A skyscraper is coming to Overtown in Miami, bringing affordable housing including micro dwelling units. Applicant David Om LLC plans the 55-story mixed-use residential tower for a site at 1210 NW Second Ave. in the historic Overtown neighborhood. It would be the tallest building there and bring 498 residential units, amenities, and a colorful parking podium adorned with artwork. The city’s Urban Development Review Board unanimously recommended approval with conditions: ■Integrate the three-story module currently present on the tower massing down onto the lower/ground floors of the podium. ■Study an opportunity for “live art” on a podium façade. This may be accomplished via a projection wall, digital mesh system, etc. Attorney Carli Koshal, representing David Om LLC, said the property is owned by David Om LLC and Davchi Development LLC. She said the site is about 22,500 square feet or 0.517 acres at the northwest corner of Northwest Second Avenue and Northwest 12th Street. The project seeks to use development bonuses described in Florida’s Live Local Act in order to incorporate additional height and density beyond what is permissible in the underlying zoning. A Live Local Act qualifying project must be in a mixed-use, commercial, or industrial zoning district and commit to reserve at least 40% of its units to house residents earning up to 120% of area median income for 30 years. Ms. Koshal wrote to the city, “Based on the total number of approximately 498 residential units, there will be approximately 200 income-restricted units. “The project brings needed residential units to an area that is very well-served by transit and transportation options. The property is near not only the Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre Metrorail station and the Wilkie D. Ferguson and School Board Metromover stations, but also the Brightline regional transportation option,” she wrote. The applicant seeks special permission via a warrant to permit micro-sized dwellings. Miami 21 zoning allows micro dwellings as small as 275 square feet in a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) area. Each of the proposed 200 micro dwellings in the project exceeds this minimum. The applicant also requests zoning waivers to allow parking within the second layer above the first story along the principal frontage on Northwest Second Avenue with an art or glass treatment, and parking within the second layer above the first story beyond 50% along the secondary frontage on Northwest 12th Street with an art or glass treatment. The overall project will have about 500,000 square feet of floor area and parking levels to hold up to 154 vehicles. Project designer Kobi Karp presented an art narrative, explaining the ideas behind the unique façade planned for the garage pedestal. It reads in part: “In Overtown, Miami – a neighborhood that carries the brilliance and resilience of Black history and culture – the base of this building becomes a living artwork. The podium, often treated as a purely functional threshold, is transformed by Miami-based artist Yana Volf into a visual poem dedicated to the people of Overtown. “Volf, known for her intricate fusion of realism and pixelated abstraction, renders the podium façade as a layered narrative. Each pixel acts as both fragment and whole: from a distance, the surface resolves into portraits of the everyday Overtown resident – the neighbor whose presence holds a story, the passerby who embodies heritage, the unrecorded but enduring soul of the community. “Up close, the images dissolve into shifting grids of color and form, reminding viewers that culture is not a fixed picture but a living weave of memory, perception, and identity. “By situating her work on the podium, Volf redefines its role. The podium ceases to be a base for architecture and instead becomes a stage for collective history. It anchors the building not only to its site but to its cultural lineage, rooting contemporary development in the lives, rhythms, and voices of those who built Overtown’s story,” it reads. Addressing the review board Mr. Karp said, “We have the opportunity here to really bring the art into Overtown.” He said the development team wants to provide a quality project under the Live Local Act, and “amenities are the best.” Board member Dean B. Lewis said, “I really do appreciate the project, and you get an economy of gesture without overly pushing a formal approach. There’s a commitment there.” Board Chair Ligia Ines Labrada said, “I think your tower is beautiful, and I think there is an opportunity to bring some of that language into, and do something with, that entrance without going crazy.” Board member Manuel S. Gallardo said, “I like the articulation … you could bring more near the eyebrow, something horizontal or something, just a line or section, a separation of the tower and podium.” The post Overtown’s tallest tower at 55 stories to have micro units appeared first on Miami Today. ...read more read less