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1674-1 Thomas Kramer Printing . . . Press [RETURN] to continue or type q to return to Menu: ♦ mh SOUTH BEACH'S KRAMER SUED OVER MILLIONS 08/01/2000 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 2000, The Miami Herald DATE: Tuesday, August 1, 2000 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local PAGE: 3B LENGTH: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: photo: Thomas Kramer (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY JAY WEAVER, jweaver@herald.com SOUTH BEACH'S KRAMER SUED OVER MILLIONS Thomas Kramer, a jet-setting developer who scooped up South Beach properties for a bargain in the early 1990s, is again the legal target of his for mer German in-laws who gave him millions of dollars to invest almost a decade ago. The two daughters of the late German publishing tycoon Siegfried Otto - once Kramer' s stepfather-in-law - have sued the developer in Miami civil court to try to pave the way for collecting a $91 million judgment won against Kramer in a Swiss court in April. Otto' s two heirs are trying to prevent the German-born Kramer from selling his and his companies ' real estate holdings, which they say he bought with their father' s money but never fully repaid. They want the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court to let them look at Kramer' s corporate records and to put his personal investment properties in a trust to be turned over to them after Kramer exhausts his appeals in Switzerland. "This is an effort to be certain Mr. Kramer is not liquidating his South Florida assets because of his adverse judgment in Switzerland, " said Miami attorney Vance Salter, who filed the suit Friday on behalf of Otto' s two daughters, Verena Von Mitschke-Collande and Claudia Miller-Otto. GENEROSITY FADED In 1991, Otto had provided Kramer with $145 million under an agreement that allowed him to invest in real estate in Miami Beach and elsewhere - with 95 percent of the profits to flow back to Otto and the rest to Kramer. After a falling-out, Otto demanded that Kramer, who had been married to his stepdaughter, Catherine, give him back his money. They signed a settlement agreement in 1995, but Kramer returned only about $13 million to Otto, who made his fortune from a currency-printing business in Germany. Instead of giving back the rest of Otto' s money, Kramer sued him in Zurich District Court. Kramer' s Miami attorney, Parker Thomson, said Otto tried to sue his client in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in 1996 - only to have it put on hold because Kramer had sued first in Zurich. "Frankly, it looks to me like the same song, second verse, ' ' Thomson said Monday. "The parties made a simple agreement that any disputes would be resolved in Zurich. Apparently, they're trying to come back to Dade County. The court should throw it out. " Kramer, who is now living in his London mansion, appealed the Swiss court ' s ruling of April 25 . The court found that the 1995 settlement agreement between Otto and Kramer was solid and that Kramer owed Otto and his heirs $90,834 ,469 . Otto died in 1997 , naming his two daughters from his first marriage as his heirs - excluding his stepdaughter and Kramer' s former wife, Catherine. Under Florida law, Otto' s daughters cannot register the Zurich judgment in Miami until Kramer has completed his appeals. "Kramer' s insistence on the lengthy Swiss proceeding, in which he raised obviously meritless defenses, was for the transparent purpose of buying time to extract money from the Miami Beach real estate and other property and spirit it away, " the daughters ' lawsuit says. FINANCIAL CLAIMS Their complaint asserts that during the past four years, Kramer' s 35 Star Island company sold two residential lots on Star Island for $3.2 million and that his Portofino Group partnership and affiliated companies borrowed $10 million against some of its South Beach real estate. The complaint also mentions dozens of parcels still owned by Kramer or his companies in the South Pointe area. But the suit does not mention Kramer' s sale of the prime oceanfront parcel of his South Pointe land to a New York developer for $54 million in 1997 . Kramer, who had owned the parcel since 1992, made about $41 million on the sale. The complaint also accuses Kramer of using Otto' s funds to finance - 'an extravagant lifestyle, " including a $5 million estate on Star Island, another $8 million for a mansion in London and $14 million for an art collection. "The funds also appear to be being dissipated in conjunction with the well-publicized charges of sexual assault that have been levied against Kramer by various women over the years, " the complaint asserts. Last year, Kramer was found not guilty of allegedly raping his former secretary after she told British prosecutors that she no longer wanted to press charges against him. KEYWORDS: TAG: 0008020276 2 of 397 , 9 Terms mh SITES FETCH NEARLY $4 MILLION 01/24/2000 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 2000, The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, January 24 , 2000 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business Monday PAGE: 19G LENGTH: 112 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: BY MICHAEL Y. CANNON, Special To The Herald MEMO: REAL ESTATE SITES FETCH NEARLY $4 MILLION 1 . 36 PARKLAND HOMESITES 10162 NW 69th Manor, Parkland. Seller: TBI/Palm Beach Ltd. , affiliated with Toll Brothers, Huntington Valley, Pa. Officials of TBI include Daniel Grosswald. Buyer: Fox-Ridge Parkland Ltd. , affiliated with Hearthstone Advisors whose officers are James Griffin and Stephen Margolis. Price: $3 . 92 million, or $108,900 per lot. The 36 sites are 12 , 220 square feet or more. The lots sold for $88, 329 each in June 1997 . 2 . CENTER ON BROWARD BOULEVARD 7067 W. Broward Blvd. , Plantation. Seller: FTL/ED Plantation Ltd. , Rocco Ferrera and Terry Stiles, executives. Buyer: Plantation Center Partners Ltd. , officials are Ira M. Levenshon and Nathan Lewin. Price: $17 million, averages to $69. 16 per square foot. Financing: $18 million from Bayerische Landesbank. Originally built in 1962, the 245, 811-square-foot center sold for $13.75 million in 1981 and $11 million in 1997 . 3 . OFFICES ON UNIVERSITY 2 S. University Dr. , Plantation. Seller: Plantation Office Building Ltd. , officials have included Jan W. Dane and Stewart Marcus. Buyer: Intervest Oceanside Ltd. , Tulsa. The general partner is Southport Holding Corp. , Dale A. Williams, president. Price: $6 . 35 million, or $94 per square foot. Financing: $4 .75 million from Archon Financial Ltd. The 67 ,553 square feet of space were built in 1986 . The buildings sold were foreclosed in 1986 from developer John V. Capozzi. In 1994 , Crown Life Insurance sold property for $4 million. 4 . OUTDOOR WORLD CENTER SOLD West of I-95 and south of Griffin Road, Dania Beach. Seller: Bass Pro Outdoor World Ltd. , Springfield, Mo. Affiliated with Sportsman Park Development Co. And Bassgec Management Co. , officials include John L. Morris and Toni Miller. Buyer: Tanger Properties Ltd. , partners are Stanley K. Tanger and Steven B. Tanger, Greensboro, Calif. They are active as Tanger Factory Outlet Centers. Price: $15 .5 million. The land area sold includes 15 .73 acres of the total that was held by the seller of close to 44 .4 acres. This parcel contains an estimated 170,494 square feet of retail space, which sold for $90.01 per square foot. The buildings purchased have been leased back to the seller. 5 . HIALEAH RENTAL UNITS 666 W. 81st St. , Hialeah. Seller: SFA Madeira Ltd. , officials are Robert W. Spielman and James R. Mitchell. Buyer: Terra Nostra Apartments. Officers are Santiago Alvarez Sr. , Santiago Alvarez Jr. and Ramon Garcia. Price: $8 .2 million, or $50 . 15 per square foot. Financing: $6 . 15 million from CommerceBank. The 220-unit complex was built in 1971. Previous sales have been for $5.24 million in 1985 and between related parties in 1993 for $6. 1 million. The current buyer has been operating the property bought under a lease executed in July 1998 . 6 . MIAMI BEACH OFFICE BUILDING 404 Washington Ave. , Miami Beach. Seller: Thomas Kramer, acting through his firm, 404 Investments Ltd. Buyer: Dominion Partners Ltd. Executives include Julius and Eddie Trump. Dominion is a partner of a Netherlands corporation and affiliated with Trump Group, developers of Williams Island. Price: $13.8 million, averages to $86.56 per square foot. Financing: $12 .85 million in construction loans with United National Bank. The 159,431-square-foot, eight-story structure was put up in 1995. Kramer (the current seller) bought the land for the offices in 1993 for $798,200. 7 .OFFICES IN BRICKELL AREA 185 SW 15th Rd. Miami. Seller: Marvin J. Rauzin, trustee. Buyer: Brickell Roads Corp. , Howard R. Scharlin, principal. Price: $670 , 000, or $46. 73 per square foot. The 14 ,228-square-foot building was completed in 1975 . The offices previously sold for $451, 100 in 1980. They are located west of a Metrorail station. 