Long built on spray paint and passion, Wynwood finally lays the groundwork for a residential future.
The architecturally striking 250 Wynwood is the first new residential construction in the neighborhood in over a decade.
Wynwood, the former district of warehouses, garment wholesalers, and
light industrial that has become an international street art mecca, is
maturing into something else. Galleries and artist studios are being
joined by high-end, hip retail and—in the ultimate sign of
change—condos. Yes, Wynwood south of 29th Street will soon have
something it has seen remarkably little of: residents. And if everything
goes according to plan, these new neighbors will be the same young
creatives who populate its streets on a daily basis.
A spate of construction is bringing some very sleek new apartments and
condo buildings to the area, but the real change will happen under a
new, dramatically overhauled neighborhood zoning code currently in the
works. Both Wynwood Central, a mixed-use project with 69 rental
apartments and a rooftop bar and pool area, and Fortis Development
Group’s 250 Wynwood, a condominium with 11 larger units over
ground-floor retail, will be the first new residential construction in
Wynwood in over a decade. Those will likely be joined by 30 to 40 units
in Fortis’s follow-up building next door, 230 Wynwood, that is still in
the planning stages.
The architecture of these new projects, of course, is intended to
contribute to the unique visual identity of the neighborhood. “We still
want to do a little bit of daring architecture,” says David Polinsky,
managing director of Fortis, referring to 230 Wynwood’s design, which
includes deep balconies with undersides decorated by a group of artists
selected by gallerist Anthony Spinello.
Over at Wynwood Central, a giant rooftop sign saying Wynwood will add
some nighttime pizzazz and sparkle to the retro industrial look of the
area. As the former associate editor of Curbed Miami, Emily Schmall,
once quipped, “Can’t you just see the letters now, dancing in the
moonlight?”
A rendering of Bazbaz Development’s 2110 North Miami Avenue.
Nearby, Goldman Properties, the company that created Wynwood Walls, is
in the early stages of planning a hotel/residential/office mixed-use
property, while farther east, two taller residential projects are in the
works. Bazbaz Development is doing an as-yet-unnamed building of condo
and hotel units on North Miami Avenue, and a luxury apartment building
will straddle Enriqueta’s Sandwich Shop (a community stalwart) on NE
Second Avenue.
In the face of a blossoming new Wynwood, the neighborhood has banded
together to create the Wynwood Business Improvement District. Its aim is
to guide Wynwood’s growth and (crucially) draft a rezoning plan with
the help of urban planner Juan Mullerat of PlusUrbia Design. “This is
the cynical opinion,” says Polinsky, who is director of the Wynwood
Business Improvement District and chair of its planning and
transportation committee, “but a business improvement district in a way
exists because of failed government. It is businesses banding together
and assessing themselves for the communal benefit.”
The lobby of 250 Wynwood will demonstrate Fortis Development’s commitment to art-focused design.
When Miami 21, Miami’s progressive citywide zoning code, was made the
law of the land, it was with the goal of creating a denser, more
walkable, and altogether more urban city. It was the first time the
principles of the New Urbanist movement in urban planning had been
applied to an entire pre existing city, and it became the master plan of
Miami’s urban renaissance. Many complain that Miami 21 is also overly
formulaic, with exorbitant parking requirements carried over from the
old code, an inferior mass transit system, and has other holes that over
time became increasingly large obstacles to progress. Plus, when Miami
21 was designed back in the 2000s, the new Wynwood was hardly more than a
glimmer in the late developer and “godfather” of Wynwood Tony Goldman’s
eye.
The current zoning code for most of Wynwood keeps residential capped at
36 units per acre and has to be live-work (with more than half the
square-footage devoted to “work”). It also has onerous parking
requirements, and hotels are only allowed along NW Second and NW Fifth
Avenues. Because the zoning was originally designed for industrial use,
developers have had to apply for zoning variances for other uses,
including residential, creating a disorganized patchwork of rules and
regulations, and a mess. A broader solution was clearly needed, and that
solution became the Wynwood Zoning Study, which the members of the BID
hope will become law. “It’s a set of development regulations…. basically
a [neighborhood] business plan morphed into a master plan,” says Joseph
Furst, the chairman of the BID board.
Although Wynwood is practically writing its own zoning code to replace
Miami 21, the two share the same ideals. Wynwood will be more
pedestrianfriendly, less automobile-reliant, and will have more public
spaces and mixed uses. Aesthetically, a neighborhood Design Review Board
will ensure that new construction doesn’t obliterate Wynwood’s
incredibly unique visual identity. Substantially more residential units
will be allowed, with a cap on building heights to save Wynwood from
that Miami affliction of towering residential-palooza. Hopefully. After
the city’s evaluation of the Wynwood Zoning Study, ongoing negotiations
between the Planning Department and the BID, and a trip through the
bureaucratic roller-coaster, the resulting new zoning may change
somewhat, but it will be a road map for the new Wynwood vastly better
equipped for the job than the one it’s replacing
Read more at http://oceandrive.com/living/articles/the-residential-future-of-wynwood#bcHtKGGQuk5Zx8DU.99
