University of Miami

Interdisciplinary Laboratory Building
Miami, FL
Services:
Planning, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, Programming
Cost:
$38,000,000 (Estimated)
Scope:
183,000 sq. ft.
Completion:
2007

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/299/amedic18eg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/7458/amedic26mh.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2186/amedic39ax.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/927/amedic42nj.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/6518/amedic59im.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

such a shame that its so drab, their new hopital and research buildings are cutting edge...

such a shame that its so drab, their new hopital and research buildings are cutting edge...

Agreed...I had to look at those schematics twice before realizing that it's a new building.

It looks like an adjunct of everything else there--zzzzz.

Different thread, I know, but IS Miami going to get a new "tallest" anytime soon? I mean for real...not just talk and hypotheticals on paper.

Between Met3 increasingly looking like a fantasy and the FAA chopping everything down, you really do start to wonder.

I'm bored with condos. Where the hell is the 1000-foot office tower that really puts this skyline on the map?

Wow... an uninspired *architecture* school building. Great stuff, UM.

Excellent Commie Block...

Maybe its just not a very detailed rendering but is it just me or does the smaller building have no windows?

Ha ha, very true...it forces students to pay attention and not daydream!

Also if you look at the people in picture #4 it looks like the school has an eating disorder problem. A little thin :laugh:

Also if you look at the people in picture #4 it looks like the school has an eating disorder problem. A little thin :laugh:

Actually, a little-known facet of the "Miami 21" plan is to populate the city with wafer-thin blue people who will interact with pedestrians.

Another Civic Center project:

Here's a rendering of Civica Towers from the borges website:

its the second one down under "featured projects"
http://www.borgesarchitects.com/

The 16-story River Grande in Miami's Civic Center will begin construction in November. GlobeST (http://www.globest.com/news/706_706/miami/148815-1.html).
MFM Prepares to Dig for Work Force Project
By Natalie Keith

MIAMI-Locally based developer MFM Construction Corp. is planning to break ground in November on the 16-story, 132-unit River Grand. The condominium project will rise at NW 14th Street and NW 15th Avenue in the Civic Center area just west of Downtown.

The project, which will contain one- and two-bedroom units, is aimed at providing affordable work force housing. The units will be priced from the low $200,000s to high $300,000s. A project cost or estimated sell-out value of the project was not released. MFM has partnered with Countrywide Financial and CitiMortgage to offer low-cost, flexible mortgage programs and financial assistance packages to qualified buyers. The packages will include low down payments, fixed-rate interest mortgages and no closing costs, says Eli Dreszer, of MFM Construction.

River Grand is the 11th work force housing project undertaken by MFM in the Miami neighborhoods of the Civic Center and East Little Havana. Five have already been completed and the remaining projects are under construction. River Grand is expected to be completed in mid-2008. “These are condos that are well-located, reasonably priced and sized that people who work in the area can afford,” Dreszer tells GlobeSt.com. “We feel that no matter what the market does, there will always be a demand for this type of housing.”

Cara Mantovani, of Mantovani Real Estate, is the exclusive broker in charge of sales and marketing for the project. Behar Font & Partners is the architect on the project. “With housing prices continuing to rise throughout Miami, it is critical that Miami-Dade County promote more infill development projects like River Grand, that not only improve these emerging communities aesthetically, but also provide more affordable work force housing options for Miami’s growing employment base,” Mantovani says.

The units will be fully furnished and will have 9.5-ft to 11.5-ft ceilings, European-style cabinetry, stainless steel appliances, granite in the kitchen and bathrooms, impact resistant windows and sliding doors and balconies. Building amenities will include a fitness center, yoga studio, swimming pool, business center and conference room.

I wonder where exaclty they are talking about in this article. The County land adjacent to the Merrill Stevens boat yard is a large parking lot that has the 836 Bridge over the Miami river pass over it. So this development would go under the bridge?

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/060928/story3.shtml

County, Related weigh workforce housing complex on Miami River

By Eric Kalis
More than 1,000 units of workforce and low-income housing would go up on county land along the Miami River under a proposal from The Related Group.
The proposal won approval Monday from a Miami-Dade County subcommittee. County commissioners are to vote Oct. 10 on whether to proceed with negotiations with Related.
Related, in a public/private partnership with the Allapatah Business Development Authority, proposes building a multi-family complex with 905 workforce housing units for sale, 200 affordable rental units and about 200 residences for low-income elderly to buy or rent. The complex, to be on 11.5 county-owned acres adjacent to the Merrill-Stevens boatyard at Northwest 11th Street, is to have ground-floor retail in the residential buildings and include a 5,500-square-foot restaurant on the north bank of the river, said Oscar Rodriguez, Related's affordable housing director. A parking garage with at least 2,000 spaces will be built to accommodate residents, he said.
"The goal is to create a 24-hour-long environment in an area that normally thrives during work hours," Mr. Rodriguez said. "This project comes from an effort to partner with the public sector to help bring the affordable housing crisis to an end in Miami-Dade."
If the commission allows County Manager George Burgess to negotiate with Related, a contract proposal will be brought back within three to five months, Mr. Rodriguez said. Related officials would then have to clear several zoning hurdles with the City of Miami, which would take six to nine months before an expected groundbreaking in late 2007, he said.
Prices, Mr. Rodriguez said, will begin in the low $100,000s for the 905 workforce units. He said restrictions will be put in place to deter "flippers" and other investors from buying the units.

