 2005.

But the Miami Beach Jewish Community Center (JCC) still does not have all the funds needed to build a new, three-story, educational, cultural and recreational facility at 4221 Pine Tree Drive. So, to keep the design approval alive, JCC representatives again presented the facility’s design plans for approval on Dec. 4.

“This is just hopefully a formality,” said Joy Spill, the Miami Beach JCC’s construction committee chair.

Design Review Board member Janet Grant Hyman was horrified that the handicapped spaces were located far from the JCC’s future recreational area. “I certainly expected you to answer to a higher power,” she said. “I am very upset about this.”

Although Todd Tragash, the project’s architect, said the handicapped spaces were close to the entrance, Hyman argued that they were still too far from the senior room and pool, forcing the elderly, infirm and handicapped to make a longer trip to those areas.

The board approved a motion to approve the JCC’s plans provided that the architect reassess the parking spaces, yet not before board member Gabrielle Redfern suggested that, instead of building on a field and eliminating open space, the JCC consider alternative locations for their activities — such as the Miami Heart Medical Center.

Spill said the JCC does not have the $90 million to buy Miami Heart from Mount Sinai Medical Center.

During the 2000 general election, Miami Beach voters approved a referendum that extended the JCC’s lease of city-owned land to the year 2099 to finance the construction of a new 64,369-square-foot facility. As a condition of the referendum, the JCC must invest more than $2 million in private funds to build the structure.

Seven years later, the price tag for a new JCC facility is $20 million, pro-bono attorney Graham Penn told board members. Private fundraising activities have secured one third of the funds.

Comments? E-mail erik@miamisunpost.com.

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