Miami Beach board approves plan to retain original garage while allowing new house at 1800 Michigan Ave.

The City of Miami Beach Historic Preservation Board on Sept. 16 approved a certificate of appropriateness permitting the demolition of most of the house at 1800 Michigan Ave. while preserving the property’s original garage, and granted related waivers and variances tied to that retention.

Board staff recommended approval after the applicant revised earlier plans to keep and restore the garage. Staff noted the project would introduce a one‑story loggia and raised terrace and said the revisions “helped to reinforce the historic massing of the existing home and will result in a project that achieves a greater level of compatibility” with the surrounding Palm View historic district.

The change matters because keeping the garage creates code complications: the retained garage does not meet exclusion criteria for lot‑coverage calculations and forces the project to seek a waiver for a nonconforming rear setback plus two variances. Staff recommended, and the board approved, a waiver to retain the existing nonconforming rear setback, a variance to exceed the maximum lot coverage (staff said the project would need 36.1% where 30% is the limit) and a variance to reduce the required rear yard open space (staff reported the proposal would provide 51.75% where 70% is required).

Applicant Michael Larkin and project architect Jennifer Makani presented the revised design and said retaining the garage allowed the new house to step down in massing and better align with the block. Structural consultant Yousef Hasham described the technical obstacles and risks…