Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal Resume - LetterFLORIDA EAST COAST REALTY, INC. POST OFFICE Box 012949 • MIAMI, FLORIDA 33101 TEL: (305) 358-7710 • FAX: (305) 358-1619 July 26, 2007 The Honorable Manny Diaz, Mayor The Honorable Angel Gonzalez, Commissioner The Honorable Tomas Regalado, Commissioner The Honorable Joe Sanchez, Commissioner The Honorable Michelle Spence Jones, Commissioner The Honorable Mark Sarnoff, Commissioner Esteemed Mayor and Commissioners: 31iEAflTED LNTO THE BL C RECORD FOR TEMpzii ON7--o9 Your dedication to and caring for our city is exemplary and we see the results of your efforts in how the City of Miami is prospering and meeting the challenges of the future. Although it has always been my privilege to come before your honorable board with our concepts and projects, it is now with great regret that I am unable to be here today since, for quite some time, I have had major surgery scheduled for this week. Miami, through the efforts of fine architects and with the help of good developers, has a great number of very beautiful edifices but we do not have one very important element that most global cities have and that is a signature building. New York has the Empire State Building, Chicago has the Sears Tower and San Francisco is well represented by the Golden Gate yet, we do not have such a landmark in Miami. I have labored here for over fifty years and have raised my family here. Now, as a legacy, I would like to give back to Miami by producing a signature building that will represent our city globally. It is a hard and arduous undertaking and one that calls to task anybody's financial capacity, yet we all feel Miami deserves it and I am ready to pursue its challenge. We have designed the building, not only as a sculpture -like edifice reigning over the Miami skyline but one that will be endowed with all the technical advances of today and the tomorrow, as well. We have made sure that all building systems are state -of -the art and that our parking and traffic systems work well, not only within the building envelope but also with the surrounding streets, creating the least possible impact. To do all this, we have to look into the future because, after all, we first assemble a consulting team, the architects and engineers begin to put together the final drawings, the City of Miami Building Department must have time to review 8,000 sheets of building drawings and then we build the edifice. This will put us on stream in 2015, some eight years from now. �- 00535- mu - - Lziteve ONE BAYFRONT PLAZA • 100 SOUTH BISCAYNE BOULEVARD, SUITE 900, MIAMI, FLORIDA 33131 By that time, we expect to have 25,000 residents in a downtown that will be throbbing 24-7. Half of these people will live within walking distance of our building and the other half, an easy People Mover ride away, with the main downtown People Mover station right under our building. We expect at least 60% of the working population of our office building, retail component and hotel to be comprised of residents of neighboring downtown buildings. We have, however, still provided the number of parking spaces that would normally be required by today's standards for such a building. Normally, downtown buildings provide one entrance and one exit to the parking garage and have an open loading dock to the street for garbage and deliveries. That was the eyesore of the downtown of yesterday. In recognition of this, instead of having one garage entrance and exit, we have provided four entrances and exits, from two different streets and to absorb any stacking effect, we have a great amount of storage within the building to accommodate cars as they enter our property. Of course, we are using the most advanced state-of-the-art card entry system that works similarly to the Sun Pass. Instead of trying to swipe a card with your left hand hanging out of your car, you just drive through with your magnetic emblem. This would eliminate an average of thirty-seven seconds per vehicle entry. Instead of a gaping loading dock fronting on the street, we have created a loading court within the building to get rid of the unsightliness and odor such areas cause. We also realize that the downtown of 2015 will generally have far fewer vehicular trips to and from the building than was the case yesterday or today, due largely to the influx of the residential population. Each resident would eliminate at least two trips in and out of downtown buildings daily. Your time is too valuable for me to enumerate all the futuristic amenities with which the building will be endowed. I just wanted to point out some of the improvements we are employing to meet the challenges of tomorrow and heed the mandate to create a "green" building with all appropriate appurtences. We have worked closely and diligently with City Staff on most of these items to ensure that the traffic pattern will have minimum impact on neighboring buildings. Besides the four multiple -lane access points we provided on two different streets as our entrances and exits, we have created extra wide interior drop-off lanes. In addition, there will be a fifth drop point on a third street on the third side of the building. This was designed to take separate care of the hotel entrance. In this regard, we hereby thank the City staff for their traffic sufficiency study and recommendations. We are all very grateful to you for your consideration in this matter and we respectfully request that you grant us approval on this most worthwhile addition to our downtown. Most sj. erely, Tibor Hollo s QED itTO 11 LC RECORD,Pz it ON 7-2/o' O1 FLORIDA EAST COAST REALTY, INC.