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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExhibit 2SASAKI COCONUT GROVE WATERFRONT MASTER PLAN CONCEPT The Waterfront Master Plan builds on the history of Coconut Grove while incorporating community input to create a world class destination for residents and visitors alike. Miami's City Hall, the Coconut Grove Village Center, and the historic site plan of the original Pan Am Seaplane Terminal grounds provided inspiration for the design of the 35-acre waterfront park. Balancing input from the leisure and commercial boating as well as the non -boating communities, the waterfront master plan physically and visually reconnects the Village Center and neighborhoods to Biscayne Bay; transforms surface parking lots into parkland; reorganizes the Dinner Key Marina area into a concentrated working waterfront for recreation, education, and live-aboards; and enhances the amenities and operations of Dinner Key Marina, the United States Olympic Sailing Center, and the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. The plan features a continuous waterfront promenade interspersed with plazas, piers, and water -related services. A new center for community and cultural uses frames both the historic Pan Am Drive and Regatta Park, designed to accommodate passive and active recreation. A public pier just north of City Hall provides a point of interaction between the community and the working waterfront, while water taxi service provides access to the improved Dinner Key Islands. Public process Public input was a critical element throughout the master planning process. With over 40 community engagements over a three year span, the master plan team met with residents, businesses, hoteliers, activity organizers, sailing dubs, live-aboards, councils, city staff and regulatory agencies. The types of engagements ranged from walking and boat tours to public presentations, open houses, and one-on-one meetings. The public was able to provide feedback in multiple ways — during public presentations, by filling out comment cards, and by emailing via a dedicated website. The plan evolved over time to ensure that various uses and access from both the water and land sides are as balanced as possible. COCONUT GROVE WATERFRONT MASTER PLAN Waterfront Park The waterfront park extends from Peacock Park to the location of the Expo Center (demolished) and contains a multitude of landscapes including playfields, a baywaik promenade, fountains, and tropical and ecological gardens that create more cohesive and vibrant public spaces. This area is free of permanent buildings and allows the community to come together at the water's edge. Kennedy Park is maintained as a passive recreation park with enhanced boardwalks that allow the public more access to the waterfront. Maritime Activities The eastern edge of the waterfront park is flanked by a series of buildings. On the water is a complex of buildings built specifically for the United States Olympic Sailing Center and the Coconut Grove Sailing Club, which includes the University of Miami Sailing Program. Collectively, this complex will be known as the "Coconut Grove Sailing Center." The provision of dedicated docks and ample space for storage, lay -down and gatherings turn this community asset into a world -class sailing facility. Sasaki Associates Inc 164 Pleasant Street Watertown MA o2472 USA t 617 926 330o f 617 924 2748 w www.sasaki.com 11 July 2008 ( 2 With additional duties to oversee the new mooring field, the Dockmaster building is enhanced in its current location and an additional building is built for storage and operations. A swimming pool is built as an educational and recreational amenity for the marina, mooring field members, and Sailing Center. All of these facilities are accessed by formal drop off areas and adjacent parking as well as additional parking at a nearby public garage. The commercial fleet will be relocated to the Public Pier on the east side of City Hall which tends to be a more motorized area. By locating many of the sailing activities at the southem end of the waterfront area, the opportunity for conflict between motorboats and sailboats and pleasure craft and educational boats is minimized. In addition, by concentrating sailing in this area, the impacts to the bay bottom and marine habitat are minimized throughout Sailboat Bay. Inner and outer mooring fields are being formally established by the State and a breakwater is proposed to protect the investment in the Coconut Grove waterfront. Civic Core A new Cultural and Community Center both anchors Regatta Park and frames Pan American Drive, leading to the historic City Hall. A parking garage wrapped with community -serving retail uses lines the northern side of Pan American Drive. A moderate amount of new street -level retail space in this location is intended to enhance revenues for the City. The historic circle in front of City Hall is redesigned to provide a grand ceremonial entrance to City Hall. By removing parking from the entry way and transforming the paving from asphalt to a multifunctional porous surface, City Hall Plaza will now be suitable for both parking and formal gatherings. A new public pier will be built extending from the area currently occupied by the Chart House Restaurant. The pier will become the new home for the shrimp boats as well as charter excursion boats. With a direct link through the park from Center Grove, this pier will be a destination for residents and visitors by strengthening linkages to the water and provide outstanding views of downtown Miami and the Bay. Scotty's Landing Restaurant remains in its current location to continue serving as a staple on the waterfront. The Chart House Restaurant will be redesigned to take better advantage of its location and maximize views by providing outdoor dining near the public pier. CIRCULATION AND PARKING South Bayshore Drive, north of Aviation, is redesigned to accommodate a multiuse path on the south side creating a safer connection for pedestrians. By tightening up the two existing driving lanes, twenty eight feet is given over to park land for a generous sidewalk that can accommodate both the Commodore Bike Trail and pedestrians wishing to connect between the Waterfront Park and Kennedy Park. Similarly, south of Aviation, the multi -use path continues along the edge of the park. Non -peak parallel parking is permitted on the south side of South Bayshore Drive to accommodate parking for the Waterfront Park. Along the south side (north bound traffic) of McFarlane Road, one of the two travel lanes is removed to make way for a more generous sidewalk connection between the Center Grove and 11 July 2008 13 the waterfront. Main Highway, which turns into McFarlane Road, is one lane in the north bound direction. McFarlane Road will continue this