Going for Gehry
City Commission Approves New Development Agreement for New World Symphony Expansion

He’s also miffed about the NWS request for more money.

New World Symphony students at last week’s workshop wave signs in support of the project. Photo by Angie Hargot

A rendering of the future home of the New World Symphony after the campus expansion.

By Angie Hargot

The New World Symphony’s new home is a go, the Miami Beach City Commission decided Tuesday at a special meeting.

But not without some opposition.

David Kelsey, president of the South Beach Hotel and Restaurant Association, stood up at the podium as a lone naysayer just moments before the commission voted unanimously in favor of the project.

The NWS campus expansion near Lincoln Road and 17th Street, which includes a new 50,000-square-foot Frank Gehry-designed performance space, a parking garage and an urban park, has been creeping through leagues of city boards for the last two years. Changes to the scope of the project, ever-increasing construction costs, general confusion over details and the pitfalls of legal meandering have threatened to stall the project since its conception. Under pressure of rising construction costs, the commission claimed it just wanted to cover its bases while spending the city’s money.

Kelsey looked on, scanning the room as, to the roar of applause, the commission approved additional public funding for the expansion project.

There are better ways to utilize the city’s funds and land, Kelsey says. “This place has a parking problem right now,” he later told the SunPost. “And they know it’s serious.” With five commission seats soon up for grabs, Kelsey for one suspects the commissioners are thinking with their campaigns rather than in the city’s best interests.

“They’re making a deal based on popularity, rather than what the city’s needs really are,” he said. “They rely on the community for votes — they are not going to vote against it. [Commissioner Matti] Bower even admitted she didn’t like the look of the building, but she’s running for mayor.”

Kelsey thinks the building should be built, just not on the spot where it’s slated to be — a city surface parking lot. He’s also miffed about the NWS request for more money after they “promised [Mayor] David Dermer they would not come back and ask for more money,” he said. “What are the final numbers going to be?” And because of his concern about the homeless population on South Beach, Kelsey thinks “another park is another problem.”

But there were far more NWS music students in the audience who waved their PIMBY (“Please in My Back Yard”) signs high in support.

Aside from Kelsey’s dismay, the next meeting in a long line of steps for the project ended shortly and sweetly for supporters. City Manager Jorge Gonzalez started the meeting with a rundown of the changes the commission was approving, information that had been delivered to the commissioners’ homes the night before.

Gonzalez clarified that the city would not be responsible for its $15 million grant before the entire project had spent at least $135 million, and only if the project is adequately budgeted to not exceed the $150 million mark. If the project is going over that mark, the NWS will have to show the city it’s getting those extra funds from somewhere. Gonzalez crafted that agreement, reiterating that the money the city provides will “pay for the ribbon used in the ribbon-cutting ceremony,” and be the last dollars spent.

He also cleared up a little confusion over the budgeting itself. If the project does go over budget, the commission would have the option to try and bring the project into budget, or add more money to the pot. The documents also clarified qualified expenditures for the City Center Redevelopment Agency, the entity that will funnel the necessary property taxes into the project.

Commissioner Richard Steinberg brought up a concern that the city’s $15 million grant could potentially be used to pay debt if the NWS board of directors were to borrow against their unfinished building. But most of the commission was not concerned with such a proposition.

The timeframe the NWS gave for the actual construction was 28 months for the building and 12 to 16 months for the garage, with payments in installments. The NWS contractors were also insured for potential hurricane delays. Guarantees that the NWS would have adequate parking were to be worked out at a later date.

The commission also discussed a New York Times article written about the New World Symphony and its expansion project (they seemed to enjoy it) while Michael Tilson Thomas, the organization’s founder and famed classical conductor, waxed poetic.

“Everything about this project,” he said, “is a love song.”

Comments? E-mail angie@miamisunpost.com.