2013-1017 Regular City Commission Meeting (2)

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Summay Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting October 17. 2013 City of Sunny Isles Beach. Florida will take you from the west. Atlantic Boulevard, through the site and arriving at the Plaza that currently exists in front of the City Commission Chambers. The shape of the building echoed the round shape of the Commission Chambers, and they extended the paved and landscaped plaza area to the north onto their property to create connectivity between the sites. The second floor is the first level of nine (9) levels of parking. on the tenth floor is the first level of office space. To the east of the office space are a rooftop garden, benches. trellises, and landscaping all viewing the ocean to the east overlooking the roof of the three -story section with the bank and the medical office building. Floors I 1 through 17 are the typical office floors. It is a contemporary building that blends very well with the surrounding buildings. Gil Dezer said they plan on moving forward in an expeditious manner, and funding for this site is underway. Mayor Edelcup opened the public hearing. Gil Dezer answered questions including the beginning date for construction if this gets approved which will be approximately one year from today. There are several other agencies that they will need to get permits from, after which it will take 18 to 20 months to construct. The main entrance is off from Collins Avenue, there is also an exit there, the Atlantic Boulevard side will not be used as an entrance but rather just as an exit. Also. the walkway will alleviate the foot traffic coming across in the parking lot right now specifically kids going from the school to the Library can now have a safe and easy access. Arlene Koenig said as the City grows, quality of life issues become very important, in terms of noise, traffic, landscape, pedestrian safety, and while there are studies like the FDOT study, she is skeptical because she knows these studies can be based on criteria of a result that you would like to achieve. She asked that the residents and the Dezer Group work on these quality of life issues so we can overcome any challenges that may occur. She is concerned because of the expanded school and what goes on during dismissal time, same as in the Publix parking lot. She asked for a copy of the FDOT study. Commissioner Levin asked about the 10 -foot easement between Government Center and the project, there will be two tall concrete walls, how will you provide security? Mr. Stamm said we are going to provide the proper landscape and lighting but the way the building is configured, it is not necessarily walls. It is fairly open, there is parking on those levels that would directly impact the pedestrian traffic going easdwest. Mr. Dezer said there is a driveway that drives through on the south side, on the north side there is going to be a tight passageway that we are going to fence off. It is an open breezeway. Commissioner Levin asked why they need a 29 -foot variance for the third level of the tower? Mr. Dezer said office buildings work specifically on what is known as a perfect grid pattern which is required by the office market who dictate to you how big, how far apart they are willing to accept columns, etc. in order to fit the square footage of the building. We could have done more of a birthday cake but it wound up actually creating more of a shadow on the west side and so we actually moved the tower a bit closer to Collins Avenue by about 33 feet and therefore were able to createjust a simple box on top of a pedestal. Commissioner Levin said she realizes that the inside space will be configured depending on the tenants that you have but given the size of the building, what is the occupancy you would expect in a building of this size? \'ir. Dezer said he has a tentative viewing place with a major bank for the front of the building, and that occupancy would be 300 per square foot, and we have 145,000 square feet which comes to 400 to 500 people. Commissioner Levin said she was thinking along the terms of the traffic study, the number of cars that are coming in, how many potential cars could we have coming and going out of this building? Commissioner Scholl noted there are 500+ parking spaces in 13