Poor people sleep under bridges all the time. The county is just putting the housing where the poor already are. Way to go Miami Dade county for being progressive.

Some updates on the exact locations of parts of Related's new project. Its not to go directly under the 836 but it will abutt it and in effect be under as the 836 is about 75 feet off the ground at that spot as it goes up and over the river.

http://www.miamirivercommission.org/infill080806.htm

Parcel I - adjacent to Gershwin Building will be transformed into a 2,000 space parking garage containing retail on ground floor

Parcel II - between 836 and NW 12th Street - will include a residential component; 502 units-half of which will be deeded for affordable housing; other half will be classified as attainable ownership with a price range of $150,000-$250,000. Parcel II will also include 150 units of affordable rentals.

Parcel III - (upland side of 836) - 100 units of elderly housing under the “202 program”. A riverfront restaurant component will be created to create a 24/7 destination landscape adjacent to the publicly accessible riverwalk; a possibility to house MRC offices on the second floor

Parcel VII-a facility similar to the Ronald McDonald House or “Mi Casita” - a home away from home for distressed children will be created

Parcel VIII - State Attorney’s Office expansion

Article on Civica:

http://www.miamitodaynews.com/news/061026/story7.shtml

Mixed-use towers to replace Civic Center Day's Inn

By Catherine Lackner
Two 25-story towers comprising about 391,000 square feet for offices, 15,000 square feet for retail and 430 hotel rooms are set to rise on 3.26 acres at 1050 NW 14th St. in Miami's Civic Center, replacing a vintage Day's Inn motel. The towers will be connected by an 837-space garage facing State Road 836.
The City of Miami Planning & Zoning Board last week unanimously granted Miami Hotel Investments Ltd. a major use special permit to build Civica Towers near the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital Medical Center.
The project still requires approval from the Miami City Commission, but no zoning changes are necessary. It is anticipated the commission will hear the application in November or December.
Sam and Judah Burstyn, along with Jordan Najjar, principals of Miami Hotel Investments, decided to build in the midst of the sprawling governmental complex on the Miami River west of downtown Miami "because the Civic Center lacks a lot of basic infrastructure," said spokesman Seth Gordon.
"There's a huge unmet need for private office space that is compatible with the government and hospital uses in the area," he said. "The health complex is a huge business enterprise."
The developers will market the space to doctors and medical offices, but there is need for other businesses, too, Mr. Gordon said.
State courts and county jails are in the Civic Center, as are the federal Veteran's Hospital, offices of philanthropic groups, research facilities, the main campus of the University of Miami Medical School, the Miami-Dade College Medical Center and other educational institutions.
Not only do international travelers seek to stay near the Jackson medical complex when relatives are being treated there, Mr. Gordon said, but "there are business travelers, people in the medical sales field, people who need to be near either the hospitals or the governmental facilities.
"There have often been modest hotels in that area, but the developers feel that there is also room in that marketplace for a more upscale hotel, and that is what they intend to include in their project."

I USE TO WORK THERE BACK WHEN I WAS 18 YEARS OLD THIS HOTEL HAS 214 ROOMS 2 OF THEM USED FOR STORAGE AND ENGINEERS WORK SPACE THE PARKING LEVEL ON THE BACK WAS 2 LEVELS AND IT GAVE YOU A GREAT VIEW OF DOWNTOWN MIAMI...

THE ONLY OTHER HOTEL WAS THE TRAVEL LODGE WHICH IS NOW ALSO BEING CONVERTED INTO CONDOS ALONG WITH NEW CONSTRUCTION ADDED TO THE MAIN TOWER.

THE ARTICLE IS RIGHT ALOT OF PEOPLE STAY AT THE HOTEL WHILE FAMILY IS SICK OR GETTING AN OPERATION THE HOTEL WOULD ALWAYS STAY AT AN 80 PERCENT OCCUPANCY RATE AND UM GAMES,CALLE OCHO,BOAT SHOW WOULD ALWAYS KEEP IT 100 PERCENT FILLED.

