Land swap could create parking for performing arts
center, gateway park
SOUTH FLORIDA BUSINESS JOURNAL
Feb 1, 2016, 10:24am EST Updated:
Feb 1, 2016, 12:23pm EST
A rendering of the proposed park
between the Arsht Center and the reconstructed Interstate 395 in MIami.
A proposed land swap between
Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Transportation could
result in two projects that transform the neighborhood around the Adrienne
Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
FDOT is preparing a $600 million
project that would reconstruct Interstate 395 from just west of Interstate 95
to the MacArthur Causeway Bridge. It would include a signature bridge design,
new elevated ramps, improved roadway alignment and a higher elevation for the
road. One of the goals is to make it more inviting for pedestrians to walk
underneath the elevated highway that separates the Arsht Center from downtown
and Museum Park.
FDOT could use a 1.4-acre
county-owned parcel just west of the Arsht Center as a staging area for the
I-395 reconstruction. In exchange for that surface parking site, the county
could receive a 1.4 parcel just to the west from the state.
A non-profit called the Town Square
Neighborhood Development Corp. was established by the Knight Foundation with
support from local business leaders like Armando Codina and Alan Fein to create a vision for the area around
the Arsht Center. It hired PlusUrbia to design a public plaza for the land FDOT
would receive once it’s done with the I-395 Reconstruction. This plaza would
connect the neighborhoods bordering the interstate.
“So much of the history of Miami is
told by the disruption of communities by the building of our federal highway
system,” said attorney Fein, chairman of the Performing Arts Center Trust. “We
want to go in the opposite direction. We want to connect Museum Park and the
museums with the town square neighborhood.”
A handful of developers are
constructing multifamily towers near the Arsht Center.
For the FDOT site that would be
awarded to the county, Fein would like to build a parking facility for the
Arsht Center in a public private partnership. He plans to do so without county
funds.
Currently, Arsht Center patrons can
use the small surface lot.
“All of us ultimately believe we
needed to do something a little more worthy of the building,” Fein said. It’s
as if you built a beautiful home and had a gravel and dirt driveway. There’s
enough parking but we had to scrape things together over the years to make it
work.”
Fein said he hopes that the firms
bidding on the I-395 reconstruction will include the plans for the park in
their proposals.
Construction on the highway could
start in early 2017 and last five years, according to FDOT.
Brian Bandell
Senior Reporter
South Florida Business Journal
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