2012-0119 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes: Regular City Commission Meeting January 19,2012 City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida than the same that we already have. He also asked if the metal sheeting is similar to the Heritage Park garage, and Mr. Castifieira said no, at Heritage Park it is a flat metal punctured panel system, and this one is more of a weave pattern that is smaller punctured, it gives it a whole new dynamic but the point is well taken regarding the statues, each park has to have some of those amenities. Joe Milton said that we have located a main sculpture element at the east side of the park, and we can expand on that. Commissioner Scholl said that Mr. Castifieira is very talented and we appreciate the effort. When he heard that Joe Milton was going to come before us and that the potential restaurant fell apart, he thought of getting Annette Klein O'Brady to see what she could come up with, and ironically that is who Joe Milton went to. As a retail broker she is one of the more reliable sources of attracting that type of tenant. We should appreciate her credibility because she gets paid by getting a tenant in here, and if she can get a tenant she would have told Joe exactly what to do to attract that tenant. He is sad that the restaurant is not developing but he was glad to hear ofthe quality of the resource that Joe went to in order to try to attract a tenant. He feels that we want a national tenant or nothing. The site is too critical that we don't want to speculate and that was his credibility to the aquarium, he just didn't feel we had the economics there to support it. He feels we forget about the density sometimes that we have in this City, and from his perspective you can't have enough green space. He would walk to or ride his bike to this park, he won't do that to the other parks, and he lives on Atlantic Island which is a little south. He is excited about the Intracoastal Park but it is not a park like this one. He is not going to play Frisbee in the Intracoastal Park with his kids it is going to end up in the water. He thinks that the design is innovative, he likes the plaza, he likes the feature that you can come in out of the rain, he likes the area next to the parking garage where you can watch your kids, and it is not overburden with play equipment. He thinks the ripple effect is very creative, and he likes the way the Architect picked up the symbolism with the ocean. The point that he would like to make is that if we are not going to attract a high quality tenant, he doesn't think we should build the building there. Mr. Castifieira said his theory is, and he has spoken to staff, there is a 30,000 square foot roadway, it is going to have a foundation, it is going to have columns, and it is going to have a structure supporting the garage. It can very easily be brought up, the structural foundation can be designed to accommodate a future restaurant, gym, or anything that you want to do. You have a 30,000 square foot plan that you can build on. He thinks that is something that is definitely an advantageous element to take into account now because the cost of breaking up that structure to allow for future construction will be a fraction of what it would cost, the piles, the elevation, etc., and so that is really something for you to consider. Commissioner Scholl said then that you are saying to beefup the infrastructure ofthe garage when you are building it to accommodate a structure on top of it. In the future in the event that the economy improves or you get a tenant that, when the park is built and they see the foot traffic in the park, that it will attract tenants. Mr. Castifieira said to keep in mind that the garage is being designed as what they call state construction, in other words it is not precast and so it would work with the addition on top, and you will get incredible views. One of the hurdles mentioned was that they would like the parking and facility combined, they don't want people to have to walk across the park to go to the restaurant. Commissioner Scholl said they can put valet at the bottom of the garage and use the elevators. 6