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Enrique Nortens Big Squeeze



321 OCEAN ENRIQUE NORTEN AND THE CITY PLANNER
The Foregone Conclusion Made on the Spot

4 August 2014
by David Arthur Walters
MIAMI MIRROR
South BeachOn 25 October 2011, Acting Planning Director Richard G. Lorber, AICP, LEED AP,
recommended the foregone conclusion, that the spot zoning amendment increasing the height
of the four-block oceanfront historic district within which the spot lay from 75 to 100, sought
by the New York developers for their project, 321 Ocean Enrique Norten, as favorably
recommend on 20 July 2011 by the Land Use and Development Committee, be approved by the
Planning Board of the City of Miami Beach.
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An essential proviso thereto was that the owners of the condominium units, unlike other condo
owners in the district, would have their once sacred constitutional property rights abridged by
prohibiting them from renting out their units for longer than 3 months per year, three times per
year. Nevertheless, wealthy condo owners, perhaps only a handful if any of them permanent
residents of Florida, could winter in Florida for three months, and rent their digs out the rest of
the year as they enjoyed their other homes elsewhere in the world.
That short-term rental proviso was made pursuant to the pretext that, if a hotel were built
there instead of a residential condominium complex, short-term tourists would be allowed to
temporarily enjoy the luxury of the fabulously wealthy, and that the accessory restaurant and
lounge services normally provided for hotel guests to rejoice would be too noisy for their
neighbors. Therefore it would be necessary to spot zone the property in order to erect two
buildings with a small courtyard in between them, one of them higher than the current
ordinance allowed, on the last spot immediately available on that historic strip of beach. The
penthouse alone, modestly priced at $25 million, which would cover the $18 million
construction cost for the entire development.