8 . ROUSE BUYS GABLES LAND 4401 Ponce De Leon Blvd. and 195 Ruiz Ave. , Coral Gables. Seller: Jorge Dalmau, trustee. Trust beneficiaries in the past have included TMV Corp. and Netherlands Antilles and Panama corporations. Buyer: Rouse-Coral Gables Inc. , Columbia, Md. Anthony W. Deering, president. Price: $5 . 36 million, or $52 . 31 per square foot. The 2 . 35-acre site was once used for a Coca-Cola bottling plant. In 1984 , the property sold for $3.2 million. On an adjacent commercial site, Rouse has plans for a new mall. Michael Y. Cannon is managing director of Integra Appraisal and Real Estate Economics Associates (AREEA) , a Miami company that is part of a national organization that focuses on real estate valuation, consulting and market analysis. KEYWORDS: TAG: 0001280444 7 of 397 , 6 Terms mh KRAMER RAPE CASE DROPPED 12/09/1999 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1999, The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, December 9, 1999 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: color photo: Thomas Kramer (a) SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: By JOAN FLEISCHMAN, jfleischman@herald.com KRAMER RAPE CASE DROPPED Six days before a trial for rape in London' s Old Bailey courtroom, British prosecutors declared Wednesday they will offer no evidence against millionaire developer Thomas Kramer and "invited" the court to enter a - -not guilty" verdict - a formality that means automatic acquittal. The key reason: The alleged victim, Kramer' s former secretary, no longer wishes to press charges. "She doesn't want to proceed, " said Douglas Crighton, spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service. "As a result, we don't have sufficient evidence to continue. Without the complainant, we can go no further. " Crown prosecutor James O'Connell declined comment. But once he asks the court by letter to drop charges, it is a done deal. "The court has no discretion, " said Kramer' s London lawyer, John Harding. "That ' s the end of the matter. It' s as if there was never a case against him. " Kramer' s Miami lawyer, Richard Sharpstein, said his client is "thrilled and ecstatic. " Kramer, 42, who faced life in prison if convicted, "was never guilty of anything in this event. " Kramer contended that whatever happened between him and his 43-year-old secretary was consensual sex, and that she was shaking him down for dollars. Kramer, once married to the daughter of a German publishing magnate, was a trader in Germany' s futures markets. He arrived in South Florida in 1992 and became an instant player in the South Beach real estate scene, buying up $20 million in prime oceanfront property in his first six months here. The secretary' s lawyer, Joseph Rebak, said his client decided against testifying for "personal reasons. " There was no monetary settlement or agreement of any kind, " he said. And she still intends to go forward with a civil case, including her sexual harassment complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The secretary, now employed by The Herald, had worked for Kramer for four years, based out of an office adjacent to Kramer' s Star Island estate. She agreed to work for him in London, where he has an $8 million mansion, and arrived there April 13, staying in his basement quarters. That was where she claimed the assault occurred. On May 11, she said, she joined Kramer and his then-girlfriend, Bree Stoyanovich, at dinner in the mansion. The secretary retired at midnight and fell asleep, only to wake up and discover Kramer in her room, she said. In her federal EEOC complaint, she said: "Mr. Kramer pulled the covers off me and laid down on the bed. He asked if it was OK [that he was in my bed] . I immediately told Mr. Kramer: 'No, it is not OK. ' I then requested Mr. Kramer to leave the bedroom. Mr. Kramer refused. . . . Instead, using physical force, he held me down and raped me. I attempted to resist but was unable to get Mr. Kramer to stop. " The first person she told about the alleged rape was not the police, but rather her ex-husband, Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Hanau Von Schaumburg, said to be an Austrian prince. She reached him on his cell phone in New York. Hanau, 43, once was Kramer' s right-hand man at Portofino Group, doing multimillion-dollar real estate deals on South Beach. He quit his position as chief exec in a dispute over money. Hanau and Kramer no longer speak. Kramer said he never knew his secretary and Hanau were once married - until she told London police during the rape investigation. He called it further evidence of a set-up. The secretary and Hanau were husband and wife for three years. She said they never consummated the marriage, and it was strictly a business relationship to protect his assets. Hanau now works with another New York-Miami developer, Ian Bruce Eichner. Harding, the London lawyer, said he does not know why the secretary changed her mind about testifying. "Her reasons have not been conveyed to Thomas Kramer or his advisers. " The sexual assault allegation is the second one against Kramer. In 1995, a woman told Swiss police he attacked her in the ladies room of a Zurich nightclub while her husband and Kramer' s date chit-chatted at a table. Kramer claimed the woman, then pregnant, came on to him. A three-judge panel acquitted. In London, Kramer' s $404 ,000 bond money will be returned and his record expunged, Harding said. The secretary declined comment. Kramer, Sharpstein said, will remain in London over the Christmas and New Year' s holidays. "He' ll be returning to South Beach - triumphantly - in January. This case is put to bed, once and for all. " CAPTION: KRAMER KEYWORDS: TAG: 9912100082 10 of 397, 9 Terms mh DEVELOPER MOURNS LOSS OF HISTORIC FACADE 04/25/1999 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1999, The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, April 25, 1999 EDITION: Final SECTION: Neighbors BC PAGE: 34BC LENGTH: 204 lines MEMO: OPINION DEVELOPER MOURNS LOSS OF HISTORIC FACADE Editor: It is a sad day in Miami Beach when a historic structure is taken down in the historic district. March 17 was such a day, when the Miami Beach Building Department issued an emergency 24-hour demolition order for the facade of the Sender Building, 1035-45 Lincoln Rd. [Razing raises preservation protest; Developer, city say site posed danger, March 25] . Despite the fact that the facade was completely standing, the department ' s structural engineers determined that the structure had failed and posed a safety hazard to the public and to construction workers at the site. Last year, our company was issued a Certificate of Appropriateness for Demolition after presenting to the Joint Design Review Board and Historic Preservation Board a project designed to preserve and restore the facade while replacing the functionally obsolete structure. The project was designed by Hawrylewicz & Robertson in conjunction with Allan T. Shulman and the designers for Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn, the tenants for the building. The contractor selected for the delicate restoration and new construction was Fisher Development, based in San Francisco, Calif. As part of their $400 million per year construction business, Fisher has tremendous experience in restorations, and was responsible for the Banana Republic building at Eighth Street and Collins Avenue, and is currently restoring the former Chase Federal Bank building at Lincoln Road and Lenox Avenue into a flagship Banana Republic store. Our goal was to make the Sender Building an icon restoration project to be proud of and something that all the community could enjoy. Despite our constant shoring up of the facade, the deterioration was beyond repair. The years of neglect and numerous repairs had taken their toll - pieces of concrete were literally falling away from the structure. It was not until all the walls were uncovered that this could be determined. I understand that the Planning Department is considering retaining a structural engineer to review and approve drawings for rehabilitation. While I believe this would be a worthwhile endeavor, I am sure that, had this structure been evaluated, they would have come up with the same conclusion. As of this day, construction is at a standstill. We have submitted new design drawings to the Joint Board for a contemporized version of the old structure. The hearing is scheduled for mid-May and hopefully a consensus as to design can be achieved prior to this date. The reconstruction alternatives are: replication, a contemporary design with similar characteristics, or just something different. We are hoping to arrange a meeting with city staff, members of the Miami Design Preservation League, and any other interested parties so this consensus can be reached. This matter has not only caused tremendous emotional distress but has caused us financial hardship. The combination of lost time, interest carry, loss of historic tax credits and cost of new plans and approvals exceeds several hundred thousand dollars. Not being able deliver the space for the tenants for the season