Sunny Isles Beach

Building Rights

City to extend development deadline

By Randy Abraham

Many of the developers who received project approvals before the housing market tanked nationwide have been waiting out the slump.

In Sunny Isles Beach, however, developers who agreed to purchase transfers of development rights from the city to build larger and denser projects than city codes allow don’t have that option because the transfer must occur within two years of the agreement.

Now, city officials fear that uncertainty about the future of South Florida’s real estate market could cause some firms to walk away from their initial deposits and abandon previously approved projects.  

So, the City Commission agreed Feb. 21 to a voluntary plan that would provide developers with a four-year extension to exercise those rights, in exchange for a partial payment and a 7.5 percent interest fee, which could total anywhere from several hundred thousand to more than a million dollars.

The city currently expects to receive about $21.7 million in capital reserves, zoning bonuses and transfers of development rights during the next five years.

Developers typically have a few days after receiving zoning approval to pay a deposit on the transfer of zoning rights and up to two years to apply for a building permit. Those who opt for an extension would be required to forfeit their vested zoning rights, build underground utilities and maintain the construction site as a fenced-in, park-like setting during the extension period.

Although Commissioner Gerry Goodman said the extension should have been for two years instead of four, both Mayor Norman Edelcup and Commissioner George “Bud” Scholl agreed that a four-year extension would enable developers to ride out the market slump and possible political shifts. “I would rather help the development community and keep their projects alive,” Edelcup said. “The housing recession is not a momentary problem.”

Still, representatives from the development community disagreed with the proposed extension’s fee structure. Greenberg Traurig zoning attorney Cliff Schulman, representing a number of clients, said the extension fees would come at a time when developers are already struggling.

“The market is in the toilet right now and money is scarce,” Schulman said. “Our clients are not coming up with that kind of money.”

Hector Dasso, managing partner of Park Place on the Ocean, a project at 17475 Collins Ave. that was approved in April 2006, suggested an installment plan.

“The extension is fair, but it’s a lot of money,” Dasso said.