When one the developers, in a meeting held to pitch the project, swore to the neighbors in the
upscale neighborhood that the project would have no commercial accessories, his colleague
started to correct him for some reason, but then desisted. Now the ordinance appears to bar
further short-term hotel development in the four-block beachfront strip that has a hotel on
each end, the Savoy and the Hilton Bentley, and one near the middle, the Marriot, by
prohibiting the accessory uses with which Miami Beach, one of the most popular tourist
destinations in the world, is already rife, hence further depriving property owners who might
be affected by the zoning amendment of their once sacred constitutional property rights, and
depriving the community of tourist tax revenue upon which the city depends for its existence.
Notably, hoteliers must recoup their investments over a long period of time, hoping that profits
remain after depreciation over many years. Needless to say, the current beneficiaries of the
amendment, the New York Developers and the investors whose identity is shield by a Delaware
company, will not cry on their way to the bank as they get out quick.
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That much was insisted on by Frank Del Vecchio Esq., allegedly retired, the self-declared
advocate for the communitys best interest who penned the first draft of the zoning
amendment. After all, he had been disturbed by noise from the Marriot Hotel a block away
clean across the park to his south. He easily aroused his mature neighbors to arms, for they
lived in a popular tourist destination hence at one time or another had all been disturbed by
restaurants and clubs, not all of them in hotels, when they were not patronizing them.
We shall address Enrique Nortens Hotel Noise Scare later, in our argument that it was a paper
tiger, that the real problem with noise is legislation and enforcement. Suffice it to say here that,
if noise from accessory services was the real issue, the zoning amendment did not have to
discriminate against hotels in favor of tall residential condominiums. It could have been written
to curb or eliminate undesirable noise in any further development whatsoever. At the very
least, bars and restaurants in new developments could be confined within the walls of the
structure or baffled in such a way as to minimize noise.
Was Frank Del Vecchios advocacy of 321 Ocean Enrique Norten foolish? If he were a fool, he
was a wise one. He is a resident of and the president of the association of the adjacent condo
building on the south side of the development, the Ocean Park Condominium at 301 Ocean
Drive, and has been described in blogs as the sage of South Beach. The octogenarian retired
lawyer regularly attends board and commission meetings, and has inserted himself into
numerous public affairs, taking unpredictable positions, yet he has consistently and justifiably
complained about noise, trash, vagrants, and disorderly conduct on the beach. His main
activity, however, has been in real estate development.
Although Del Vecchio is respected for his integrity, although he claims that his constituency is
the poor and disadvantaged, a rarity in his neighborhood except for the vagrants he has
complained about, a small minority of old timers on the beach suspect that he serves wealthy
real estate interests as a sort of Machiavelli behind the scenes.
However that may be, he is considered to be an expert on zoning, far more astute on the
subject that the city attorneys. He managed to gain considerable influence with the faux
opposition, led by Commissioners Jonah Wolfson, Esq. and Ed Tobin, Esq. that ousted the
unelected administrative regime of former city manager Jorge Boss Gonzalez, and then
overthrew former mayor Matti Mayor Bower and her ilk in the latest elections. Incidentally or
coincidentally, Mssrs. Wolfson and Tobin appear to have sponsored the spot zoning of 321
Ocean Enrique Norten.
Majority control of the commission was purchased by mayoral candidate Philip King Levine,
who made his fortune in the cruise line business. He was dubbed King because he does not
tolerate criticism, allegedly talks down to labor, preferring to fire disagreeable employees in
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the interest of providing better customer service. And his campaign attempted to silence
journalists by slapping them with defamation suits for their negative criticism. Rumor has it that
he did not want the mayors job to begin with, that he had to be persuaded to run on the
premise that he was needed to bring order to a chaotic and corrupt government, and his
money and influence was needed to help other candidates to gain a majority on the
commission. Without that majority, he has little authority under the citys weak-mayor,
unelected strong-city-manager charter. Reviews are mixed thus far. His most ardent supporters
believe he can do no wrong. There are positives, yet negative criticism is still unwelcome,
opposition ignored.
The main objective of the opposition campaign, cultivated by Del Vecchio, who was positively
reinforced by Commissioner Wolfson and taken under Levines wing, was the ruination of the
administrations big plan to develop the Miami Beach Convention Center. The winning faction,
led by Levine, managed to cancel the big plan developed over several years at considerable
taxpayer expense, in favor of some smaller plan that would not use the world-class group
favored for the project: the amazing Tishman outfit. The awful truth about this either/or is that
there is a third alternative: the convention center, as it is, would suffice for the next decade or
so, and the piecemeal plan forwarded by the new regime would irreparably damage convention
business.
That being said, let us return to 321 Ocean Enrique Norten: The developers concept
proposal, explained city planner Lorber in the 25 October 2011 document, which has yet to
be brought forward formally for development approval and permitting, has been met with
support and enthusiasm from neighboring residents. The main reason for this initial support is
that the development proposal is for a purely residential, as opposed to hotel structure.
Incredibly, to anyone not subject to institutional blindness or inflicted by systemic corruption if
not crony capitalism, a cooperative Lorber dogmatically concluded that, The proposed zoning
change would not constitute spot zoning because any development allowed by the proposed
zoning change would be fully consistent with the City's comprehensive plan and zoning code,
would be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood, and would be wholly within the
public interest.
City planners naturally like plans. They would rather go with the flow, bobbing like a cork along
the strongest political stream, providing that certain professional niceties are satisfied. And in
this instance Lorber arrived at the very predestination orchestrated by the power elite with the
help of a public subtly aroused against its own best interest to make a residential clamor
against tourist clamor.
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On 8 November 2011 he virtually reiterated the conclusion to his previous recommendation to
the Historic Preservation Board. However, apparently to avoidance appearances of impropriety,
there must have been ritual resistance in the interlude. In Lorbers 10 April 2012 Historic
Preservation Board Staff Report on the request for approval of the appropriateness of the ex
post facto demolition of the old Simone Hotel, which was razed in April 2010, and the erection
of a 7-story and a 9-story building in its place, he noted that some of the conditions for
obtaining approval were unsatisfied. To wit: It would not be inordinately expensive to
reproduce the historic Simone Hotel. Notably, it would have been far cheaper to do so. Even
Enrique Norten had admitted the site would be appropriate for a cheap hotel. And, said
Lorber, the requirement that a parking garage meet federal standards was unsatisfied because
there was no intent to build a parking garage.
The requirements satisfied by the developers are amusing since the historic Simone Hotel had
already been torn down: the plan is appropriate because the Simone did contribute to the
historic nature of the district; it was in fact one of the last of its kind; it did contribute to the
Miami Beach Historical Properties Database; retention of the Simone would contribute to an
understanding of architecture of the period. Well, then, why not rebuild it at a far lower cost
than the erection of a mammoth condominium complex, two outlandish glass boxes squeezed
in between two low and narrow condominium buildings?