would increase that cost significantly. When we invested $15 million to acquire and develop properties on Lincoln Road, the goal was to do our part in making Lincoln Road a must-see for all visitors and to enhance the "Road" to be known as a destination for shopping. We accomplished this goal by attracting marquee tenants, such as The Gap, Gap Kids, Gap Body, Banana Republic, Pottery Barn, Williams-Sonoma and Mayor' s Jewelers to complement the galleries, restaurants and cultural venues. MICHAEL COMRAS Owner The Comras Company Column brought needed donations Editor: I 'd like to tell you what a wonderful article Debbie Liebowitz wrote about our store [Beach Buzz, March 18] . We could not believe how many people contacted us in response to the article. Thanks to your paper, we received many donations of used bikes and skates and can now give them away to more needy kids. JOEL BOGORAD Owner JB Bike & Skate Shop Miami Beach Mayor reveals lack of respect Editor: A leader of a political body should show respect for its members if that leader wants to effectively govern. Unfortunately, Mayor [Neisen] Kasdin has not shown leadership. Mayor Kasdin called his fellow commissioners "small-minded" when they opposed the purchase of the Alaska Parcel from Thomas Kramer. Another inappropriate comment made by Mayor Kasdin was his reference to the extension of the South Pointe RDA as a "no-brainer. " Contrary to Mayor Kasdin' s wishes, the majority of commissioners opposed the RDA extension. Mayor Kasdin is showing his arrogance and his ignorance by his disrespectful comments. This city needs and deserves better. LESLIE MARTINEZ- BOTET Miami Beach Editor' s Note: Leslie Martinez-Botet is a candidate for Miami Beach mayor. Why commission voted no on park Editor: People may wonder why a nationally known newspaper, having just won a Pulitzer Prize, can run an editorial endorsing the purchase of a piece of waterfront to add to an existing park, only to get the support of one member (the mayor) of a seven-member city commission in Miami Beach [No deal on Alaska Parcel, April 18] . The reason is simple. The Miami Herald has editorialists judging issues on the merits, unlike members of the city commission. Commission members run a $100 million-plus operation and get paid about $6, 000 a year plus a car allowance. To achieve the high pay of $6, 000 a year they have to raise tens of thousands of dollars, plus in some cases, get people to "independently spend" large sums of money to elect them. How do commissioners raise the money? They give their home telephone numbers, sometimes even out-of-town numbers, to a small coterie of lobbyists who get paid not for legal or other professional work, but to "introduce " or "educate " this or that commissioner on issues. So what happens when commission members vote on an issue? First, they consult people who raise money for them. Since no lobbyists get paid to beautify a city, they get no response from that quarter. Now, a local newspaper, three local "citizens " groups, a local lawyer - sometimes described as a "political consultant" - and a nonprofit have been described as reformers fighting the system when they are simply a group of two-bit lobbyists looking to cut themselves in on the gravy at City Hall. These groups come into play when the big-shot lobbyists have no interest in an issue, such as a park. This group exists on the crumbs left over after the successful lobbyists get their full-course meal and they get their manpower from those unhappy people who are always opposed or critical of everything. They come in and argue against buying the Alaska Parcel. They have a similar interest in stopping the park addition. A leading advertiser in the local paper, who serves as a lawyer for the phony reformers, wants to develop as oceanfront property land he owns on the west side of Collins Avenue. He is stopped at this because the ocean front is a historically protected, one-family home community, scheduled for reconstruction. By stopping the addition to the park in South Pointe, he and his clique can argue there is no increase in parks, and a historical district of one-family homes in North Beach should be demolished for a park. It really won't be a park, they say "parkland" or "recreational open space. " In fact, it would become an unattended, unmaintained homeless encampment to give windfall profits to "their" real estate developer. You see, when push comes to shove, the city commission isn't interested in either honest or efficient government, all they want is to protect some political supporter of this or that city commissioner. So to protect Kent Harrison Robbins ' "development plans, " Simon Cruz, David Dermer, Susan Gottlieb, Nancy Liebman, Martin Shapiro and Jose Smith sell out the chance for people to have an addition to South Pointe Park with double talk about its expense. Any educated or intelligent person familiar with the move in this country or Europe to increase parks could think that commissioners Cruz, Dermer, Liebman, Shapiro and Smith have never read a newspaper, magazine or book, let alone heard any of the dozens of discussions of parks on radio and TV. With the increasing population of Miami Beach, a legally imposed increase in parks is coming as surely as night follows day. That four real estate lawyers/investors, a mortgage banker and two dentists ' wives who have sold Miami Beach real estate at a profit don't know that real estate in Manhattan, Miami Beach, Colorado and Boca Raton has been increasing in price is unbelievable, considering they've lived off the profits of real estate and invested their fortunes there in the past 10 years. It ' s unfortunate the people of Miami Beach are being deprived of an enlarged park, which would probably cost not $7 million of local tax money, but closer to $2 million because of our RDA that has been so unfairly and falsely attacked, and tax contributions from the very real estate developer the commissioners and so-called reformers are so interested in attacking. Actually, judging by his tax contributions here, as opposed to the real estate profits our commissioners invest out of state and in Boca Raton, perhaps the park should be renamed for Thomas Kramer and the dog run named for "Six Synonyms for Schmuck and their 30 Schmuckettes from Ocean Drive. " Count LFMdeW Rosenthal e Meyerbeer W. Chudzikiewicz h. Chodkiewicz Gratitude to after-hours vet Editor: I had an emergency with my dog Muffin on the night of April 15 . I went through the Yellow Pages to find an emergency vet. I found Alton Road Animal Hospital, at 1828 Alton Rd. I called up and they told me to come right over, Dr. [Jon] Rapport would be waiting. My daughter, Cara, and I went and Dr. Rapport was waiting. He, Dr. Cristina Comantin and staff were just unbelievable. They are concerned, understanding and full of warmth. They also kept calling to find out how Muffin was doing. I thank all of them for their understanding and concern. MARCIA GENTILE Miami Beach WRITE US We welcome letters on any topic of interest to our readers. Sign your name, and include a telephone number. Short letters are preferred, and all letters MUST be legible and they may be edited for length, spelling and grammar. Mail or bring your letter to: 407 Lincoln Rd. Suite 9-D Miami Beach, FL 33139 or e-mail joneill@herald.com KEYWORDS: TAG: 9904280508 29 of 397, 18 Terms mh KRAMER SELLS OCEAN DRIVE SITE 01/11/1999 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1999, The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, January 11, 1999 EDITION: Final SECTION: Business Monday PAGE: 19 LENGTH: 137 lines ILLUSTRATION: map: South Florida SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: MICHAEL Y. CANNON Herald Business Writer MEMO: REAL ESTATE KRAMER SELLS OCEAN DRIVE SITE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY 1: Oceanfront site 101 to 114 Ocean Dr. , Miami Beach. * Seller: Sun & Fun, a corporation whose principal has been the investor Thomas Kramer. * Buyer: BOV Development Corp. * Price: $8 million, or $182 .47 per square foot. * Financing: $4 .4 million from CommerceBank. The loan guarantor is Riccardo Olivieri. This one-acre oceanfront parcel is suitable for a hotel or apartment. The property formerly was the Corsair and La Gorce hotels, which are now gone. Prior sales were for $2 . 6 million in 1988 and $2 .5 million in 1993. 2 : Hotel 1400 Ocean Dr. , Miami Beach. * Seller: Ocean Drive Realty Associates G.P. , headed by Melvyn Schlesser. * Buyer: Deco Simon LLC, Los Angeles. * Price: $6 million, or $209.01 per square foot. This hotel has operated as the Winter Haven. The 28,707-square-foot building went up in 1939. Selected past sales of record were for $207,500 in 1966, $750,000 in 1980, and $1 . 056 million in 1986. 3: Storefronts 345 E. 49th St. , Hialeah. * Seller: Orlando J. P. and Claudina Dinis, Isla Madeira, Portugal. * Buyer: Ricardo and Olga Chonwahi. * Price: $580, 000, equal to $99. 16 per square foot. * Financing: $380,000 purchase money mortgage. The 5, 849-square-foot building was built in 1965 and expanded in 1978. A 1993 sale was for $375,000. 