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Miami Beach / South Beach / 1940 Park Ave.

Barclay Plaza Redevelopment Clears First Reading, 7–0

The city-owned building, vacant for more than ten years, would become a 105-unit residential building that includes elderly affordable units.

The former Barclay Plaza Hotel at 1940 Park Ave., Nov. 2024
The former Barclay Plaza Hotel at 1940 Park Ave., Nov. 2024. Photo: P. Hughes, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (existing building, not a rendering)

105 units0.70 acreUp to 99-yr lease7–0 voteFinal hearing Nov. 18

What's proposed. 1940 Barclay Partners LLC, picked through a city request for proposals, plans a new 105-unit multifamily building with elderly affordable units. The Comprehensive Plan change moves the 0.70-acre site from RM-2 to Public Facility (PF). It allows market-rate units and up to 150 units per acre plus a 30-unit-per-acre bonus on city lots in a new Museum Historic District Residential Overlay. [Staff memo, R5 AE, pp. 1–3]

Background in the file. The city bought the 1935 Kiehnel & Elliott building in 2014, and an arson in 2015 damaged it. Two earlier requests for proposals failed. The Planning Board recommended the change 5–0 on July 7 and suggested raising the share of units capped at 160% of area median income from 10% to 15%. [Memo pp. 2–4]

The lease. The clerk read the companion item, R7 E, into the record: a ground lease of up to 99 years, made up of a 51-year initial term and two 24-year renewals, with a one-time $2 million payment due on possession. [2:24:36]

Public comment and vote. The clerk said no one on Zoom or in the room asked to speak. R5 AF, R5 AE and R7 E passed 7–0, with final hearings set for Nov. 18. [2:29:12 · 2:29:23]

What the concept plan shows

The concept plan in the lease item (R7 E) comes from 1940 Barclay Partners LLC, an affiliate of The Peebles Corporation, with Brooks Scarpa Huber as architect and landscape architect. Its concept views show a mid-rise residential building seen from Washington Avenue, with street-level retail and a pool deck. These are concept drawings attached to the lease, not a design approved by a city board; the project would still go through design or historic review.

Gallery: renderings, plans and maps from the filings

Concept views: Washington Avenue aerial views, retail and pool-deck perspectives.
Rendering Concept views: Washington Avenue aerial views, retail and pool-deck perspectives. Rendering: Brooks Scarpa Huber for The Peebles Corporation, via City of Miami Beach filings
Concept elevation of the new residential building.
Rendering Concept elevation of the new residential building. Rendering: Brooks Scarpa Huber for The Peebles Corporation, via City of Miami Beach filings
Site context near Collins Park and the convention center.
Plan Site context near Collins Park and the convention center. Plan: Brooks Scarpa Huber for The Peebles Corporation, via City of Miami Beach filings

Reported from the Oct. 14, 2026 City Commission meeting. Agenda · Meeting video