1614-15 Various Miami Beach mh NEW OWNERS TO REVAMP OCEAN DR. HOTEL 09/27/1990
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1990, The Miami Herald
DATE: Thursday, September 27, 1990 EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 3 LENGTH: 41 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Jose Fernandez and Raul Sarraff
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: AARON S. RUBIN Herald Staff Writer
NEW OWNERS TO REVAMP OCEAN DR. HOTEL
A South Beach hotel that catered to Hasidic Jews has been sold to an
investment group planning to open a restaurant and possibly a theater in the
lobby.
"Movement is beginning to happen south of Fifth Street," said Raul
Sarraff, a broker with Jose Fernandez Investments who helped arrange the $1
million purchase of the Lord Balfour Hotel, 350 Ocean Dr. "When you look at
Ocean Drive south of Fifth Street, you're starting to achieve a critical mass,
with the Leonard, the Century and the Lord Balfour. We now tie in the southern
strip of Ocean Drive."
Sarraff and Jose Fernandez, founder of the brokerage company, joined the
Balfour Investment Group in purchasing the Art Deco hotel, which has 66 guest
rooms and 100 feet of frontage on Ocean Drive.
Although hote] rooms do not have a view of the ocean, Fernandez said the
4 location would be enough to attract business.
"In the long run, just being on Ocean Drive is going to be a draw, " he
said.
4 Bernard Bastacky, a broker with Sheldon Greene & Associates, represented
sellers Martin and Goldie Marmor, who continue to own the Barbizon Hotel and
Apartments, 530 Ocean Dr. , and a small hotel in downtown Miami.
Martin Marmor said he ran the Lord Balfour for 11 years, keeping the
rooms and hotel in good repair and catering to a clientele of elderly visitors
and seasonal residents. A room adjacent to the lobby served as a synagogue
during the winter season, he said.
Fernandez, a director of the Balfour Investment Group, said the investors
plan to begin renovations of the 50-year-old building in October, starting
with the lobby and fourth-floor rooms.
The Bridge Theater, a nonprofit theater troupe, started rehearsing
Tuesday night in the lobby and will continue to practice there until
mid-October, said J.D. Steel, executive director of the theater.
Steel said the group is considering converting part of the hotel lobby
into a permanent theater.
TAG: 9003050171
17 of 30, 7 Terms
Transfer complete. Press [RETURN] to return to Menu:
n
Type first letter of feature OR type help for list of commands
FIND MOD PRT S-DB DB OPT SS WRD QUIT
_QUIT
Save options?
YES NO GROUP
TWO
❑Connection closed by foreign host.
41111111111•111111111111111111 .1111111111111MMEMMIN
3 of 4, 2 Terms
[RETURN] to continue or type q to return to Menu:
U mh LINES ZIG AND ZAG THROUGH DISTRICT 03/03/1996
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1996, The Miami Herald
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 1 LENGTH: 124 lines
ILLUSTRATION: color photo: Roth's Bar Restaurant (A) ; photo:
Ambassador of Liberty Apartment House (A) , Waldorf Hotel (A) ,
Joe's Stone Crabs Restaurant on biscayne street (A)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: RICK JERVIS Herald Staff Writer
MEMO: COVER STORY
LINES ZIG AND ZAG THROUGH DISTRICT
FEW LANDMARKS ARE LEFT OUT OF HISTORIC AREA
Last month, Miami Beach commissioners unanimously declared the city's
oldest neighborhood a historic district, giving scores of landmarks in South
Pointe -- such as the Century and Savoy hotels -- protection from wrecking
balls and bulldozers.
But some architectural gems were left out, according to experts, and will
not receive the same protection. They include:
* The Ambassador of Liberty Apartment House, 227 Michigan Ave, a
three-story Mediterranean-revival style apartment house built in 1925, with
bas relief details and a coat of arms at the top.
* The Waldorf Hotel, 816 Commerce St., one of the Beach's earliest
ho els, built in 1924 as the Palm Royal Hotel.
* Rolo's Restaurant, 38 Ocean Dr. , a Mediterranean-revival style
structure built in 1928 that once housed stores and living quarters for their
owners.
* Joe's Stone Crabs Restaurant, 227 Biscayne St. Built in 1913 by Joseph
Weiss as a short-order sandwich counter, Joe's became the Beach's first
Jewish-owned restaurant.
"Joe's Stone Crabs is certainly very historical, " said Ari Millas, a
professor of architecture at the University of Miami. "It is one of the
institutions of Miami. I would have included the district all the way down to
Biscayne Street."
The Ocean Beach Historic District -- as it is officially known -- runs
east along Sixth Street to the beach, south to First Street, then zig-zags up
the west side of the island, dodging some properties and embracing others.
But those lines weren't drawn overnight.
The original boundaries were drawn in 1979 as part of the Art Deco
District to the north. South Pointe was dropped
from that district when city officials hoped to develop the area. So, when it
became South Pointe's turn to be considered for historic designation, planners
worked with the original boundaries, but made some changes. That started a
rigorous process that took more than a year and three supervising committees,
said William Carey, the Beach's historic coordinator.
Carey, formerly the director of preservation for the New York City
Landmarks Preservation Commission, was hired in 1994 to lead the efforts.
Carey and his staff cruised the South Pointe neighborhood, figuring where the
new lines should fall.
