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Miami Beach
This Is Not Disney World!
City board cautiously agrees to replicate Normandy
Shores Club House
By Ben Torter
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Miami Beach Commissioner Ed Tobin |
Going against its usual pattern, the Miami Beach Design Review Board
agreed Tuesday to allow the Normandy Shores Club House
to be completely torn down and replicated rather than
renovated.
The city-owned Normandy Shores Golf Course and its historically
significant clubhouse at
2401 Biarritz Drive in North Beach have been closed for
the past few years as part of a major facelift. The
course was expected to be operational again this fall,
and the clubhouse was supposed to reopen at the same
time. Instead, the clubhouse remained gutted and bogged
down in bureaucracy.
That was until Ed Tobin was elected to the Miami Beach City
Commission in November.
Tobin put together an ad-hoc committee of five local building
experts to study the Normandy Shores Club House plans.
They brought to light certain issues, such as the fact
that the foundation wasn’t sound. The committee also
predicted that more costly deficiencies would be
uncovered during construction, and that replication
would be cheaper, faster and more structurally sound.
The arguments of Tobin’s committee persuaded the city’s Planning
Department and the Design Review Board to proceed with
replication.
“We’re going to get the project built faster, less expensively and
of better quality,” Tobin said. “I think it’s going to
be a home run for the residents, and is going to be a
model for construction projects citywide in the future.”
The Normandy Shores Club House was built in 1941, before most of
the homes in the neighborhood were constructed in the
1950s. The landmark building was designed by August
Geiger, who historians say was Carl Fisher’s favorite
architect. Other
Miami Beach
buildings designed by Geiger include the Van Dyke and
the former Chase Bank building (now a Banana Republic),
both located on Lincoln Road.
Convincing preservationist board members was not easy.
Board member Gabrielle Redfern appeared to struggle with a decision
and used reasoning that might have offended Mickey
Mouse.
“In
my heart of hearts, I don’t like the word replication,”
Redfern said. “There is something Disneyish about it.”
Board member Clotilde Luce also used anti-theme-park rhetoric to
express her distaste.
“I
find replication is kind of Epcot, and we try not to do
that in Miami Beach,” Luce said.
However, they voted for replication after listening to favorable
public opinion.
The North Beach Development Corporation’s marketing director, Erik
Goldman, spoke in favor of replication. Well-known
North Beach activist and president of the Normandy Isle
Neighborhood Association, Daniel Veitia, couldn’t attend
the meeting but sent the board a letter supporting
replication. Even William Cary, assistant planning
director and historian, was in favor of replication in
this case, though he stressed that he usually prefers
renovation.
“It probably makes more sense to demolish and replicate than to try
and save the 30 percent that remains,”
Cary said. He pointed out that the Setai and Royal Palm
hotels are examples of successful replications of
historic buildings.
The vote was a victory for Tobin, who hopes to save taxpayers money
on the city’s capital improvement projects.
Normandie Sud Homeowners Association President Margueritte Ramos
praised Tobin for his fresh approach to city
construction projects, as well as City Manager Jorge
Gonzalez for working with him.
“This new innovative way to bring in private enterprise to oversee
construction is great,” Ramos said.
Officials hope to have the clubhouse open in early 2009.
Comments? E-mail
ben@miamisunpost.com |
