David Lombardi of Lombardi Properties, a leading property owner and developer in Wynwood, says this will be the first ground-up facility of its kind in the Southeast United States that meets all insurance industry standards. “We feel we’re creating a brand that we hope to take to other cities elsewhere,” he says.

Museo is scheduled for completion next October, just in time for the art “season.”  

Urban living

Miami’s Health District is getting a new kind of high-rise in the form of 158 luxurious, yet affordable, units in The Urban Club. The 20-story, mixed-use development is located at 1444 N.W. 14th Ave., close to the University of Miami’s new hospital (formerly Cedars), its various research institutes and Jackson and the VA medical centers.

Rommel Este, a co-developer of the project, says VEP Housing Developers plans to create livable and accessible neighborhoods where nurses, medical professionals, police officers and other public servants can afford to buy moderately priced homes in the Miami communities that depend on them.

Specialized workforce housing, planning and interior design company Corwil Architects has designed one- and two-bedroom units that range from 900 to 1,200 square feet and feature private terraces offering panoramic views of the Miami River, the downtown Miami skyline and Biscayne Bay. Units include impact-resistant floor-to-ceiling sliding doors and windows, with spacious walk-in closets. Building amenities include a fitness center, fifth-floor swimming pool and sun deck, as well as a club room, security access entry and covered parking. Prices range from $250,000 to $390,000. Westpark Realty is the exclusive sales and marketing agent at the on-site sales office.

The Urban Club will also have 6,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. Construction is under way, with completion scheduled for December 2008.

Say it isn’t so

The Miami-Fort Lauderdale area only ranks number 11 in a new survey of the top U.S. cities to have fun! What’s going on here?

Agreed: New York City belongs in first place, and large metros — such as Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland and Chicago — are known for their entertainment and recreational offerings. But Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Providence, R.I, are more fun than Miami?

The list, created by Bizjournals, evaluated the fun potential of the nation’s 50 largest markets by collecting federal 2005 statistics for 14 relevant types of businesses, from retail stores and restaurants to gambling casinos and golf courses. Each market was graded on the volume (total number) and concentration (rate per 100,000 residents) of such businesses. The best scores went to markets that performed well in a wide array of categories.

Miami, recognized as a warm-weather tourist magnet with a carefree atmosphere, just bested New Orleans (12th) and Las Vegas (13th), but according to the report, “lacks the balance necessary to crack the elite list.”

Here are the Miami-Fort Lauderdale rankings out of 50, in seven broad categories: shopping, 21; food and drink, 22; culture, 19; popular entertainment, including spectator sports, 5; gambling, 19; high-impact sports facilities, such as fitness centers, 37; and low-impact sports venues, such as golf courses and boating, 10.

On a positive note, it’s a change to have a list, no matter how dreary, that doesn’t slap around Miami’s housing and mortgage statistics. And when the snow is 6 feet deep in New York and other cities, Miami in December is just the place to have huge helpings of fun!

Congratulations

To: leading Sunny Isles Beach developer Gil Dezer on his marriage last week to Lorena Strallnikoff. The lawn ceremony at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach was followed by a reception in the Grande Ballroom, with Gil’s parents, Michael and Neomi Dezer, and Lorena’s Argentine parents, Carlos and Rosa Strallnikoff, hosting several hundred wedding guests, including Donald Trump and family, Sunny Isles Beach Mayor Norman Edelcup and some of that city’s commissioners.

The newlyweds left for a two-week jet-set trip to Dubai, the Maldives, Hong Kong and Macau for a party-style finish. 

Buzz

What do a landmark theater with a “rock & roll” design theme and a crafty tree with a green theme have in common?

Answer: They each show off the design talents of ADD Inc., an architecture and design firm with offices in Cambridge, Mass., and Miami.

ADD recently completed the $3.5 million renovation of Miami Beach’s Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts into a LiveNation venue called The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater. They also created the winning tree for the annual Festival of the Trees. The ADD tree (sponsored by furniture company Knoll) was called “Forever Green” and showed off environmentally friendly materials, including satin leaf saplings and painted lady butterflies. (Entry to the Festival of the Trees is open throughout the month of December at One Brickell Square on Brickell Avenue in Miami.)

Branching out into the real thing, ADD Inc. donated 60 saplings to TREEmendous, a nonprofit volunteer organization that plants, preserves and protects trees to beautify the local community.