The eye-browed Simone Hotel destroyed by greedy developers
Why? That would not handsomely profit the developers and owners. Wherefore the satisfied
conditions: the Simone Hotel had been demolished, and new plans were submitted. Notably,
architect Enrique Nortens plans had nothing to do with the supposedly revered Art Deco
decorative style. And the county had ordered the demolition because the old structure was
unsafe. Notably, the politicized process that led to the unsafe structure designation, and
whether or not the structure could have been saved, should be carefully re-examined. In
Germany, some properties owners, to rid themselves of historical preservation strictures, have
resorted to destructive warmings (warmer abbruch), inviting gypsies into apartments
without stoves, where they light fires to cook, accidentally burning the historic buildings down.
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In any event, a rather nice cheap hotel, as Enrique Norten said, along Art Deco lines could
have been built on the lot. That is, if it was not designated for some other use, such as a dog
park to save the nearby park from negligent animal owners, or a formerly homeless shelter, or
a World War II Art Deco memorial, a goofy golf course, or nothing, since Nothing is perfect.

Despite his satisfactory and unsatisfactory nonsense, Lorber was moved to commend the New
York developer and their design team (starchitect Enrique Norten dba TEN Arquitectos) on the
sophisticated and very forward thinking approach to the project and for agreeing to
participate in the master beach walk plan. World-acclaimed architect Enrique Norten and his
firm, notably, were not licensed in Florida at the time, but his team travelled to Florida to
promote the project to be named after him, as 321 Ocean Enrique Norten, and the name of the
firm appears on the initial designs. Luis Revuelta, a top Florida architect with lobbying
experience in the same historic district, played second fiddle with his local license. In any case,
Lorber decided, the controversy would be history if modifications to the proposal were made.
Del Vecchio, who acts as a shadow city attorney to educate the city attorneys, had advised that
a change in height limitation zoning was an historic preservation issue. Never mind that that
historic preservation is now a myth in Miami Beach. An exasperated member of the board, who
naturally wishes to remain anonymous, and who declined to speak to this particular issue
except to voice support for historic preservation and express utmost respect and regard for
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Frank Del Vecchio, had previously said, There is no such thing as historical preservation in
Miami Beach.

Historical Art Deco features that are usually merely cheap decorations on otherwise banal
structures have occasionally been protected, sometimes to a ridiculous extent. Some treasured
buildings have been genuinely preserved. Replacements for demolished structures may imitate
the decorative style with a few features, such as eyelids over the windows, curved corners,
parapets, pinnacles and the like. However, especially when the money is big enough, nothing
may remain except the old name on a new building, its Art Deco quality being a stretch of the
imagination, often replaced by the MIMO and then successive postmodernist styles.

di Lido Hotel 1954 postcard and the Ritz-Carlton di Lido today
Not even the Simone name is preserved in this case. Historic preservation was made moot by
demolition, and the Hotel Noise Scare was a red herring. The developers got what they wanted
with the help of the city planner.
Next we shall discuss the role played by the city attorney, and by Greenberg Traurig, the
prestigious law firm for the Delaware corporation, 321 Ocean Holding LLC. We shall then
conclude with The Big Hotel Noise Scare Franks Paper Tiger.
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