The Miami City Board of Trustees will decide whether part of the related group’s property on the Brickell Riverside should be designated as an archaeological site, a decision that will affect the project’s design and its future.
During the excavation of this heritage site, artifacts and human remains were found dating back thousands of years.
On Tuesday, the Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Commission will vote on the archaeological naming of 444 Brickell Avenue, where Coconut Grove-based Related plans to build a Baccarat-branded luxury condominium complex. The city’s conservation office recommended the designation and will present the proposal at Tuesday’s meeting.
In a statement, the companies involved said they had been working with the city on the archaeological designation.
The board’s decision may allow the companies involved to build their projects while incorporating public spaces to display artefacts. The development company, led by founder and CEO Jorge Pérez and his sons Jon Paul and Nick, plans to build at least two residential towers, including Baccarat apartment towers and a standalone luxury apartment tower.
Jorge Pérez said in April that the planned vote comes about three months after the same commission withdrew its proposal for an archaeological destination for the adjacent site at 77 SE Fifth Street. A huge relief to Related Companies, which spent more than $20 million on archaeological digs.
At the April meeting, conservationists urged the city to designate the site as an archaeological site and not allow Related to build on its project, calling the site a cemetery.
Those opposing the archaeological designation and supporting Related include a group of top developers and brokers such as Fortune International Group owner Edgardo Defortuna, 13th Floor Investments’ Arnaud Karsenti, Integra Investments’ Nelson Stabile, Douglas Elliman Florida CEO Jay Parker, ISG/ Craig Studnicky of Related ISG, Scott Sherman of Torose Equities, Rey Melendi, principal of 13th Floor Investments, and former Related Group executive, Oscar Rodriguez, now head of ROVR Development. All had worked or currently worked for the company in question.
Related paid $104 million for the two plots in 2013, knowing they were in an archaeological area and would pay for the excavation. But the extent of the subsurface was not known until archaeologists discovered 7,000-year-old artifacts, as well as human and animal remains. They may be considered the most archaeological find near the estuary in the past 25 years, the Miami Herald previously reported.
In January, Related secured a $164 million construction loan from Truist Bank for its first building, a 44-story, 506-unit rental tower planned for the site at 77 SE Fifth Street .
Next, Related plans to build a pre-sold 75-storey Baccarat-branded apartment tower.
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The 444 Brickell site currently houses a 13-story office building with restaurant space leased to Capital Grille.
The Historic Preservation Committee will also receive an update on excavations on adjacent land at 77 SE Fifth Street. After the excavation is complete, an action plan to protect the archaeological find will be presented, the companies concerned said in a statement.
