City Completes Preliminary Review Of Fairholme Gallery

Bruce Berkowitz is finally getting a response from Miami’s planning department.

This week, planners completed an initial review of Berkowitz’s proposal to build an unusual office building for his Fairholme fund on Biscayne Boulevard, along with a gallery displaying sculptures and other artwork. TNM first broke news of the story last September, but Fairholme originally submitted the plans about a year ago.

Assistant planning director Luciana Gonzalez told TNM that they provided comments on the project this week. Officials didn’t make a ‘decision per se,’ she said, but completed a ‘dry run.’

The Fairholme building, which is proposed to include two massive sculptures by Richard Serra and James Turrell, has been stuck in limbo thanks to the Miami 21 zoning code.

Last October, the city’s planning director said that he was considering ways to reconcile elements of the proposal, including the raised plaza, with the code. Buildings in the area are required by Miami 21 to have their entrance come directly to the sidewalk, with uniform windows and entrances.

Berkowitz told Andres Viglucci last week that the department remained unsure about the plan and had stopped communicating with his team. He said he would sell the land and cancel the project, although he remained open to changing his mind.

***** *****
Story by: TNM Staff on July 2, 2015
Photo Courtesy: The Next Miami

Link to original story