Residents and stakeholders of #HollywoodFL and #MiamiBeach are quite rightfully fearful of the very dangerous precedents their two respective City Commissions are clearly making by showing thru both words and deeds, that their own land use ordinances mean nothing when The Related Group comes calling.
Mean nothing, that is, IF there are deep-pocketed real estate developers interested in doing something the clear majority of the community is opposed to, but the firm is willing to ignore existing public sentiment against it because they have the resources not to care about the optics to others of ignoring the community's desires.
I've been meaning for the last few months to share my thoughts regarding this New York Times story by former Miami Herald reporter Patricia Mazzei, at bottom, involving The Deauville Hotel,
The Deauville is a historic Miami Beach property and also is one that I had occasion to go to several times over the years while growing-up in South Florida from 1968-1979, before I left for college and the cream and crimson of Indiana University, Bloomington.
I hasten to add, in my case, I was always going to The Deauville to see people visiting from out-of-town, NOT to stay overnight and make myself known to room service.
For me at least, the story on The Deauville, below, serves as a timely reminder that the worst thing about The Related Group's incompatible plan for 1301 S. Ocean Drive on Hollywood Beach isn't merely that Mayor Josh Levy's snarky, passive-aggressive, and decidedly anti-transparent approach led to approximately ZERO of the REQUIRED public in-person COMMUNITY meetings taking place. either before (or since) the first public Hollywood City Commission meeting, when the Hollywood public was NOT even allowed inside Hollywood City Hall to directly confront the very people trying to change the charm and ambiance of that part of Hollywood Beach. The most natural part of Hollywood Beach that remains..
Nor was it even the City's thin-skinned Communications Dept. peevishly and repeatedly attacking and demeaning people like my friend, Cat Uden and I online in our individual efforts to let the larger Hollywood and South Florida community know via the South Florida news media what was REALLY taking place.
That includes the continuing lack of good faith the City's elected officials had shown Hollywood's citizens and stakeholders, whom THEY work for.
As it happens, Cat and I both have strong backbones and thick skins, plus, we have the advantage of having the facts on our side, and if you didn't already know it, the City's elected officials and Communications Dept. really, really hate... facts.
So this discrepancy, this ability to use their own information against them, really burns them, as does our success in getting the facts out to the larger public and the local, state and national news media.
Especially self-evident facts that can be wholly substantiated by both contemporaneous photographs and video.
No, it's not even the fact that supposed nature-lover, water sports-loving Josh Levy would, if successful, destroy, FOREVER, for nothing more than money, a place with a certain and unique ambiance that the community places a very high value on maintaining for future generations - THE most natural part of Hollywood Beach.
vs.
It isn't even that both proposed projects are -coincidentally- the handiwork of The Related Group. That almost was predictable, given the landscape of real estate development in Florida in 2022.
No, what's the worst thing of all in the case of the Hollywood Beach project is the terrible precedent it sets for the future, since it would likely set in motion a constant game of musical chairs on the beach, as local Mom and Pop hospitality businesses owning smaller properties decide that if the city's elected officials are publicly declaring by both their words and their deeds that the city's own rules and ordinances don't mean anything -since Related wants to build a luxury condo tower there for multi-millionaires that's 5-7x's larger than what's currently allowed on that part of the beach- why should they stay on the sidelines and be played for suckers?
If you understand anything at all about human behavior and how things have traditionally operated in South Florida when it comes to real estate, then you know that I'm right.
The reason is simple.
Because, suddenly, as a result of what Hollywood City Hall will have done, there will be no incentive at all for the smaller and successful property owners to invest more of their money and time to improve their current low-scale site.
They'll simply wait the neighborhood out until someone comes in with such a huge offer for their property that they decide to seell.
When that happens, goodbye Hollywood Beach ambiance and charm.
Forever.
If you didn't know it or may've forgotten it, The Deauville is where The Beatles, famously, stayed and performed in February of 1964 on CBS-TV's Sunday night blockbuster, The Ed Sullivan Show: https://www.youtube.com/
One last thing, and it's a sign of the times about journalism as it's practiced in South Florida these days. You know what I could not find?
A single local story where Cuban-American Alex Meruelo, owner of the Meruelo Group, the owner of The Deauville, was/is actually asked why he allowed the property to become so run-down that it was deemed unsafe by the City of Miami Beach.
How do you explain that?
Exactly.
"Today, the Deauville is shuttered, enclosed by an ugly chain-link fence. Soon, it is likely to be demolished. Preservationists fear the hotel’s slow demise will set a troubling precedent in their efforts to protect South Florida’s history."
Miami Beach owes its iconic status in no small part to the preservation of its Art Deco district, known the world over for the string of pastel-colored boutique hotels. But it has not always been easy to preserve buildings elsewhere in South Florida.
In its heyday, the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach hosted the likes of The Beatles, Sammy Davis Jr. and President John F. Kennedy. Soon, the hotel is likely to be demolished, which historic preservationists fear will set a troubling precedent.
“Miami is a place where the land has always been more valuable than the building...There’s no shared history, and when you have no shared history and no shared culture, you have no shared commitment to maintaining that history or that culture.”
"The four-acre property, valued some years ago at $100 million, is owned by a corporate entity registered to the Meruelo family, which runs other hotels and casinos and also works in construction."
New York Times
A Grand Miami Beach Hotel, and Its History, Might Be Torn Down.
The Deauville Beach Resort played host to the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and John F. Kennedy. But it has been deemed unsafe after years of neglect.
By Patricia Mazzei
Published Jan. 17, 2022, Updated Jan. 20, 2022
The Deauville Beach Resort played host to the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and John F. Kennedy. But it has been deemed unsafe after years of neglect.
By Patricia Mazzei
Published Jan. 17, 2022, Updated Jan. 20, 2022
FYI: "In the event of a total demolition, Miami Beach would be legally entitled to limit future construction to the Deauville’s same size."
Dave
David B. Smith
Hallandale Beach/Hollywood Blog: http://www.
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