North Bay Village commissioners to decide fate of Sunbeam’s multi-tower project
North Bay Village commissioners will take a final vote Tuesday on zoning changes that would allow for up to 650-foot towers in Sunbeam Properties’ bayfront assemblage.
Sunbeam, led by president and CEO Andrew Ansin, is a subsidiary of Sunbeam Television. It is the owner of WSVN-Channel 7, whose headquarters is in North Bay Village, which is part of the assemblage.
The billionaire Ansin family and its real estate firm have been assembling real estate in the town for decades, and their most recent proposal is garnering opposition from residents who say the height increase is out of scale.
The proposed multi-tower phased project would be spaced out in three areas of the town.
(Sunbeam Properties)
Sunbeam is seeking an increase in building height to up to 450 feet tall — from 240 feet that’s currently allowed — for the properties south of the 79th Street Causeway; and the ability to build up to 650 feet tall on properties in two areas north of the causeway, where zoning allows for 340-foot-tall structures. That could equate to 65-story towers.
Sherry Abramson, a planning and zoning board member, said the proposed height increase is “outrageous.” North Bay Village is a small two-island town that’s east of the mainland and west of Normandy Isle.
“If you look at Bay Harbor Islands, you would never see a project of this magnitude there,” Abramson said. “We just finished revamping our zoning code. Our mayor and commission need to work with that. … Height restrictions were implemented for good reason.”
(Sunbeam Properties)
The developer is proposing: nearly 2,000 residential units with fewer than 100 workforce housing apartments; a 300-key, 112,500-square-foot hotel component; 870,000 square feet of office and retail space; about 5,000 parking spaces, and open space. It could relocate WSVN’s studios to the project.
Commissioners will vote on second and final reading whether to amend Sunbeam’s special area plan, allowing for taller buildings on the 13-acre site, and changing the zoning for those properties to T6-30, from T6-24. They voted 3 to 2 in favor of the amendment Aug. 30 on first reading, but urged that Sunbeam hold a town hall meeting with the village residents, reconsider the building heights, and conduct a study of the expected shadow of buildings on nearby properties.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the commission will also vote on whether to approve a site plan for the mixed-use project, as well as a development agreement between the village and the developer.