There’s only one vacant parcel on Indian Creek Drive, in Miami Beach, and it looks like it won’t be able to claim that status for much longer. According to a recent article from The Real Deal, plans for a 30-unit luxury condominium are moving forward on the 1.1-acre site, which was purchased for $11.25 million in 2014. Previous owners of the space had plans for a different condo project that went into bankruptcy, ending with the seizure of the property in a foreclosure proceeding in 2010. The current developer is 6800 Indian Creek LLC, managed by Optimum Development USA’s Ricardo Tabet.
The unnamed North Beach project will feature deep views into Biscayne Bay, private boat docks and a baywalk with public access. There will also be 66 parking spaces for a combined 95,420 square feet, after Tabet received a variance from the Miami Beach Design Review Board earlier this week to eliminate a residential requirement for parking. The variance will allow for extensive landscaping, which the developers, along with project architect Arquitectonica, say is necessary as the first step in the design review process that they hope will be completed by February.
Bernardo Fort-Brescia, an Arquitectonica principal, has stated that all units will have views of both the street and bay. “The challenge was to get all the units to look out onto what is the best position along Indian Creek, which is in the best position because it is right in the center between the two islands,” he said. He also claims that the design will limit subterranean parking to four feet in order to reduce any threat of flooding from sea level rise.
One of the reasons the developers purchased the property is because of the available dock spaces, according to Tabet, as they significantly add value to the property. “We believe the quality we are building is very high and very elegant, and we are going for a certain type of client that sees that it is special.”
Optimum is involved in several other projects around Miami, including the Park Central HOtel in the 600 block of Ocean Drive, commercial projects in Coconut Grove and the Brickell area, and a retail project at 600 Collins Avenue.