precedent, as well as have one lane for parking. The Commodore Bike Trail will have a dedicated bike path along the south side of South Bayshore Drive. At McFarlane Plaza, the Bike Trail is diverted through Peacock Park and down the alleyway behind St. Stephen's. This diversion allows the bikers to bypass the already congested intersection at Main, McFarlane, and Grand Avenue and connect instead, directly with the bike lane on Main Highway. The Dinner Key Marina lot is maintained but reconfigured to accommodate drop-off and parking for the Sailing Center and the Sailing Club. The Dinner Key Marina continues to have 312 parking spaces, which include 60 spaces behind City Hall and 252 spaces in the larger surface lot, with reserved spaces closest to the Marina. The USOSC will have 40 spaces, doubling the current number of space they have, and the CGSC will have 40 spaces, consistent with the number of space they currently have. Overflow parking and parking for the mooring fields and the Cultural and Community Center is accommodated with a new parking garage along Pan Am Drive. EVENTS The new Waterfront Park is especially well suited for special events. Shakespeare in the Park will continue to use the area at Peacock Park, while another amphitheater will also be available in Regatta Park. Festivals, such as the Art Fair and Taste of the Grove, will be able to take advantage of the many multiuse paths and piers throughout the park. During the regatta season, a downsized boat ramp in its current location allows launching of race boats to continue. Controlled access to the boat ramp is available through the Mary Street Pier as well as from the Sailing Center. The USOSC will continue to have use of its former building in Kennedy Park during regattas. There will be ample dedicated lay -down and event space in the park and on the plazas. The Cultural/Community Center can serve as the event headquarters, while Regatta Plaza or the formal courtyard space between the two sailing centers can be used -for more formal celebrations and-award_ceremonies MARKET ANALYSIS A market analysis was prepared to understand opportunities to enhance other revenue - generating potentials along the waterfront. Importantly, the market analysis was framed by the overarching concerns of both community residents and Center Grove businesses that any replacement or additional commercial uses on the waterfront not compete with retailers or restaurateurs in the Center Grove commercial district. However, spending potentials represented by local Grove residents (7,900 households in the eight neighborhoods that comprise the Grove) and the Grove's existing office inventory (830,000 sq. ft. and 4,300 employees) are not sufficient to carry (support) the 500,000 sq. ft of retail space that exists in the Center Grove today. Moreover, the Grove faces significant regional competition from many locations ranging from South Beach to South Miami, which has emerged as a viable regional draw with a number of national retailers. In combination, these issues —and the results of the market analysis —suggest careful consideration of a merchandising and tenant recruitment 11 July 2003 4 strategy. Notably, these concerns are paramount to the Business Improvement Committee in Center Grove. The market analysis suggests potential support for roughly 4,200 sq. ft. to 6,700 sq. ft. of food service uses on the Coconut Grove waterfront over the next five years. Notably, this does not necessarily mean net new space, as those tenant(s) that are reported to be underperforming could vacate the waterfront at any time. This space could be located on a portion of existing footprints, or in other identified locations such as a cafe that could share ground -level space in the Community and Cultural Center or in the liner retail of a new parking garage on Pan American Drive. One way to strengthen the Center Grove retail district is to expand the number of daytime office employees. Currently, the Grove contains about 830,000 sq. ft. of speculative/multi-tenant office space and 4,200 office employees. This `captive" market seeks daytime dining options (lunch) as well as convenience and service -related retail items. The high quality -of -life of the Grove is attractive to professional and service -related office tenants. The market analysis suggests that additional office space in key locations of the Grove would be supportable. As a result of recent and forecast job growth —particularly in office -using sectors- 100,000 sq. ft. of multi -tenant office space could be supported in Coconut Grove over the next five years (from our 2006 base year), presuming the availability of development sites. This could add 500 or more new daytime office employees to the Grove, thus enhancing market support for general retail and restaurants. Potential development sites include the surface parking lot(s) at Mary and Oak Streets. Hotel market conditions among Coconut Grove's nine lodging facilities (containing 1,270 rooms), while solid, are not sufficiently strong to support additional hotel development. Interviews with the Grove's hoteliers resoundingly indicated that the Grove's relative distance from major demand generators•such as Miami Beach Convention Center hurts overall occupancy levels, and they support construction of a multi -purpose, high -quality conference or meeting facility somewhere in the Grove to enhance overall performance levels. In considering such a concept, detailed.market and financial feasibility studies will be required. PHASING STRATEGY Community needs, market opportunities and constraints, and fundamental economic considerations will vary over time, and therefore affect phasing and project completion of specific elements identified in the plan. While maintaining the overall plan framework, many components of this phasing strategy are flexible and allow for priorities to change, thus altering the order of this strategy. PHASE 1 • Demolish the Expo Center, create temporary parking for the Dinner Key Marina during construction • Build the Public Pier and restaurant, relocate the shrimpers and charters to the Public Pier • Make South Bayshore Drive improvements, north of Aviation • Build the parking garage with wrapped retail and make associated Pan Am Drive improvements 1 1 July 2OO8 ( 5 PHASE 2 • Expand the Dockmaster Facility, redesign the Dinner Key Marina Parking, and build the Coconut Grove Sailing Center (CGSC and USOSC) • Design and build Regatta Park • Make improvements to the City Hall landscape and City Hall Plaza PHASE 3 • Design and build Myers Park improvements • Make improvements to McFarlane Road • Institute Lower Peacock Park improvements • Make improvements to South Bayshore Drive, south of Aviation PHASE 4 • Upper Peacock Park improvements • Kennedy Park improvements SITE A — Cultural Center (driven by market) • . City issues_RFP