To qualify as historic, properties need to have been "associated with
events that made a significant contribution to the history of Miami Beach,
embody the distinctive characteristics of a historical period or lie in a
geographically definable area united by history, " among others factors,
according to zoning ordinances.
A major debate between the Historic Preservation Board and Carey's staff
in May centered on whether the new district's southern boundary should stretch
to Biscayne Street. Such a boundary would have included Joe's, Rolo's and the
southern tip of what was once the Ocean Beach Subdivision, the oldest
development on the Beach, built in 1912.
Carey's staff, however, recommended the southern boundary stay at First
Street, arguing that one or two buildings didn't qualify an area as
"historic."
"It was just one building, the rest is nothing but sand," Carey said. "At
some point you have to let go."
The Portofino Group, headed by maverick developer Thomas Kramer, also
tried to pull two of its lots out of the district during the designation
process. Those empty lots at 101 Ocean Dr. and 155 Ocean Dr. did not have any
historical value, they argued to the Historic Preservation and Planning
boards. Both rejected the idea of eliminating the oceanfront property from the
district. Those lots stayed in.
"We thought it would be silly to have an Ocean Beach Historic District
without ocean beach property, " Carey said.
Other properties were kept out of the district if they had previously
gained Design Review Board approval for development, he said.
The district's western boundary, for example, meanders around an
apartment building at 1001 Fourth St. owned by developer Jose Fernandez, who
also sits on the South Pointe Advisory Board, a vocal opponent of the
district. But Design Review had already approved plans last year for a new
10-story commercial building there, Carey said, and the district needed to
respect that.
Carey had originally intended to include the Fourth Street block in the
district.
Owners of four cottages on that street, between Michigan and Jefferson
avenues, bulldozed the historic structures before preliminary district studies
were on track.
"Clearly, (the owners) felt historic district designation would impede
their ability to develop their sites, " Carey said.
That feeling is shared by many other developers, Carey said. The historic
designation protects the demolition of existing buildings and makes it harder
to renovate, which strikes fear in the hearts of ambitious developers, he
said.
"Being a part of a historic district is nothing to be afraid of, " Miami
Beach Commissioner Neisen Kasdin said. "Property in a historic district is
usually better taken care of and appreciates in values. "
Historic districts also attract visitors and, thus, investment, Carey
said.
In fact, he said, between 1993 and today, 45 percent of all major
development projects in Miami Beach were in the historic Deco District,
although the one-square-mile district makes up only 14 percent of the city's
total land area.
"I think it will absolutely happen in South Pointe, " Carey said.
Although the list of properties is not as complete as some would have
liked, many preservationists still were just happy to have a historic district
in the city's first neighborhood.
"Yes, there are some buildings that should've been included but that
would've caused more delays, " said Betty Gutierrez, chairwoman of the Miami
{ Design Preservation League. "The important thing was to have the district
passed."
Staff Writer Peter Whoriskey contributed to this story.
cutlines
Photos by SARAH J. GLOVER / For The Herald
LEFT OUT: Though they were built in the mid-1920s, the Ambassador of
Liberty Apartment House, 227 Michigan Ave., and The Waldorf Hotel, 816
Commerce St. , were not included in the historic district.
cutlines
AN INSTITUTION, BUT ALSO LEFT OUT: Joe's Stone Crabs Restaurant, 227
Biscayne St. , was the Beach's first Jewish-owned restaurant.
cutlines
SARAH J. GLOVER / Herald Staff
WRONG SIDE OF THE BOUNDARY: Although it dates to 1928, Rolo's Restaurant
was not included in South Pointe's historic district. The new district's
southern boundary is just to the north of the Mediterranean-revival style
structure at 38 Ocean Dr.
TAG: 9601140512
1 of 30, 4 Terms
mh FERNANDEZ INVESTMENTS 03/13/1994
THE MIAMI HERALD
Copyright (c) 1994, The Miami Herald
DATE: Sunday, March 13, 1994 EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: NEIGHBORS MB PAGE: 38 LENGTH: 32 lines
ILLUSTRATION: photo: Pete Fernandez, Joan B. Stein.
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: Beulah Lawrence Herald Staff Writer
MEMO: BUSINESS
FERNANDEZ INVESTMENTS
TO LIST ART DECO
APARTMENT BUILDING
Jose Fernandez Investments has hired Pete Fernandez as vice president.
Fernandez, previously with Century 21 in California, will handle property
management and general administration.
Jose Fernandez Investments also has signed an agreement to list an Art
Deco building at 1345 Drexel Ave. for $2 million; Sharon Welkovitz is the
listing agent.
The company has sold a 12-unit apartment building at 960 Jefferson Ave.
for $390,000; the listing and selling agent was Raul Sarraff. Vintage
Properties was the buyer.
The Miami Beach Bar Association will meet at noon Tuesday at the Miami
Beach Ocean Resort, 3025 Collins Ave. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez
Rundle will be guest speaker. The board will meet at 11 a.m. The cost is $15
for members and $25 for nonmembers.
Joan B. Stein of Miami Beachhas joined Berkowitz Dick & Pollack,
certified public accountants, as tax supervisor. Stein, who has a master's
from the University of Florida, previously was at Ross & Brant.
Edna Alberty and Mihaela Chirileanu, both of Miami Beach, have been
hired as full-time sales associates in The Keyes Co. office at 1023 Lincoln
Rd.
TAG: 9401190108
4 of 30, 6 Terms