4 : Office building 8700 W. Flagler St. , unincorporated Miami-Dade * Seller: 8700 Flagler Ltd. A general partner is Hammond Venture Inc. Officials of 8700 include Bill G. Davis, James F. Bell and W. Allen Morris. * Buyer: The contract buyer was LaSalle Advisors Capital Management. The buyer on the deed was Nationwide Theaters West Flagler LLC, Los Angeles. * Price: $12 . 91 million, or $88 .51 per square foot. The 145, 895-square-foot structure was built in 1980. 5 : Office building 9400 to 9450 Sunset Dr. , unincorporated Dade * Seller: Mal Pas Corp. Veronica Reyes and Alex Astudillo are officials. * Buyer: International Park Plaza LLC. Leonard Monserrat is an executive. * Price: $969, 000, or $59.49 per square foot. * Financing: $675, 000 from Ocean Bank. The 16,228-square-foot structure was put up in 1972 . A sale in 1993 was for $900, 000 . 6 : Rentals 7510 SW 152nd Ave. , unincorporated Miami-Dade * Seller: Liz Construction. Principal is Jorge Reboredo. * Buyer: 7510 Investments LLC. Members are Carlos A. Saladrigas Jr. and Martiniano Perez. * Price: $2 . 31 million, or $48.78 per square foot. * Financing: $1 . 85 million from General Electric Capital Company. The 48-unit project went up in 1989. Prior sales were for $1. 83 million in 1993 and $2 . 14 million in 1994 . BROWARD COUNTY 7 : Store buildings 219 to 221 S. Andrews Ave. , Fort Lauderdale. * Seller: The estate of Otis Farrington. * Buyer: Halmos Properties Inc. * Price: $650, 000, or $83. 33 per square foot based on building sizes. The 7, 800-square-feet of space was built in 1959. The property went for $430, 000 in 1986 and $215, 000 in 1992 . 8: Stores 1450 N. State Road 7, Lauderhill. * Seller: Lauderhill Pointe Ltd. Executives include Alan Salowitz, Bay Harbor Islands. * Buyer: Lauderhill Plaza LLC. Members include Bernard Godin. * Price: $1 . 3 million, or $91 .66 per square foot. * Financing: $1 . 04 million provided by Midland Loan Services. The stores were built in 1987 . The Resolution Trust Corp. sold the 14 , 183-square-foot property in 1992 for $725, 100. A sale in 1996 was for $950, 000 . 9: Commercial land North of Sample Road, about 800 feet east of Powerline Road on Crystal Lake. * Seller: Nicholas Mormando and Christine Vitolo are among the group of sellers. * Buyer: Hertz Corp. , Park Ridge, N. J. * Price: $1 . 76 million, equal to $6 .86 per square foot. The parcel is about 5.9 acres of commercial land. PALM BEACH COUNTY 10: Commercial land Arvida Park of Commerce, west of Congress Avenue and north of NW 65th Street, Boca Raton. * Seller: Norman F. Codo. * Buyer: Millennium Two LLC. Managers include George E. Ounjian. * Price: $1 . 38 million, or $8. 00 per square foot. * Financing: $900, 000 purchase money mortgage. The 3 . 97 acres sold for close to $387,500 in 1995. 11: Land Above Lantana Road and east of Lyons Road, unincorporated Palm Beach County * Seller: Engle Homes. John Kraynick, vice president. * Buyer: Sherbrooke Realty Holdings. * Price: $1 .5 million, or $3 . 87 per square foot. The 8 . 89 acres of land is suitable for commercial, income-producing building. 12 : Shopping center 2020 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. , West Palm Beach. * Seller: West Palm Beach Concourse Associates. This firm is related to PaineWebber Income Properties. * Buyer: WPB Concourse Plaza LLC. Principal is Samuel Susi. * Price: $2 million, or $50. 90 per square foot. * Financing: The buyer assumed a first mortgage, now at $1.54 million, owed to LaSalle National Bank. The 39,293 square feet of stores went up in 1979 and 1980. The property sold for $5 .08 million in 1985 . Michael Y. Cannon is president of Appraisal and Real Estate Economics Associates (AREEA) , a Miami company that specializes in market research and property analysis and appraisal work. KEYWORDS: TAG: 9901120487 32 of 397, 9 Terms mh GREENWAY WOULD IMPROVE INDIAN CREEK AREA 12/17/1998 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1998, The Miami Herald DATE: Thursday, December 17, 1998 EDITION: Final SECTION: Neighbors MB PAGE: 26 LENGTH: 167 lines MEMO: OPINION GREENWAY WOULD IMPROVE INDIAN CREEK AREA Editor: A couple of months ago, the National Park Service' s Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program agreed to assist the City of Miami Beach to develop a greenway on the Indian Creek and the Collins Canal. In recent years, greenways have become important elements of state and federal environmental, recreation and transportation planning programs. Through these programs, substantial amounts of funds have become available for local conservation and outdoor recreation projects. Greenways are corridors of protected open space that typically follow natural land and water features and are managed for conservation and recreation. They provide people with access to outdoor recreation close to home. On the east bank of the Indian Creek, along unobstructed rights-of-way from 24th Street to 54th Street, and along the Collins Canal from 23rd Street to the Venetian Causeway, a greenway would be a scenic and enjoyable path for pedestrians, bicyclists and skaters, and a link between the Mid-Beach and South Beach neighborhoods. Where rights-of-way are narrow, the path might be like the exercise trail circling Aventura' s Country Club Drive. Where rights-of-way are wider, the path could resemble other cities ' "riverwalk" promenades. In North Beach, waterfront —pocket parks " could be sited along city-owned shorelines. A greenway would greatly enhance Miami Beach' s natural environment. Mangroves were the most essential element of Miami Beach' s ecosystem before the barrier islands were developed. Restoring a part of the natural system by planting mangroves would bring an abundance of life to our waters and shorelines. Mangroves improve water quality and clarity, provide sheltered breeding areas for marine life and support a broad and healthy food chain. Planting mangroves at sites along the shoreline could turn our waterways into a large urban aquarium. Bottlenose dolphins, manatees, tarpons, snooks, rays, large schools of fish and large waterfowl could become common sights along the Indian Creek. Viewing and interpretive areas would connect people to our natural heritage and history. In addition to the National Park Service' s program, the State of Florida also facilitates greenway enhancements through the Florida Greenways Commission, the Florida Greenways Coordinating Counsel and the Department of Environmental Protection' s Office of Greenways and Trails. The state promotes greenway corridors because they have brought a great number of social, economic and ecological benefits to Florida communities. To develop a greenway that suits Miami Beach, a number of people should participate in the planning process, especially property owners, businesses and residents near the Indian Creek. At 7 p.m. tonight, there will be a presentation at the Indian Creek Hotel, 2727 Indian Creek Dr. , about developing a greenway trail and restoring Miami Beach' s natural ecosystem. A reception will be hosted by the Friends of the Indian Creek, a not-for-profit group that was established to facilitate environmental and outdoor recreation enhancements in Miami Beach. Anyone interested is invited to attend. For more details, call 305-674-9495. STUART REED President of Friends of the Indian Creek Letter did not distort the facts Editor: In her letter to The Herald [Political scheming has already begun, Nov. 26] Joan Kuperstein accused me of "scheming" and "distorting the facts. " Her reference is to a letter that I, along with 16 other people, had signed regarding the City' s Redevelopment Agency [RDA] . We had written in support of Commissioner Martin Shapiro' s ordinance to prohibit the RDA from subsidizing private projects with your tax dollars. My support of this reform constitutes speaking with "forked tongue, " rails an indignant Mrs. Kuperstein, urging me to "tell like is, Mr. Burke, straight " ! "Forked Tongue? " Where does [Mayor Neisen] Kasdin get these people? Central casting? They even write like him. If anyone has spoken with intent to mislead, it has been those who have consistently maintained that our beaches are "slums " and that further massive development would broaden our tax base. I am proud of our beachfronts. They are not "blighted" properties requiring $100 million in tax receipts to fund a corporate welfare program for itinerant speculators, domestic or foreign. As for broadening our tax base, I would ask, "when? " Are we simple natives expected to forget the recent shortfall in the city budget of some $13 million? Is the city manager prevaricating too, Mrs. Kuperstein? It ' s hard to read so much bull in one sitting. Mrs. Kuperstein goes on to regale us with commentary regarding last year' s campaign, challenging my decision to endorse David Pearlson. Well, Joan, you brought it up: When challenged on matters of city policies, Pearlson exhibited the deportment one should expect of a mayor. When I asked Neisen if the Federal Elections Commission was correct in asserting that he had taken an