Mayor Kevin Burns defended the financially strapped Biscayne Landing Development (Munisport) as the cure all for what ails North Miami. He said switching gears from condo's to retail would fix it. Biscayne Times reported that Burns said:“It’s not going to be a mall. It’s going to be living streets within the community, more along the lines of a Las Olas or Main Street in Miami Lakes.”
I don't have a beef with Kevin, but hey, Mayor Burns watch what you say. Have you been to Miami Lakes Main Street lately? I have been there frequently over the years. Little by little I watched it die. It is now overrun with empty stores. It has one decent anchor: Victoria's Secret. Most of the other stores are closed at night or the windows have brown paper on them. The street is popular with teens but that is about it. The Miami Lakes Main Street appears to be a failure...for now.
I think banks are throwing good money after bad with this retail conversion at Biscayne Landing. I say, sit on it and let the dust settle. You need a reality check with this one! Retail is not an easy business. The other Riverfront Development in Ft. Launderdale that Boca Developers owns, was also Main Street-Like. It died. Look at the Bakery Center in South Miami. Retail could kill the goose.
P.S. Have the developers cleaned this former superfund site yet?
P.S.S. What is with the money for MOCA from Boca Developers? The company is in deep financial straits and you think they can really come up with 8 million for the museum expansion? If they have an extra pot of money laying around let them use it to clean the site of contaminants.
4 comments:
Last time I went to Main Street (February) there weren't much empty storefronts that caught my eye. There were lots of good restaurants and mostly small mom and pop buisnesses which I think is great. But its true as soon as the sun settles Hialeah's youth invade its tree lined streets.
I would really like to eat and hang out at a place that smells like raw sewage from the treatment plant next door
I was there in January, February, March and in May. I spend a lot of time there. Towards Shula's end, the stores are empty. At night the stores you did mention are mostly closed and I am talking about 7:30 on a Friday Night. Not good. Hardly a bustling street-life. You can't build street life on a couple of restaurants and an ice cream shop on the Southern end. There is no where to walk to when you leave the eating establishment except another eating establishment or Victorias.
The city of North Miami is a disaster and Biscayne Landing is no different. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig and until there is a hardline drawn on code enforcement and policing, North Miami will continue to be a trash blown, lawless free for all that it is today. City Manager, Director of Code Enforcement, Director of Maintenance should all be booted out. The police should be told to look past the color or ethnicity of anyone holiding a license to do business here and focus on the law instead of "community relations". Oh the things I have seen here..
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