Miami-Dade school district explores Brickell location, Design District partnership

Miami-Dade County Public Schools could partner with private developers for expansions in two of Miami’s most high-profile neighborhoods, Brickell and the Design District.

The school board last week approved the initiatives – for a new school inside a Brickell condominium tower and the redevelopment of the Design and Architecture Senior High (DASH) campus – and are in the works with its staff.

The school board could build a primary learning center for K-3 students on the ground floor of a condo building, said Jaime Torrens, chief facilities officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The learning centers would be managed by existing schools in the area, he said.

As the population booms from new condos, finding adequate schools has been an issue in the Brickell area and downtown Miami.

Torrens said another option is to expand South Side Elementary near Brickell to accommodate students through eighth grade.

“We are repopulating areas that were lightly populated,” Torrens said. “Before, people bought properties that were investments and didn’t live in them full time.”

To pay for the potential new school, the school board wants to tap into all that new development. Normally when a developer wants to acquired the right to build more units on a site, it purchases transfer of development rights from another landowner on the private market. The seller must agree not to build the number of units it sold. The school board has proposed that the developer instead make a contribution of a similar amount to Miami-Dade County Public Schools so it can develop an education center.

“That is a way to monetize something that would otherwise be a private transaction,” Torrens said.

Such an arrangement would require approval from city officials, and Torrens hopes to get the plan on the city agenda.

In the Design District, Torrens said the school board wants to capitalize on the rising property values to obtain funds to redevelop DASH. It’s staff is working on a request for proposals to sell part of the DASH campus to a developer and construct a modern, more vertical campus. The commercial development would probably by on Northeast Second Avenue, a main street in the Design District.

“We would rebuild the school and hopefully have money surplus for other needs,” Torrens said. “Right now, there’s a courtyard on the ground level that’s underutilized. The biggest challenge is parking. We could convert it to a vertical building with integrated parking, either above ground or below grade. That would be a big improvement.”

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Story by: Brian Bandell – Apr 21, 2015, 12:54pm EDT
Photo Courtesy: Jock Fistick
Photo Description: Miami-Dade County Public Schools could put a school inside a condominium building in the Brickell area of downtown Miami.

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