undisclosed amount of money from Thomas Kramer through an undisclosed intermediary, he declined to answer directly, calling it "mudslinging. " I had hoped for a single "no. " I still do. Perhaps Mrs. Kuperstein could help us solve this mystery. I would suggest that she start by calling the Federal Elections Commission. The phone number is 202-219-3690, case number MUR4398. Is that straight enough for you, Mrs. Kuperstein? Rather than sending smoke signals into the eyes of the public, why wasn't Mrs. Kuperstein willing to help us solve this problem now, rather than having to deal with it in an election year? Was it to create campaign wampum from the land of the big teepee? Was it to prevent a burgeoning reform movement moving on to other issues, such as cops on the beat, neighborhood revitalization, youth programs, street repairs, district representation, a strong mayor system, runaway code enforcement and a fair shake for North Beach? Intentional or not, the city' s adventures in real estate have distracted it from these vital issues while transferring our wealth to those who need it least. Those who object are systematically vilified. To wit: When County Manager Merritt Sterheim recently out-negotiated Mr. Kasdin on the details regarding the city' s share of the budget for the Greater Miami Convention Bureau, what did our good will ambassador do? Answer. He attacked the gentlemen personally, stating that Sterheim had acted in "bad faith. " When David Dermer was elected commissioner and immediately pushed for ethics legislation, what did Kasdin do? Debate the issue in a lawyerly fashion? No. He attacked him personally, accusing him of grandstanding, otherwise known as being outshone by a commissioner, trumps the importance of, say, keeping developer' s employees off the Planning Board. When Commissioner Shapiro, upon having learned that an audit had indicated that some $34 million in RDA monies had been spent on South Pointe just for lawyers, consultants and management and suggested reform, what did Mr. Kasdin do? He attacked the gentlemen personally, calling his suggestion a "hollow political gesture. " When commissioners Shapiro, Dermer and [Jose] Smith and [Simon] Cruz questioned Mr. Kasdin on the wisdom of extending the heretofore non-performing RDA well into the next century, how did he react? He called the issue a "no-brainer" [Boy, that ' s for sure] . The absurdity of such condescension was shortly thereafter compounded by the introduction of the aforementioned audit. What statesmanship! So thank you, Mrs. Kuperstein, for your friendly missive. I think I am in good company. One last program note; if you really want to see people get scalped, tune into channel 20 when the RDA is meeting. And that, Mrs. Kuperstein, is telling it like it is. MIKE BURKE Miami Beach Commissioners did the right thing Editor: I would like to congratulate commissioners [Martin] Shapiro, [Jose] Smith, [David] Dermer and [Simon] Cruz for hitting a home run at the Dec. 2 commission meeting by not delaying any further an ordinance to stop any tax dollars from flowing to a private developer in any future development projects [Beach curbs public-private development deals, Dec. 6] . Living on Miami Beach for the past 38 years, I have seen our city go from a tourist mecca in the ' 60s, to a declining resort area in the ' 70s and early ' 80s to an international destination in the 90s. Select groups of individuals and political insiders managed to manipulate the RDA and delay a long overdue investigation into the Agency' s spending habits. These same individuals also have the ability to funnel tax dollars into special interest and pet projects both within and outside the designated redevelopment areas. To date, the taxpayers of this community have not been able to stop the free flow of monies out of the agency to self-serving individuals and entities and have not been able to get a true accounting of the RDA spending. The RDA was at one point considered a solution to a city-wide problem. Miami Beach has come a long way since then and frankly it is time to stop those who are already fat from continuing to feed. Let ' s put the money where it belongs, benefiting the community as a whole by providing increased city services, police, fire and improving the quality of life for residents of Miami Beach. Commissioners Shapiro, Smith, Cruz and Dermer have the vision to look forward. Keep up the good work. WARREN JAY STAMM Miami Beach KEYWORDS: TAG: 9812170214 37 of 397 , 19 Terms mh MIAMI BEACH RISING HIGHER 06/28/1998 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1998, The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, June 28, 1998 EDITION: Final SECTION: Tropical Home PAGE: 1H LENGTH: 282 lines ILLUSTRATION: color photo: dancers at Mango Cafe (a) , Allard and Julia Baird (a) , Royi Akavia jogs (a) ; photo: Phoebe Morse (a) , Yacht Club of Portofino (a) , Ocean Drive (a) ; map: Miami Beach SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: DONNA GEHRKE WHITE Herald Staff Writer MIAMI BEACH RISING HIGHER It was midnight, and the high-rises of Miami Beach were twinkling sleepily against the dark waters of Biscayne Bay. But at ground level, South Beach was hopping, with throngs strolling in and out of bistros and bars. And Allard Baird, flying home after a baseball scouting trip for the Kansas City Royals, was congratulating himself on his decision to move to a South Beach condo: Where else could he and his wife, Julie, a partner in a Miami-Dade accounting firm, eat a full-course meal after midnight and enjoy night life right up until they collapsed in bed at 4 a.m. ? "For me, " said Baird, 36, a special assistant to the Royals ' general manager, "it ' s the perfect fit. " A vacation-like oasis, but one that ' s decidedly urban in feel. You know the story by now: Since the South Beach renaissance began in the late ' 80s, thousands of other Baby Boomers and Generation Xers have declared Miami Beach their oasis, coming from Kendall and Pembroke Pines -- as well as Europe, Latin America, California and New York. They've settled in their own tropical Little Manhattan, complete with a bustling nightlife and restaurant scene. But there is a lot more on the way. Not in decades has Miami Beach seen so much new residential construction and renovation -- from new million-dollar penthouses to renovated studio condominium units starting in the low $50, 000s. Some of the biggest: The three Diamond high-rises, 1,016 units on the ocean at mid-Beach. Just north of them, the 28-floor St. Tropez, with 91 luxury units -- the smallest covering 1,400 square feet. Farther south are the condo developments of Maison Paco Rabanne, Masada II, CapoMar, Sunset Harbour, the renovated Roney and Sasson On the Ocean. On the east side of the northernmost block of Ocean Drive, rising seemingly right out of the sand, is Il Villaggio, an 18-story tower with one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Going up next to it: architect Michael Graves ' 1500 Ocean Drive condos. And near South Pointe, the recently built Courts of South Beach, the first stage of the town home and condo development called Cascada. Condos are being designed by world-class architects, from Graves to Robert M. Swedroe, and workers on very tall cranes are busily erecting some of South Florida' s tallest buildings along the waterfront, while sales agents are signing deals dozens of stories below. Just a tiny sliver of vast Miami-Dade, Miami Beach is accounting for 40 percent of all new luxury condo sales in the county, said David Dabby, senior vice president of Appraisal and Real Estate Economics Associates. Dade ahead of Broward The construction boom in Miami Beach has helped propel Miami-Dade over Broward in the last year in total housing starts for the first time since Price Waterhouse began tracking real estate trends in the early 1990s. Existing homes are strong sellers, too. —Single-family and condos have really appreciated well in comparison to the rest of the county, " Dabby said. Luxury realty brokerage Wimbish-Riteway, which specializes in Miami Beach, has noticed. The company reported almost a 50 percent jump in sales from 1996 ' s $360 million to 1997 ' s $523 million, said Wimbish-Riteway Realtor Jill Hertzberg. This April brought a $10 million -- and 33 percent -- increase over last year. All over the city, people are buying older homes and then enlarging them or at least updating them, said Dean Grandin, planning and zoning director. "Everywhere you go there ' s remodeling going on, " Grandin said. "It ' s quite incredible. " And property appreciation is outpacing the rest of Miami-Dade. The Beach has become prime real estate for suburbanites who snap up houses there to be closer to jobs in downtown Miami, Dabby said. " 'You can't beat the drive to work, passing by the water, " he added. "Miami Beach has become the great bedroom community to the major work centers to the county -- downtown, Brickell, the airport. " A battle over growth Not everyone welcomes the new development -- especially those already living on the Beach and anticipating