Update on the Empire World Towers

Ladies and Gentlemen check this out–and don’t forget to click the video feature.

[Via the Daily Business Review]

Protecting the Urban Development Boundary

The information below was sent to me by Dawn Sheriffs of Cleanwater.org: Urban sprawl strikes again! In 2006, with your help the Hold the Line successfully kept the Urban Development Boundary (UDB) from being moved west into Florida’s Everglades to accommodate sprawling development that would strain Miami-Dade’s already backlogged infrastructure.

Four new pending applications have been filed to open another 178 acres of Miami-Dade to development outside the line. An additional application is expected that seeks to add another 7,000 residential homes to the county’s roads, schools, and utilities increasing both traffic and pollution.

Empty chambers at community council meetings lead to only 1 out of the 4 applications being recommended for denial.

Miami-Dade’s citizens can’t afford to pave wetlands and permit new developments that will draw from our already taxed water supply and jeopardize the Everglades.

We are asking anyone who is able to attend to show up at the Miami-Dade County Commission hearing on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 and show your support!. For those who cannot be there, please visit www.udbline.com to complete an “action alert” asking your Commissioner to protect the Urban Development Boundary.

Update on Fisher Island

I received this information from the SEIU regarding the situation with workers at Fisher Island:

“At www.onemiaminow.org –we are soliciting for creative ways to get to Fisher Island’s exclusive shores (and you get a free t-shirt). We are taking anyone who wants to go with us on Saturday to mingle with the super rich who have been squashing the human rights and civil rights of their workers. We are also keeping up a blog of our own at http://fisherislandwatch.blogspot.com where we are going to start listing the ideas people have come up with so far.”

Early Week Links

Media

• U.S. Housing Crash: History repeating in Florida and Lessons from the Roaring 20’s (Part II) [Market Oracle UK]
• ArchRecord Interview: Craig Robbins (Dacra) [Businessweek]
• Finding South Florida’s next economic wave [Miami Herald]
• Miami-Dade helping bail out State [Miami Herald]
• Revised Museum Park plan to be unveiled [Miami Herald]
• Miami among popular destinations for European tourist dollars [Times UK]
• New Carnival Center Chief sees high profile programming on the horizon [Miami Today]
• City made no provision for free parking garage at Midtown Miami [Miami Today]
• Reason for Season 2007 (busiest six months for S. FLA) [Miami Sun Post]
• Florida: The Grow Me (Marijuana) State [Miami New Times]

 Blogside

• Miami Orange Bowl: The End of an Era [Miami Beach 411]
• The Miami Auto Show, Etc. [Stuck on the Palmetto]
• Bail out bankers, condo developers, and builders? NO!  [Eye on Miami]
• November Art Walk [Critical Miami]
• South Beach Luxury Condo Outlook 2008 [South Beach Condo Blog]

Weekend Links

In the News:

• Shaq sells Star Island mansion to A-Rod? [Daily Business Review]
• Tobacco Road turns 95 this week [Miami Herald]
• Miami set to bid farewell to Orange Bowl [Forbes]
• One man’s pain is another’s reasonable profit [Chicago Sun Times]
• Miami’s home price appreciation up 89.2% last 5 years, down 7.8% since last year [NAHB]
• Buy, sell, or hold [CNN Money]
• Experience visual overload at Art Basel [USA Today]
• Port of Miami: not just any port in a storm [Miami Herald]
• Auto show set to wow and hopefully woo buyers [Sun Sentinel]
• WCI Communities posts loss on high cancellations [SFBJ]
• Manhattan gaining international investor confidence as Miami loses [International Herald Tribune, France]
• Zyscovich allegedly tried to skirt fire code standards and wasted taxpayer money [Broward New Times]
• Fortune International and Related International joint venturing for ICON Vallarta [Business Wire]

Blogside:

• What’s the point of a book fair? [Critical Miami]
• What’s cooking at the Miami Book Fair this weekend? [Mango and Lime]
• After the Vote [MVB]

Mid Week Links

• Property tax fight brews on two fronts [Miami Herald]
• S. FL Colombians aim for political unity [Miami Herald]
• Port lands cruiseline, will build $60 million HQ [Miami Today]
• Brickell’s Villa Magna gets name change, more focus on commercial [Miami Today]
• Lennar reports biggest loss in 53-year history [Bloomberg]
• More on Related v. Sarnoff [Miami Sun Post]
• August single family and condo sales drop [SFBJ]
• Photo Miami 2007 returns to Wynwood Arts District [E-flux]
• Biotech developer charged with 5 felonies [Miami Herald]
• Congress Group buys Brickell Tower [CoStar]
• Miami condos draw low bids at auction [Miami Herald]
• Miami 21 update [Transit Miami]

Weekend Links

Local News

• What Brickell condo slump? Beacon developer adds units [Miami Today News]
• Permit for mixed use two tower project sought [Miami Today News]
• Retail: Faltering allegiance [Daily Business Review]
• Developers and Restaurateurs taking bars and clubs to next level [SFBJ]
• Groundwork [Miami Sun Post]
• Construction to detour traffic leaving MIA [Miami Herald]
• 395-unit attainable housing development planned for Miami [Multi-Housing News]
• Biscayne Landing accepted into pilot program for LEED [CG Gazette]
• Casino would buy Jai-Alai of slots OK’d [Miami Herald]
• Miami’s budget approved but more cuts sought [Miami Herald]

Other News

• Cracks in the economy [Time]
• Paris gets new architecture show [BBC NEws]
• Market tilts to buyers of real estate [NY Sun]
• CN tower topples to #2 world’s tallest [The Star]

Blogside:

• US-1 overpass updates [Transit Miami]
• First impressions in real estate [Miamism]
• South Beach Art Deco tours: the story behind the style [Miami Beach 411]
• Motel Sushi [Mango and Lime]
• Arch Park – for a nice weekend stroll [Miami Memories]

Early Week Links

• The Law of condo contract cancellation in Florida [Beck and Lee Law]
• Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, may cut up to 12,000 jobs [SFBJ]
• Wynwood rocks in a new season [Riptide 2.0]
• A stink surrounds it (Biscayne Landings) [Daily Business Review]
• Cycling the contours of Miami [Mike Lydon – Planetizen]
• Landscape architecture well beyond trees and shrubs [Daily Star]
• Buying Real Estate in Miami without a Realtor [Miamism]

Weekend Links

• Condo Hotels: What to check out before you check in [The Street]
• Miami to host IDB annual meeting [Miami Herald]
• The Grove tries to reposition itself for local tenants, residents [SFBJ]
• Groundwork [Miami Sun Post]
• Whining in Wynwood [Riptide 2.o]
• Development: Full Court Press [Daily Business Review]
• Starck, Related, Arquitectonica get Award for ICON Brickell [Business Wire]

Weekend Links

• The Related Group is suing Commissioner Marc Sarnoff [Miami Herald]
• Fading American Dream of Homeownership fuels rentals [USA Today]
• Best Renter’s Markets [Forbes]
• Condo misery [Daily Business Review]
• Commissioner investigated for Viscaya deal [CBS 4]
• OB money likely to go to new use [Miami Today News]
• Boom of condo crash loudest in Miami [Sun Sentinel]
• The firm that designed Miami Beach Public Library to design G.W. Bush library [Chicago Tribune]
• Miami plans to fight court over River rezoning [Miami Today News]
• Groundwork [Miami Sun Post]