BY DOUBLING THE AMOUNT OF ROOMS THEY WILL DO GREAT IN THE AREA ESPECIALLY NOW THAT THEY ARE THE ONLY HOTEL IN THAT HOSPITAL AREA THEY CAN ABSORB THAT NEW AMOUNT OF 400+ ROOMS SINCE TRAVELODGE IS NOW GONE, BY THE WAY TRAVELODGE WAS ALWAYS A HORRIBLE PROPERTY TO STAY AT AND GUEST SERVICE WAS BAD THIS CIVIC CENTER HOTEL WAS A 3 STAR PROPERTY WHEN I WAS THERE AND REMAINED SO FOR YEARS.

Planning Advisory Board Approves 25-Story Mixed-Use Complex Civica Towers, on Condition Designers Can Dim the Garage Lights:
http://miamisunpost.com/secondstoryfrontpage.htm

http://miamisunpost.com/images/CivicaMONTAGE2.jpg

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/2407/civicatowersvz7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/990/civicatowers02pj5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Civica goes before the commission for approval on the 14th. It will be the first project Sarnoff gets to vote on.

http://egov.ci.miami.fl.us/meetings/2006/12/1390_A_City_Commission_06-12-14_Meeting_Agenda_(Long).pdf

A project that is on sale (land & plans) in the Civic Center area (on the other side of the 836 bridge). Here is Metromia at 1146 NW 7th CT

http://www.loopnet.com/Attachments/4/7/5/475C93B3-A30F-497E-9E3C-E8F6B86702D2.jpg

Another Civic Center project:

http://www.urbanicemiami.com/puertonuevo/art/rendering_puertonuevo.jpg

http://www.globest.com/news/945_945/miami/162135-1.html

98-Unit Work Force Housing Project on Tap
By Natalie Keith

Last updated: July 10, 2007 08:49am

MIAMI-Urbanice Modern Life Developers is developing Puerto Nuevo, a 98-unit work force housing project at 1144 N.W. South River Dr. Urbanice is a joint venture between Atlanta-based Wood Partners and South Florida-based ARKS LLC.

The nine-story project on the Miami River will contain one- and two-bedroom units that range in size from 586 sf to 998 sf with prices ranging from $185,000 to $320,000. The estimated sell-out of the project is $25 million, Wood Partners development manager Charlie Morris tells GlobeSt.com.

Developers are in pre-sales for the project. A ground-breaking date has not yet been determined. After groundbreaking, the project is expected to take 18 months to complete. “We’ve sold several units,” Morris says. "We’re working on getting 20% of the units sold so we can negotiate with our lenders and start construction."
The project is in the Little Havana section of Miami, one block away from the Miami River. Situated close to the city's medical centers, a ready tenancy is available, Morris believes. Further, with the city’s plans to clean up the river, development on the river has been thriving. “The city has plans to create a riverwalk that would connect the residential projects,” he says.

Urbanice was created to develop work force housing projects in Miami-Dade County. In addition to Puerto Nuevo, the partnership is developing Los Jardines at 1601 S.W. 32nd Ave., Aqua Briza at 637 N.W. 1st St. and El Colonial at 833 S.W. 13th Court.

Agreed...I had to look at those schematics twice before realizing that it's a new building.

It looks like an adjunct of everything else there--zzzzz.

Different thread, I know, but IS Miami going to get a new "tallest" anytime soon? I mean for real...not just talk and hypotheticals on paper.

Between Met3 increasingly looking like a fantasy and the FAA chopping everything down, you really do start to wonder.

I'm bored with condos. Where the hell is the 1000-foot office tower that really puts this skyline on the map?


Even when we do get MET 3 and if we get One Bayfront Plaza Chicago broke ground about a month ago on the Chicago Spire. A 150 story tower (2000 ft.). Miami will not be getting that at all or anything close. So lets pray that we actually get another 800+ HAHA.

Another Civic Center project:

http://www.urbanicemiami.com/puertonuevo/art/rendering_puertonuevo.jpg


Check out the street level interaction on these puppies...wait, there isn't any? Oh that's right, this is Miami, where we plan for vehicles, not people...

The 14-story Wagner Square breaks ground in the Civic Center area:

http://www.multi-housingnews.com/multihousing/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003663558

Workforce Housing Complex Breaks Ground in Miami's Health District


Oct 25, 2007

By Kelly Sheehan, Online News Editor

Miami—Developers Redevco Civic Center LLC and Jackson Square LLC recently joined the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County officials to break ground on Wagner Square, a workforce housing complex in Miami.

The development will feature 48 condominiums and eight for-sale townhouses. This is not the first joint project for Redevco and Jackson Square. Together, the companies have built over 8,000 residential and multifamily units. Wagner Square, designed by Fullerton-Diaz Architects, is slated for December 2008.