the additional traffic and crowding that the new condos will bring. Their concerns have prompted the city' s Planning Board to consider new development-restricting laws -- which some developers already have challenged in court. Last week, for example, a judge granted developer Ian Bruce Eichner' s request to delay any effort to reduce the size of a high-rise to be built on waterfront land in South Beach. That ' s just round one of that battle, said Tom Mooney, a senior planner for the city -- and there will be many more. The lure that developers are banking on: It ' s easy. It ' s a place where you can walk a historic district, take a dip in the emerald-green sea and sit next to Robert De Niro at a bistro, all in the same day. "It just doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, " said Prudential Florida Realty' s Rusty Atlas. "You're on the water -- and five minutes away from downtown and a few minutes away from the hot social scene of South Beach. You can't get that in Chicago, New York or L.A. " Miami Beach is a lot cheaper than those cities, as well as "hot" cities in Europe, said Brazilian developer Mucio Athayde. "I made a market study in Europe and in different parts of the United States, " he said. "The best place to live was Miami Beach. " As president of NewFlorida, Athayde is adding to the buildup on Collins Avenue with three new major points on the horizon -- the White, Blue and Green Diamonds, which will have from 46 to 48 stories and which when finished will be among the tallest oceanfront condos in the world. The 46-story, 315-unit Blue Diamond will be occupied first, with owners moving in as early as this fall. The Euro cash The money keeps flying in from abroad. Swiss media mogul Juerg Marquard -- a billionaire Baby Boomer -- was so taken with Miami Beach that he paid $2 .9 million to buy the former La Gorce Island mansion of fallen CenTrust Savings Chairman David Paul. He promptly tore it down to make room for an 18, 000-square-foot Mediterranean villa on the water. Another young European tipped Marquard off about Miami Beach: Thomas Kramer, who exploded onto South Beach from Germany in the early 1990s, wielding big plans for big projects on the Beach' s southern tip, South Pointe. The first, Portofino, is finished. A second, the Yacht Club of Portofino, a luxury rental high-rise, is under construction. It will have 361 apartments and town homes and will likely begin accepting tenants by next February, said Roberto Rocha, executive vice president of The Related Group, which is co-developing the property with Kramer' s Portofino Group. Other, less-wealthy immigrants to the Beach have been content to settle in studios or cottages for their piece of the Beach pie. Lisa Powell, a bartender and server at Monty' s at the Miami Beach Marina, will soon leave her Kendall apartment for a one-bedroom on the Beach. "I like the Beach, " she said. "There are all kinds of people, all walks of life. " How the boom began With all the growth and international attention bestowed upon the Beach, it ' s hard to believe that in the 1970s and 1980s, many neighborhoods stagnated in value or struggled. South Beach, especially, was in decline. Less than two decades ago, it was a sad final stop, where many elderly people lived in rundown buildings, surviving on tiny Social Security and pension checks. The late Herald columnist Charles Whited was blunt in his assessment of the Beach: "Slums where the poor came to die. " But a little wisp of a woman with a tremulous voice, the late Art Deco preservationist Barbara Baer Capitman, started the revitalization of what once people thought of as the tacky buildings in South Beach -- the ones with the now-hip features like portholes and wavy lines -- and, in the process, rejuvenated the entire town. Now, surrounding the Art Deco gems, there' s another wave -- a glittering necklace of new luxury condominium high-rises rising along the water -- buildings that account for $150 million a year in condo sales in Miami Beach, Dabby said. The Bairds -- who could live anywhere with Allard' s job with the Kansas City Royals -- picked Miami Beach. At first they bought in Pembroke Pines. "It was beautiful, " Julie Baird said of her home there. But they hated their life in the Pines: No night life. Long commutes. Less diversity of people, certainly, compared to when they rented on the Beach. So they sold their home at a loss and returned to Miami Beach. They're renting for now at the newly finished Floridian, 650 West Ave. , one of the first rental high-rises to be built in Miami Beach in two decades. But they recently put a deposit on a three-bedroom condo at the 48-story White Diamond, at 63rd Street and Collins. The Bairds think the Diamond buildings have everything for busy people: pools, tennis courts, spas and even his-and-hers steam rooms. The White Diamond is part of the push north as available land in South Beach becomes scarce. "We ' ll still be close enough to South Beach, " Allard Baird said. Time for tot lots The influx of dual-professional couples, many of them with children, has created a push to improve public schools. North Beach Elementary parents, for example, raise money to hire aides to help teachers. Rolando Rodriguez, executive director of the Jackson Memorial Fund, who lives in the school district, was hit up to help -- and it worked. He is donating at least $1, 000 during the next school year when his son enters kindergarten at North Beach. The city also has responded to the influx of kids by offering more recreational programs than ever, including tennis, ice skating, dancing and rowing camps. Retail chains, some of them ultra-exclusive, have noticed the growing popularity of Miami Beach -- and followed. Now, the Beach has its own Banana Republic, AX, Guess, Versace, Armani and Brookstone boutiques. If the economy continues to thrive, development will, too. Several more high-rises are in the planning stages, poised to occupy the little remaining land in South Beach, with a strand of high-rises joining Portofino Tower on South Pointe. In another decade, parts of South and Mid Beach might start to resemble the condo canyon that swallows Collins Avenue in the 5000 blocks -- though developers insist it will be much prettier. Already, North Beach, which runs from Surfside south to 67th Street, is changing. One of the furthest-along condominium complexes is the 28-floor St. Tropez. "Sales are very good -- we're 70 percent sold, " said developer-owner Alan Waserstein. By fall, when the building is finished, nearly all of the units should be sold, he said. When a hot market cools City planner Grandin doesn't expect the boom to last forever, of course, and not all the high-rises recently submitted for city approval will actually get built. Some properties go through several plans -- and years -- before the city and developers agree to a final project. And like any other community, Miami Beach' s future depends on the overall economy. The condo market, too, can be hot one day and cold the next. "Real estate goes through cycles, through waves, " Grandin said. Miami Beach developer and lawyer Kent Harrison Robbins discovered that when he first planned to build luxury condos in North Beach on Collins Avenue. But after years in court tussling with the city over his plans, he decided the market had changed and he was better off building luxury rental apartments. Since last fall, for example, the Floridian, which fronts Biscayne Bay near the MacArthur Causeway, has filled 80 percent of its rental apartments, which cost from $1, 140 to more than $2, 000 a month. "There' s a lot of pent-up demand for luxury rentals, " said Floridian President Randy Gumenick. "Miami Beach hasn't seen a new apartment building in 20 years. " But the luxury condo market is more than holding its own. Everyone keeps saying the market is going to bust, but so far it remains strong, with sales up 15 percent in the first quarter of this year, said Price Waterhouse' s Craig Werley. Potential buyers certainly keep flying into Miami Beach. From Rio, from Rome, from Berlin, from SoHo. "We have a lot of Latin Americans coming in and putting their money in here; Europeans too, " said St. Tropez ' s Waserstein. "The United States is still the place where everyone feels safe with their money. " On a recent Wednesday, sales reps at the Roney Palace, undergoing a $25 million face lift as it converted from rentals to condos, were busy showing condo units to out-of-towners. One of the bargains: studios on the street side that start at $109, 900 . But the potential buyers gazed at one of the main draws of the Roney and other waterfront condominiums: panoramic views of the ocean and diamond-white sands. Coming and going New Yorkers Terry Keller and Martin Martinez were so lured by the water that they put a down payment on two adjoining oceanfront units in the new Sasson On the Ocean condominium. "We love the sun, sea and going to the beach, " Keller said. "We love all the cafes along the ocean. It ' s sort of like a mini Manhattan. You don't have to own a car here. You can walk