Miami Beach — The Historic Preservation Board weighed a 3‑story, 23‑unit multifamily project at 1440 Michigan Avenue that seeks a design waiver to exceed the code’s maximum lot coverage in order to accommodate an understory parking plan and larger upper‑floor plate for resiliency and rooftop green space.

The applicant described a narrow, long lot solution that maintains required 10‑foot side setbacks while proposing a 64% lot coverage where 45% is permitted; staff noted a nearby precedent with 62.8% coverage on the north lot. The architecture team emphasized green roofs, recessed volumes and planter buffers intended to reduce visual massing.

Neighbors and the Flamingo Park Neighborhood Association objected to the scale, arguing the project breaks a long‑standing pattern of multifamily density concentrated on 15th Street and would set an undesirable precedent on Michigan Avenue. Board members zeroed in on the visibility from adjacent single‑family properties, the practicality of maintaining narrow south‑facing planters, and whether overhang reductions suggested by staff should be retained as conditions.

Actionable conditions discussed included: a requirement that planting be real and maintained (no artificial plants), clarification of lobby function and access, and additional line‑of‑sight and elevation drawings to show the effect from adjacent streets. The applicant agreed to coordinate with staff and neighbors; the board added or clarified conditions before moving forward with the design recommendation and related waivers.