The design of Miami-Dade’s planned new Civil Courthouse tower has been submitted to the county for Administrative Site Plan Review.
The plans were first submitted in October, but revised versions were submitted last month. It remains unapproved.
Some of the waivers that developer Plenary is requesting include:
- Glazing – Normally, county code requires a minimum 40% of a facade to be glazed. The developer is requesting an exemption for the west facade since it faces the Metrorail (county code allows for glazing minimum waivers for a facade facing the Metrorail). The developers want just 20% glazing on the west facade, meaning the 482-foot tower will look mostly blank from the west.
- Blank walls facing public street rights-of-way -The developers want a waiver to build blank stucco walls along Flagler Street and Northwest First Avenue. The blank walls are needed to build a judge’s garage, FPL vault, and fire pump room.
- Reduction of tree number: Code normally requires a minimum of 10 trees and 19 palms to be planted on a lot of this size. The developers are requesting a reduction to 3 trees and 13 palms, for reasons that are not explained.
- Reduction of parking space number: A minimum of 323 parking spaces would normally be required for a building of this size. The developer is proposing to build 57, since there are thought to be enough spaces already existing in nearby county garages.
HOK is the architect.