everywhere. " Martinez, an interior designer, is even thinking of relocating here once the condo is finished. Miller, who owns a gourmet gift basket business, expects to still work in New York and commute to the Beach. Miami Beach is attracting a lot of people who have done well elsewhere, many of them young -- too young, seemingly, to be able to plunk down $500,000 for a new home. These days, Wimbish-Riteway Realtor Hertzberg is showing luxury homes to such 20- and 30-somethings. Atlas, the Prudential broker associate, just got such a wealthy client from California: a thirtyish man who had just bought a chain of stores in South Florida and wanted to relocate. He paid $905, 000 -- one of the highest amounts ever for a landlocked home on La Gorce Island. Then he promptly began remodeling for life in the ' 90s. His home, painted a tropical yellow, now sports a media room, exercise room, and office/library as well as four bedrooms and 4-1/2 baths. He also illustrates another Miami Beach trend: change. He' s already sold his Miami business and plans to move on to Texas or California. His renovated home is back on the block. "People come and go, " said Atlas. "It' s always been that way. Miami Beach is a transient place. " But most residents don't consider that a problem. What they're worrying about is the ones who stay. They shudder at the constant convoy of cars up and down Ocean Drive. Traffic is bad even in off-hours -- and in other parts of the town. Last summer, Miami Beach voters signaled they wanted a slowdown. They voted to have a say in any future zoning of waterfront high-rises, hoping to preserve some of the sun and ocean views that drew them to Miami Beach in the first place. The first Portofino Tower, for example, casts a shadow for blocks -- as well as onto the beach, people have complained. In November, voters elected as mayor Neisen Kasdin, a commissioner who had pushed some of the city' s strongest controlled-growth legislation, including down-zoning laws and height limits. Said newcomer Simon Cruz, elected a commissioner: "Growth is good for the city. But it should be controlled. " Still, longtime residents cherish Miami Beach' s vibrance -- just like newcomers. "I moved here from Palm Beach 50 years ago, and I have never regretted it, " said philanthropist Phoebe Morse, who lives on North Bay Road with Baby, her hairless Chinese Crested dog. "There' s always something going on. The town never hits a standstill. Between the hotels and clubs and restaurants you have a different place to go whenever you want to go. Miami Beach, " she concluded, "is alive. " CUTLINES Photos by MARICE COHN BAND / Herald Staff OCEAN DRIVE: Palms, sand and Art Deco hotels are a post card view of Miami Beach. PORTOFINO: The Yacht Club of Portofino, under construction, is the second phase of German developer' s Thomas Kramer' s project. DOESN'T REGRET MOVE: Miami Beach resident Phoebe Morse, who moved from Palm Beach 50 years ago, says she and her dog, Baby, love the new Beach. BIG BUILDUP Map shows some new and pending condo projects in Miami Beach. Forming a backdrop for artist Royi Akavia' s jog are La Tour, foreground of photo, and the Blue Diamond. THE BEAT GOES ON: It' s midnight on a weeknight at Mango' s Tropical Cafe on Ocean Drive in South Beach, and dancers perform to the sounds of Latin music. HAVING IT ALL: Allard and Julie Baird took a loss on their Pembroke Pines home to move to the Floridian in Miami Beach. They enjoy the nightlife and urban feeling of the Beach. KEYWORDS: MB MIAMI BEACH PROFILE GROWTH POPULATION NEIGHBORHOOD TAG: 9807010575 46 of 397, 76 Terms mh VOTES ON DEVELOPMENT A BLACK CLOUD OVER BEACH 05/03/1998 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1998, The Miami Herald DATE: Sunday, May 3, 1998 EDITION: Final SECTION: Neighbors MB PAGE: 50 LENGTH: 142 lines MEMO: OPINION VOTES ON DEVELOPMENT A BLACK CLOUD OVER BEACH Editor: For Miami Beach residents who expected the new commission to stop overdevelopment, April 15 was nothing less than —Black Wednesday. " In a series of critical votes, the developers re-asserted their control over city government, and last fall ' s promises of reform were exposed as mere campaign rhetoric. How destructive were the commission' s failures? April 15 represented the greatest giveaway of development rights since the zoning fiascoes of the 1980s. And unless the city corrects its course, the damage may be greater still. In a vote of citywide impact, our government effectively lost more than 40 lawsuits in a single, indefensible motion, by failing to challenge the majority of the building proposals now in the city' s approval pipeline. Since these controversial plans were rushed in to avoid new height and density laws, the legal doctrine of fairness (equitable estoppel) gives the public power to reform the projects. Mayor Kasdin, joined by commissioners Simon Cruz, Jose Smith, Nancy Liebman and Susan Gottlieb, chose to concede our absolute worst-case scenario to dozens of developers, leaving only commissioners Martin Shapiro and David Dermer to denounce the unfairness to neighborhoods throughout Miami Beach. Three other misguided votes were tied to Thomas Kramer, who hopes to leave the public a legacy of excesses as he cashed out of South Pointe. Voting at midnight, the commission once again flouted residents by accepting a flawed settlement before seeing Portofino' s plans, setting the stage for an unnecessary massing of huge towers along the marina waterfront. At the same time, the city jump-started Kramer' s regional plan in a way that freezes his properties against planned downzonings. And on the Ocean Parcel, which Kramer sold in the midst of downzonings, the commission kept alive the new owner' s request for special permission to exceed new laws. Voters should be outraged. As one commissioner predicted, the April 15 vote was truly a —defining moment. " The decision was the culmination of a marathon, five-hour debate, at which developers hoped to evade the new laws and residents urged the commission to stand by their campaign promises. Our leaders had the opportunity to create a middle path, defining a standard that encouraged compatible development while challenging projects with destructive excesses. Sadly, the commission defined itself in all-too-familiar terms: when there is a conflict between developers and residents, money interests simply overpower our future interests. Concerned civic leaders from Save Miami Beach, the Miami Design Preservation League and the South Pointe Citizens Coalition have now joined together, for the first time since the June 3 charter referendum, to prevent the undermining of development reforms. They have defined a critical, three-part agenda: to undo the development giveaways of April 15; to ensure that the long-overdue reforms, coming to the Planning Board in June, are enacted and not corrupted and to ensure that state concurrency laws are used as a shield against overdevelopment and not as an excuse for more traffic, congestion and parking problems. We encourage all residents to speak up quickly, so that the gains of June 3 are not lost in a sea of concrete and weak excuses. MARK NEEDLE Miami Beach ONCE AGAIN,DEVELOPERS WIN EDITOR: THE OUTRAGE PREVALENT THROUGHOUT THE CITY REGARDING THE MIAMI BEACH CITY COMMISSION VOTES ON APRIL 15 CONCERNING THE PORTOFINO AGREEMENT AND THE VESTING OF PROPOSED CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, CERTAINLY MARKED THAT DATE AS —BLACK WEDNESDAY" FOR THE RESIDENTS OF MIAMI BEACH. THESE VOTES UNFORTUNATELY SENT A CLEAR MESSAGE THAT THE PRIVILEGES GRANTED TO DEVELOPERS ARE MORE IMPORTANT TO THE COMMISSION THAN THE LIVABILITY OF OUR CITY IS TO ITS RESIDENTS, AND ALSO SENT A CLEAR MESSAGE THAT CAMPAIGN RHETORIC WAS JUST CAMPAIGN RHETORIC. CONTROLLED AND REASONABLE DEVELOPMENT THAT RESPECTS OUR EXISTING NEIGHBORHOODS AND ALLOWS MAXIMUM SKY, LIGHT AND VIEWS TO BE ENJOYED BY EVERYONE IS OF THE UTMOST CONCERN IN MIAMI BEACH AS DENSITY INCREASES. THE VESTING OF A PROJECT IS TYPICALLY CONSIDERED AS BEING THE GRANTING OF A BUILDING PERMIT THROUGHOUT THE REST OF FLORIDA. YET WHY IS THE COMMISSION STILL GIVING SPECIAL RIGHTS TO THOSE WHO DEVELOP IN MIAMI BEACH, BY REQUIRING ONLY DESIGN REVIEW BOARD APPROVAL? IT IS INCREDIBLE THAT THE COMMISSION FAILED TO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTED TO THEM BY THE CITY ATTORNEY TO UNDO A NUMBER OF THE MOST POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE PROJECTS WHICH ARE CURRENTLY IN VARIOUS PRECONSTRUCTION STAGES. THE COMMISSION ALSO APPROVED ON BLACK WEDNESDAY THE NEW PORTOFINO SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT, WHICH ALLOWS A WALL OF 40-STORY BUILDINGS ALONG ALTON ROAD. IT TRULY SEEMS FOOLHARDY TO APPROVE THIS AGREEMENT WITHOUT CONSIDERING EXACTLY WHAT IS BEING APPROVED. THERE STILL ARE NO MASTER URBAN DESIGN PLANS FOR ALL OF THE SOUTH POINTE LANDS TO BE DEVELOPED. WHY? HOW CAN THE COMMISSION APPROVE AN AGREEMENT WITHOUT SEEING JUST WHAT THEY ARE APPROVING, AND WHY AREN'T ALTERNATE SITING AND MASSING STUDIES BEING CONSIDERED WHEN PLANNING THE MOST IMPORTANT