Ranging from $179,000 to $285,000, one- and two-bedroom condos and townhouses will be available for buyers with household incomes not exceeding 170 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). Wagner Square was awarded $1.2 million in funding through the city’s Department of Community Development to assist 11 of the community’s buyers. Special government buy-downs or second mortgages are available as an incentive for buyers who qualify.

Located at 1745 NW 15th Ave. in the Health District of Miami, the project is surrounded by medical centers and governmental agencies. It is directly across from the Veterans Administration Hospital and within walking distance of Jackson Memorial Hosptial and Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The development team targeted the Health District due to the lack of workforce housing in the area. The teams’ future plans include the construction of 48 additional condos and over 100,000 square feet of medical offices and commercial space.

Another project for the "Health District" A 12 story office building and hotel:

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2007/11/26/story7.html

Hotel and green office building planned near Jackson Memorial

South Florida Business Journal - by Oscar Pedro Musibay

A fledgling developer is adding a 200-room Marriott property and a green office building to Miami's Civic Center neighborhood, where the University of Miami has already invested millions of dollars.

Armando Gutierrez Jr. is partnering with local Marriott franchisee Bobby Finvarb on the $35 million hotel project, at 1311 N.W. 10th Ave., a few blocks south of UM's planned expansion. The 12-story Spring Hill Suites will target visitors to the university's biomedical research center, the nearby hospital and courthouse, Finvarb said.

Gutierrez said Jimmy Resnick, son of Miami Beach real estate mogul Abe Resnick, and Andrew Resnick, grandson of the elder Resnick, are also partners. The group signed the deal with Marriott three months ago.

In the last two years, Gutierrez paid $5 million for an assemblage of property totaling 1.5 acres, which the seller, Achikam Yogev, was going to use to build condominiums. Yogev has a minority stake in the new project.

Progress pics of the 20-story Urban Club going up at 1444 NW 14th Ave:
http://www.theurbanclub.com/
http://www.theurbanclub.com/images/update/110107/427417.JPG

http://www.theurbanclub.com/images/update/110107/427419.JPG

Thank you Dave. I didn't even know about this project!!!

20 stories is some decent height for the Civic Center!

On a new 11-story hotel/retail public/private partnership sort of deal at JMH. Don't know how likely to happen it actually is (if you read the article there are oddities involved):

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/06/23/story1.html

THE DETAILS:
Potential hotel at Jackson/UM
Location: 9.8-acre vacant parcel at the southeast corner of Northwest 12th Avenue and Northwest 19th Street.

Features: 11 stories with 300-room hotel and 1,000-seat conference center in 262,676 square feet, 150,000 square feet of retail, a 123,600-square-foot rehabilitation facility, 18,000 square feet for a Ronald McDonald House and a 680-space parking garage.

Proposed deal: Jackson/Miami-Dade County would lease land to Jackson Memorial Foundation for $1 a year. The foundation would sign a triple-net lease with a developer, with base rent 8 percent to 10 percent of the site value and a percentage of revenue, which the foundation would split evenly with the University of Miami. The foundation sends the profits - minus tenant costs, asset management fee and debt service - to the hospital.

Some updates on the exact locations of parts of Related's new project. Its not to go directly under the 836 but it will abutt it and in effect be under as the 836 is about 75 feet off the ground at that spot as it goes up and over the river.

http://www.miamirivercommission.org/infill080806.htm

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/06/23/story7.html

Related Group moves ahead with Civic Center area plans

Friday, June 20, 2008

South Florida Business Journal - by Oscar Pedro Musibay

The Related Group is including space for new offices for the state attorney as part of its proposed mixed-use project on mostly government-owned land in Miami's Civic Center area.

The public defender and clerk of courts may also get a new home out of the project, which, if approved, wouldn't begin construction for about two years, said Oscar Rodriguez, who heads the Miami-based company's affordable housing division.

The proposed project would also include a 1,500-space parking garage to help offset the loss of surface parking lots next to the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building. The 6.6-acre public lot and a neighboring private lot serve visitors to the courthouse, where criminal and traffic cases are heard.

If Miami-Dade County approves the proposal, Related would sign a lease for the government land.

"Urban Club" topped off (with recently completed Jenny Tower next door):
http://www.theurbanclub.com/images/update/061108/459193.jpg

http://www.theurbanclub.com/images/update/061108/459195.jpg

UM just released it's document on all the updates and improvements that it is planning for the Health District. I'm there everyday and these plans suggest a marked improvement!

http://cfs.med.miami.edu/Docs/Miscellaneous/worldclasscampus.pdf

Its too bad they couldnt come up with these ideas before they built these last UM bldgs at the Civic Center, which are urbanistically terrible. That giant garage they are building is a giant eyesore.