The SunPost

After hours of debate and some last-minute concessions from the developer, the Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board reaffirmed its approval of the Bijou Hotel, during a meeting Tuesday.

Frank Del Vecchio, who lives next door to the project, reserved the right to continue his appeal of the board’s September approval of the Bijou Hotel at 321 Ocean Drive to both that board and the special master in March, but was nevertheless optimistic.

“This board went very far to hear the concerns of the residents,” Del Vecchio said.

However, Jo Manning, a resident of the Drake at 1460 Ocean Drive, feared that neighbors are in for a noisy future. “They are going to need to put code compliance on speed dial,” she said.

Carter McDowell, an attorney for developer Frederick Rado and Zedek Associates, said his clients have come before the board 10 times and made as many concessions as possible to keep the project viable. “At some point in surgery, if you make a lot more cuts, the patient dies,” he said.

The additional concessions Rado agreed to include shutting down food service to the rooftop pool lounge at 8 p.m., giving the HPB the power to reassess the Bijou’s application should the hotel be issued a noise violation by code compliance and agreeing to a “zoning” threshold of 195 people if legislation is passed affecting new hotels south of Fifth Street.

On Sept. 11, the HPB approved Rado’s plans to partially demolish the three-story Simone Hotel and add a new seven-story building and small two-story garage. The new Bijou Hotel would have 130 rooms, a 130-seat “five star” restaurant and bar, and a rooftop pool area lounge.

But many South Beach residents, especially those residing in the neighboring 301 Ocean Drive condominium, fear that Bijou will add more noise pollution and vehicular traffic to the area’s already congested roads. Del Vecchio, a 301 Ocean Drive resident, discovered that a “preliminary concurrency evaluation” to measure the Bijou’s impact on the area was never conducted.

Since then, Zedek Associates filed its request for rehearing and presented a traffic plan prepared by the firm of Kimley Horn showing the Bijou would not degrade traffic conditions beyond what is allowed by the city’s comprehensive plan.

Del Vecchio, though, brought forth an architect, a traffic planner and other residents to argue that the Bijou’s site plan and valet parking service would not adequately address the volume of traffic the project would bring. Rafael De Arazoza, a traffic planner from the Corradino Group, said a circular driveway was needed to properly circulate cars going into the Bijou.

McDowell countered that a traffic circle would jeopardize the preservation of the Bijou Hotel. “It is not possible to have a circular driveway without destroying the historical significance [of the site],” he said.

Another topic of contention was noise. McDowell insisted that Zedek had already agreed to conditions more stringent than Miami Beach’s noise ordinance. Under the final order, no noise from the Bijou may be audible “from the confines of any apartment unit in the adjacent properties.” If a violation is determined valid by a special master, the Bijou will be forced to come back before the board. Del Vecchio wanted no noise audible beyond the hotel’s property line and violations determined by code compliance, McDowell said.

McDowell insisted that his client needed to be able to contest violations before a special master. Without that, Zedek would have a hard time getting the $75 million in bank financing needed to develop Bijou.

HPB member Henry Lares said West Avenue residents negotiated a covenant with the developers of the Mondrian South Beach condo hotel that said code compliance determines the violation.

“Once the units are sold, the developer is gone,” McDowell said.

Lares countered that the Mondrian’s joint venture partner, the Morgans Hotel Group, was tasked with managing the condo-hotel and was not going anywhere.

McDowell reluctantly agreed to the new language. “We’ll be back to see you, I promise you,” he said.

To alleviate traffic concerns, Rado also agreed to comply with a then-pending Miami Beach City Commission ordinance requiring a conditional use permit from the planning board for new hotels south of Fifth Street with occupancies higher than 195 individuals, so long as it is “zoning occupancy.”

McDowell said Bijou’s developers don’t plan on the hotel’s total occupancy being more than 195 people. “If we are stupid enough to go through that brain damage, I guess why not?” McDowell said.

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