BornInTheGrove
January 7th, 2006, 05:17 AM
Its about time this thing gets underway
Posted on Fri, Jan. 06, 2006
KENDALL
Town Center gets green light
Plans for the Kendall Town Center can finally move ahead, as a developer ends his opposition to the project.
BY ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
Developer Jeff Berkowitz is ready to end the litigation that has long stalled the development of the Kendall Town Center.
The decision comes at the urging of Baptist Hospital, which plans to build a 120-bed hospital as part of the mixed-use project originally planned by the Rouse Company and now owned by General Growth Properties.
''I felt I could not in good conscience hold up the hospital any further,'' said Berkowitz, whose litigation has stalled the project for 1 ½ years. ``It's never been my intention to do anything that would be detrimental to the community that has been very good to me.''
While Berkowitz says he never opposed plans for the hospital, he had argued that the entire project would bring too much traffic to the already congested area at Kendall Drive and Southwest 157th Avenue. The open-air shopping and community center was designed to include big-box retailers, restaurants, a megaplex movie theater plus entertainment center, hotel, office building space and an assisted-living facility.
The project has stalled and gone through several revisions over the seven years since it was unveiled as more of a regional shopping center with department store anchors.
The bulk of the traffic that Berkowitz feared would come from plans for the first Muvico Empire, a new concept by the Fort Lauderdale Muvico Theaters that would include a megaplex theater and entertainment center, with a bowling alley, a pool hall, bar, video games, restaurants, meeting rooms and more.
Berkowitz argues that Miami-Dade County let Rouse off the hook for mitigating the potential traffic problems. The county required the developer to build a bus stop with 24 parking spaces, but Berkowitz feels the whole process was flawed.
''They used a traffic study that was five years old that didn't include the traffic impact of a movie theater,'' said Berkowitz, who has a particular interest in the area because his Kendall Village center at Kendall Drive and Southwest 124th Avenue has its own movie theater.
But Berkowitz was persuaded to put his issues aside after a meeting with Ana Lopez-Blazquez, chief strategic officer for Baptist Hospital. It also came after he lost two appeals in the court system, although he still had a civil lawsuit pending.
''Had I known it was going to work, I might have talked to him sooner,'' Lopez-Blazquez said after learning of Berkowitz's decision. ``That's wonderful news.''
Baptist has to finalize its purchase of the property for the hospital from General Growth. Lopez-Blazquez expects to break ground before the end of the year and construction should take about two years.
The need for an outgrowth of Baptist Hospital has been driven by both the increasing population of West Kendall and the traffic on Kendall Drive. Although the main Baptist Hospital is only seven miles away, the traffic can easily make it a 45-minute drive.
''People in the community are very concerned that when they have an emergency they might not get to the hospital in time,'' Lopez-Blazquez said.
General Growth has yet to say how it plans to move forward on the development of remainder of the project and did not respond to multiple requests to discuss the project this week. The company inherited the plans for the West Kendall project when it purchased the Rouse Company in 2004.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/13562285.htm
The following gif's are from The Rouse Company's website (http://clients.noinc.com/rouse/build/retail/kendall_town_center.htm) ; they are the developers-if you notice, they've also developed two 'minor' malls in Miami.
http://clients.noinc.com/rouse/build/retail/downloads/kendall_tradearea.gif
http://clients.noinc.com/rouse/build/retail/downloads/kendall_siteplan.gif
Posted on Fri, Jan. 06, 2006
KENDALL
Town Center gets green light
Plans for the Kendall Town Center can finally move ahead, as a developer ends his opposition to the project.
BY ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
Developer Jeff Berkowitz is ready to end the litigation that has long stalled the development of the Kendall Town Center.
The decision comes at the urging of Baptist Hospital, which plans to build a 120-bed hospital as part of the mixed-use project originally planned by the Rouse Company and now owned by General Growth Properties.
''I felt I could not in good conscience hold up the hospital any further,'' said Berkowitz, whose litigation has stalled the project for 1 ½ years. ``It's never been my intention to do anything that would be detrimental to the community that has been very good to me.''
While Berkowitz says he never opposed plans for the hospital, he had argued that the entire project would bring too much traffic to the already congested area at Kendall Drive and Southwest 157th Avenue. The open-air shopping and community center was designed to include big-box retailers, restaurants, a megaplex movie theater plus entertainment center, hotel, office building space and an assisted-living facility.
The project has stalled and gone through several revisions over the seven years since it was unveiled as more of a regional shopping center with department store anchors.
The bulk of the traffic that Berkowitz feared would come from plans for the first Muvico Empire, a new concept by the Fort Lauderdale Muvico Theaters that would include a megaplex theater and entertainment center, with a bowling alley, a pool hall, bar, video games, restaurants, meeting rooms and more.
Berkowitz argues that Miami-Dade County let Rouse off the hook for mitigating the potential traffic problems. The county required the developer to build a bus stop with 24 parking spaces, but Berkowitz feels the whole process was flawed.
''They used a traffic study that was five years old that didn't include the traffic impact of a movie theater,'' said Berkowitz, who has a particular interest in the area because his Kendall Village center at Kendall Drive and Southwest 124th Avenue has its own movie theater.
But Berkowitz was persuaded to put his issues aside after a meeting with Ana Lopez-Blazquez, chief strategic officer for Baptist Hospital. It also came after he lost two appeals in the court system, although he still had a civil lawsuit pending.
''Had I known it was going to work, I might have talked to him sooner,'' Lopez-Blazquez said after learning of Berkowitz's decision. ``That's wonderful news.''
Baptist has to finalize its purchase of the property for the hospital from General Growth. Lopez-Blazquez expects to break ground before the end of the year and construction should take about two years.
The need for an outgrowth of Baptist Hospital has been driven by both the increasing population of West Kendall and the traffic on Kendall Drive. Although the main Baptist Hospital is only seven miles away, the traffic can easily make it a 45-minute drive.
''People in the community are very concerned that when they have an emergency they might not get to the hospital in time,'' Lopez-Blazquez said.
General Growth has yet to say how it plans to move forward on the development of remainder of the project and did not respond to multiple requests to discuss the project this week. The company inherited the plans for the West Kendall project when it purchased the Rouse Company in 2004.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/13562285.htm
The following gif's are from The Rouse Company's website (http://clients.noinc.com/rouse/build/retail/kendall_town_center.htm) ; they are the developers-if you notice, they've also developed two 'minor' malls in Miami.
http://clients.noinc.com/rouse/build/retail/downloads/kendall_tradearea.gif
http://clients.noinc.com/rouse/build/retail/downloads/kendall_siteplan.gif