LANDS IN THE CITY? IT IS UNFORTUNATE THAT THE MAJORITY OF OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS STILL DO NOT FULLY COMPREHEND THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THESE DECISIONS. PERHAPS IT'S TIME FOR MORE PUBLIC REFERENDUMS LIKE THE ONE WE HAD LAST JUNE REGARDING WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT, SO THAT WE, THE RESIDENTS, CAN ENSURE THAT OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TRULY REPRESENT THOSE THEY WERE ELECTED TO REPRESENT. ARTHUR MARCUS MIAMI BEACH GAY COLUMNS NEED TO BE PRINTED EDITOR: I AM A SUBSCRIBER TO THE MIAMI HERALD AND I AM WRITING A REPLY TO THE LETTER THAT WAS WRITTEN BY CARLOS M. PAZ OF WESTCHESTER [ NEWSPAPER SHOULD FIND GAY COLUMN ANOTHER HOME , APRIL 5] . MR. PAZ CLAIMS THAT HE IS GOING TO CANCEL HIS SUBSCRIPTION WITH YOU BECAUSE YOU PRINTED A COLUMN CONCERNING GAY LIFE. HE STATES HE IS DISGUSTED. IT DRIVES ME UP THE WALL TO KNOW THAT PEOPLE LIKE MR. PAZ EXIST IN OUR COMMUNITY. GAY COLUMNS NEED TO BE PRINTED IN SUCH PLACES TO HELP MAKE PEOPLE AWARE THAT THERE IS HELP. A BIG PERCENTAGE OF GAY YOUTHS HAVE COMMITTED OR HAVE AT LEAST THOUGHT ABOUT COMMITTING SUICIDE. THE ONLY REASON WE FEEL AND COMMIT SUCH ACTS IS BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE MR. PAZ . I MYSELF HAVE BEEN AFRAID OF COMING OUT AS GAY BECAUSE THE PRESSURE OF OTHER PEOPLE RIDICULING ME, INCLUDING MY OWN FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I FINALLY CAME OUT NOT LONG AGO, AND I AM HAPPY AS CAN BE. I WAS ABLE TO COME OUT BECAUSE I FOUND THE COLUMNS MR. PAZ IS TRYING TO GET RID OF. THESE COLUMNS IN THE NEWSPAPER ABOUT HELP GROUPS AND ACTIVITIES HELPED ME FIND PEOPLE LIKE ME. I WAS ABLE TO ATTEND SOME OF THE MEETINGS, WHERE I WAS COUNSELED AND WAS ABLE TO BUILD MY SELF-CONFIDENCE. AS A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, I JUST FEEL THAT EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE THE SAME RIGHTS AND NOT BE EXCLUDED, REGARDLESS OF RACE AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION. ALEX FERNANDEZ HIALEAH THOSE WHO TOOK SIGN ARE DESPICABLE ' EDITOR: I WANTED TO LET THE PEOPLE IN NORTH BAY VILLAGE KNOW THAT THE FIRST SIGN THAT WENT UP TO ANNOUNCE THE ELECTION FOR MAY 12 LASTED PERHAPS ONE DAY. IT DOES NOT TAKE A GENIUS TO KNOW WHO THE CULPRITS WERE. NOT ONLY WAS IT PUSHED DOWN, BUT IT WAS CARTED AWAY. THAT ACT ALONE SPEAKS VOLUMES ON WHY NORTH BAY VILLAGE NEEDS NEW LEADERSHIP. IT WAS A LARGE SIGN AND COST THE INDIVIDUALS WHO PAID FOR IT WITH THEIR PRECIOUS, HARD-EARNED MONEY. SINCE THEY ARE HONEST PEOPLE, THEY DON'T HAVE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS SLIPPING THEM MONEY ON THE SIDE, AND IT HURTS. TO THOSE WHO DID THIS DASTARDLY DEED, YOU ARE THIEVES IN THE NIGHT AND CAN'T BE TRUSTED. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN POLITICAL DEMISE. JACKIE VARONE NORTH BAY VILLAGE STUDENTS NEED MORE RECOGNITION EDITOR: ENCLOSED IS A COPY OF AN ARTICLE ON HONORING DADE PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS FROM ONE OF YOUR SOUTHWEST EDITIONS [ GROUPS TO HONOR PRIVATE-SCHOOL STUDENTS, APRIL 23] . IT INCLUDES SCHOOLS AND STUDENTS THAT WERE OMITTED FROM THE MIAMI BEACH EDITION. I HAPPEN TO BE AN ALUMNUS OF MIAMI CHRISTIAN SCHOOL AND KNOW THAT STUDENTS WHO ATTEND THAT SCHOOL COME FROM AS FAR SOUTH AS FLORIDA CITY AND HOMESTEAD, FROM AS FAR NORTH AS BROWARD COUNTY AND FROM AS FAR EAST AS MIAMI BEACH, NORTH BAY VILLAGE, SURFSIDE AND AS FAR WEST AS THE SEMINOLE INDIAN VILLAGES WEST OF KROME AVENUE. I AM SURE MANY OTHER SCHOOLS OMITTED FROM THE BEACH NEIGHBORS ARTICLE HAVE STUDENTS, FRIENDS, GRANDPARENTS AND ALUMNI WHO LIVE IN THE BEACHES AREA. PARENTS TRAVEL 30 MILES EACH WAY TWICE DAILY TO TAKE THEIR CHILDREN TO QUALITY PRIVATE SCHOOLS. THESE STUDENTS WORK HARD FOR THIS RECOGNITION AND WHEN SOME EDITOR DECIDES TO OMIT THEIR SCHOOL IT MEANS THEIR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS NEVER LEARN OF THEIR HARD EARNED HONORS. I KNOW SPACE IS A CONSIDERATION BUT WEEK AFTER WEEK YOU PUBLISH THE SAME TIRED OLD COLUMNS FULL OF LISTINGS OF CLASSES. MAKE THE PUBLICATION MORE INTERESTING WITH LESS REPETITION AND MORE INCLUSIVE OF NEWS HONORING OUR KIDS, SUCH AS THIS ARTICLE WHICH LEFT OUT NEWS PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF ON MIAMI BEACH WANTED TO HEAR ABOUT. DAVE MORRISON NORTH BAY VILLAGE BAND MENTIONED IS PROFESSIONAL EDITOR: REGARDING THE ARTICLE [ COMMUNITY GETS TO KNOW POLICE AT PICNIC ON BEACH , APRIL 23] , THE REPORTER MADE REFERENCE TO A "ROCK BAND MADE UP OF A FEW 16-YEAR OLDS NEVER STOPPED GRINDING OUT TUNES. " THE BAND IS A PROFESSIONAL GROUP CALLED SCOTT GRUDMAN AND THE WAY. THEY PLAYED A WIDE RANGE OF MUSIC FROM ROCK TO CONTEMPORARY JAZZ AND ARE CURRENTLY EMPLOYED BY THE TOWN OF GOLDEN BEACH TO PROVIDE QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT. THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN DESCRIBED ACCURATELY. SCOTT GRUDMAN GOLDEN BEACH TAG: 9805070233 49 of 397 , 20 Terms mh PUCK' S BAD BOY BUYS SOBE PAD FOR A LOTTA ICE 11/24/1997 THE MIAMI HERALD Copyright (c) 1997, The Miami Herald DATE: Monday, November 24 , 1997 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local PAGE: 1B LENGTH: 73 lines SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: JOAN FLEISCHMAN Herald Staff Writer MEMO: TALK OF OUR TOWN PUCK'S BAD BOY BUYS SOBE PAD FOR A LOTTA ICE South Beach' s latest celebrity resident: Sergei Fedorov , 27 , hotshot hockey holdout. Expect to see his nubile girlfriend, Anna Kournikova , 16, the tennis star. Fedorov bought a Portofino Tower penthouse -- for $2 .2 million: four levels, 6, 257 square feet, four bedrooms, 6-1/2 baths, exercise room, rooftop pool and sauna. It' s furnished "neoclassic European, " says interior designer Carole Korn : mahogany-paneled library, baby grand piano, teak porch furniture. Color scheme: blue and gold with burgundy accents. Plenty of room for Kournikova -- and, ahem, a chaperon. Both are from Russia and have been keeping company since she was 15. That' s three years under the age of consent in the United States. "We can only hope Sergei knows the difference between a babe and a baby, " writes Mitch Albom , Detroit Free Press sports columnist. In America, he says, she ' s " jailbait. " Fedorov played for the Detroit Red Wings, the ' 97 Stanley Cup winner. He made $4 .2 million -- and is holding out for $6 million. They're not paying. He ain't playing. Hockey, that is. Up in smoke Bad boy Thomas Kramer is in hot water -- again. Kramer, 40, developer of Portofino Tower, lit up a cigar in the tiny no-smoking Trattoria Sole restaurant in South Miami. Fists flew, glasses and dishes got smashed, tables overturned -- and the cops came. Kramer punched restaurant owner Maurizio Farinelli , the report says. Among Kramer' s dining companions: First Union honcho Carlos Migoya , Related Companies prez Jorge Perez , businessman Rolando Castro -- and their lady friends. Now, Farinelli wants $125, 000 to settle. Or he' ll sue, says his lawyer, Jonathan Colby . "Extortion, " says Kramer' s lawyer, Richard Sharpstein . His millionaire client, he says, "is a walking lottery ticket. Anybody who meets him tries to cash in. " Sharpstein insists Kramer is the victim. "These goons came piling out of the kitchen, pushed him down, rolled him on the floor and broke glasses on his head. They beat him up. " Migoya says he was at the other end of the table and "can't remember details. " And, " I didn't hang around to find out. " Castro, he says, paid the check. "We left as soon as we could. Pretty embarrassing. " Havana hideaway? Havana is the hip travel destination -- and investment opportunity -- for the New York and Hollywood party crowd, New York magazine reports in a spicy piece titled Club Red. No matter that most travel to Castro' s fiefdom is illegal, adventurous New Yorkers "are storming his beaches in droves, " the magazine says. Among the visitors: Jeffrey Zucker , Today show exec producer; John F. Kennedy Jr. and actor Matt Dillon . Some folks come for cigars. Some for sex: "In the Nineties, a significant number of Cuban women decided to adopt Lycra as their national fabric and male tourists as their national pastime. " Others want an entrepreneurial jump on the Cuban economy when Fidel is no more. The piece quotes an American gent who bought a crumbling 15-room mansion for $45,000 in the Miramar district of Havana for his Cuban girlfriend. "Sure it' s a risk investing in property in a socialist system, but we 're not talking about Vietnam or Romania. We 're 90 miles from Key West here; it ' s like buying prime real estate in South Beach at 10 cents on the dollar. " Amazing grace? Janet Reno as you've NEVER seen her before! " shrieked a tabloid headline -- with a fake swimsuit-clad photo. In a survey of 12,500 Japanese men, Reno, 59, won first place as the woman they'd most like to be shipwrecked with on a deserted island. At her weekly news conference, the general giggled. "Just amazing, " she said. TAG: 9711250270 62 of 397 , 5 Terms Transfer complete. 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