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NEW RESTRICTIONS TAKING EFFECT IxCF4JHow beach high-rises compare
�, LL''. The oceanfront buildings
inMi tower ndicted
_ � oceanfront buildings Miami Beach and in South Florida.Here are
{_ some of the area's loftiest condominiums and the Akoya s location.
Ail
r . , - O on fraud
The Akoya ; _ \L �A 1�s j,
-...„ i k . charges
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pressured to deal
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BBsteries(860feet) L405Tt i
BY DEVLIN BARRETT
- 'n . '1- `, Associated Press
NEW YORK — Prosecutors
. indicted two WorldCom executives
" ; ' =} Wednesday and signaled that three
t f 1 . - 297ft•- others would plead guilty and cooper-
. Fort Lauderdale IImib - I .i [ ate with investigators,giving momen-
Current-30 stories(300 feet) E 1 tt , I i `240 ft. 1 turn to the criminal probe of the
3 ( f N. nation's largest accounting scandal.
Miami Beach building height limit: I j -; J ss t ` A seven-count indictment filed in
20stories(200feet). 1 - i j f-- i ' J federal court in Manhattan charges
It. I that Scott Sullivan,
a $ j i
Fl
40,the Firm's for- _ _ -
F f I I mer chief financial
A - I .- ! I Al officer,oversaw a
con-
Akoya Blue and Green Trump Proposed The Palms' spiracy to hide - '
Note:Stories are measured as to feet tall,and 48 stories Diamond towers Grande Fort approximately - operating
heights do not include architectural decorations 56 stories 55 stories Lauderdale 34 stories - `
t the top of buildings. - expenses to boost 3.,
Actual number of stories In above buildings may limit:24 stories -
be different due to design variations. 'Fort Lauderdale restriction only applies to livable space,which tops off at earnings reports.
Tim alms, The charges ,:
30 stories at
SOURCE:Developers,planning departments. - against Sullivan, SULLIVAN
MBZ082902 M.RUIZ/HERALD STAFF who is building a
multimillion-dollar mansion in Boca
Raton,were filed after an apparent .
breakdown in plea negotiations
Last of the super towers between
papers,prosecutors
p
Y.�yo ,�peca e n LTy
- - ..,,..5.----�----_ -- and provide information about their
BY DOUGLAS HANKS III former bosses.
dhanks@aherald.com `Greed was really the thing that caused Their expected cooperation
increases the pressure on Sullivan to
When construction starts on all this high-intensity development _ strike a deal with investigators and
the 50-story Akoya building,it tell what he knows about his boss,for- T''F.
will signal the beginning of the along the Beach.' mer Chief Executive Bernard Ebbers.
end for a popular and reviled Lawyers for Ebbers,who was not '
standard of modern Miami -MIAMI BEACH MAYOR DAVID DERMER mentioned in the indictment,have
Beach architecture:the soaring ' said he had no knowledge of the
condo tower. accounting decisions in question.
Once as dependable as the - "We will prosecute the CFOs and
winter migration of tourists to mond to match its erstwhile sis- that caused all this high-inten- controllers who give the orders from
the resort city,towering condo- ter projects,the twin Blue and sity development along the the top to commit white-collar
miniums and the shadows they Green Diamond towers,whose Beach,"he said."We basically crimes,"U.S.Attorney James Comey
cast prompted a political back- soaring heights helped prompt drew the line at the waterfront," said in a statement."But we will also
lash five years ago,culminating the short-building movement in Though the rules Dermer prosecute corporate officials at all Lev-
in a 1998 law capping beachside the first place. pushed are four years old,devel-
towers at 200 feet tall.Develop- "When these projects went opers are only now winding 1 PLEASE SEE WORLDCOM,4C
ers scrambled to get their pro- up,"said city planning director down on the permits issued
jects approved before the new Jorge Gomez,"I think people under the old regulations,city
20-story rule took effect,and began to realize how out of char- officials said.
now the last of those grandfa- acter that new construction The Murano Grande will 1
thered buildings are poised to was." launch sales this fall for a 40- Tourists SLOW
come out of the ground. Mayor David Dermer won his story tower on Biscayne Bay,
Of the half-dozen projects first City Commission election and the Continuum at the tip of
approved under Miami Beach's in 1997 after leading a citizens South Beach plans to start con- to book rooms 11S
old height allowances, the campaign to rein in building struction on its 39-story second ,
Akoya is slated to go first.It heights.
used to be called the White Dia- "Greed was really the thing 1 PLEASE SEE AKOYA,4C in Broward
Developers windingdown on permits for high-rise condos.. -
.
a
s
to
tions.The debates typically pit high-rises at 24 stories as it The Trump Grande is part ject headed for bankruptcy and Akoya udes die ectl r Carlos
los
IAKOYA, MOM IC veteran residents against considers permanentlyelimi- of the crop of soaring high--needed cash. y
tower next summer.The Caril developers eager to sell gleam- noting the current 30-story riseseunderway intSunn Isle( finansles cial Construction
delays
thee tallest building on the Beach."
Ion has permission for a 30- ing new buildings — and allowance. - Yes and no.
. story tower in North Beach unsurpassed views—to new "I think it's.ridiculous. I strip that spurred a building projects for about five years,. The Blue and Green Dia-
', and will begin demolition buyers. don't think it helps anybody to boom by lifting height caps to leaving the White Diamond mond towers stand taller by
work on the site next month. "They don't fit in this have a shorter building,"said 550 feet,the equivalent of 55 site idle and the Blue and about 50 feet,but only because
AGreen Diamond.struggling to of the pyramid-style finials
Miami
[Be last generations of .to unc Bay Peter
r Islands- Gil Dezer,developer of tan stories, p P atop the structures.
MiamiBeach high-rises begin Councilman LynchPeter. said new Trump Grande Ocean "The reason people buy- wrapupand sell its units.But
climbing toward their skyline'.of tall buildings.Heis leading Resort,a condominium and-ing condos instead of houses is the stretched timetable also ..But.the Akoya sales staff
perches,:the issue of building the. push for a ballot initiative hotel complex slated to stand the view of the ocean,"Dezer m t Whte Diamond appled focuses thetop-floor
heights continues.to roil South that. would cap heights at" taller than any beachfront said. zoningapproval whichusareo15h feetohigher units,
Florida's oceanfront politics seven stories in the coastal vil- building on the East Coast. Akoya is touting its height "before the fight over height penthouses in the Blue and.
and economics. lige,instead of the 15-story "What happens is the mass of as a major selling point for the restrictions,leaving it free.to• e
Fort Lauderdale is moving- buildings that have riled res(- the building:gets wider,it coy- 63rd Street site,which devel-, build under the. old allow- Green n towers.
wers.saytallest,"Cal
toward a clampdown,and vat-, dents there. ers the entire lot,and it gives..oper MerCo Group bought for ances. you
ers will decide height-limit Farther north,Fort Lauder- you that concrete-canyon feel- $26.5 million last year as the , '"We feel it's going to be a atayud said,"it translates to us-
questions in several local elee- dale has temporarily capped ing everyone's talking about:": Blue and Green Diamond pro- signature building," said as the most beautiful views."