Developer Russell Galbut is shelving three proposed Miami Beach residential towers following discussions with Miami-Dade Commissioner Vicki Lopez and City Commissioner Alex Fernandez.
The Crescent Heights cofounder and Managing Principal confirmed by email that he is withdrawing Live Local Act applications for 1575 Alton Road, 740 Alton Road and 880 71st Street.
The proposals sought mixed-use buildings reaching up to 519 feet. All encountered problems during city reviews.
In a Monday email to City Manager Eric Carpenter, Galbut credited Lopez and Fernandez with helping to persuade him to reconsider the projects while maintaining his support for expanding housing options.
Galbut, whose family has lived in the city for seven generations, said vacant storefronts and rising housing costs underscore the need for investment.
“I have always believed in the original intent of the Live Local Act: creating much-needed affordable and workforce housing. But I also recognize that the conversation surrounding this legislation has moved away from that intention, and I understand the concerns residents have raised about its impact on our community,” he wrote.
“This decision reflects my commitment to collaboration, not my retreat from the need for more housing. I believe we can work together to create a Miami Beach approach that encourages responsible investment, protects our neighborhoods, and provides housing for the people who make this city special.”
The Live Local Act, sponsored in the House by Lopez, enacted in 2023 and updated three times since, enables developers to build housing exceeding local height, density and size limits if the projects on eligible commercial, industrial or mixed-use land reserve 40% or more units as affordable rentals for at least 30 years.
The law generally lets developers draw on the highest permitted residential or commercial building height within a mile. Qualifying applications receive administrative approval rather than the customary votes by elected officials or land-use Boards, although requirements the Legislature has not overridden still apply.
City records show the three withdrawn proposals had not secured final Live Local approval.
At a former Firestone property at 1575 Alton, Galbut sought to build a 43-story tower with 163 residences, including 72 workforce units. The ordinary height limit for the area is 60 feet. Crescent Heights’ proposal was more than eight times that height.
The project application, filed in August 2024 by ARRP Miami IV, LLC, underwent unsuccessful staff reviews in 2024, 2025, and February 2026. Its case record still identifies the project as denied.
Staff found the revised proposal incorporated an adjoining shopping center parcel into development calculations without documentation establishing a unified development site. They required a new application before further review.
For the 740 Alton proposal, now listed as “Withdrawn” in city files, Galbut and GFO Investments planned a 28-story building with 99 residences, including 40 workforce units, that would have been one of Alton Road’s tallest buildings.
The project’s June 2024 application did not clear successive staff reviews, and in October that year, staff halted further consideration until excessive height and density issues were addressed.
And the 880 71st Street application, a proposed partnership between Lefferts and Crescent Heights also filed in June 2024, sought a 28-story building with 100 residences, including 40 workforce units.
The area’s ordinary height limit was 50 feet. Staff stopped review over excessive density, and the case now shows “Withdrawn.”
Lopez, a Republican who faces Democrat Rob Piper in a runoff for Miami-Dade Commission District 5, said in a statement Tuesday that she and Fernandez spent several weeks discussing residents’ objections with Galbut, who displayed a “willingness to listen, engage in meaningful dialogue, and take our community’s concerns into consideration.”
She told WLRN last week that Live Local “needs reform” and that she’d sought protections as a state lawmaker for Miami Beach and other barrier islands, but was blocked by the Senate from incorporating them.
“This is an important example of what can happen when we come together and work toward solutions,” she said of Galbut’s withdrawals. “I look forward to continuing these conversations and working together on behalf of our Miami Beach community.”
Fernandez, a Republican-turned-Democrat, expressed similar optimism in a separate statement and thanked Lopez “for her partnership and collaboration throughout numerous conversations” with Galbut.
“We are hopeful that additional applications may be resolved through constructive dialogue,” he added. “Thank you, Commissioner Lopez, for your teamwork advocating for Miami Beach and to Mr. Galbut for his willingness to listen and engage.”
Last month, Miami Beach moved to rewrite building height limits within a mile of its historic districts — a boundary that would capture most of South Beach — after a developer proposed a 30-story tower on the former Clevelander site.
A development entity linked to Crescent Heights, Maxwelle Real Estate and Pebb Capital sued Miami Beach in December over its handling of a project at the site of the vacant Bancroft Hotel at 1501 Collins Avenue and a retail complex next door, citing alleged Live Local violations.
City officials also threatened a legal challenge to a law Gov. Ron DeSantis signed in March that further curbs county and municipal controls over developments within their bounds. The measure, among other things, includes a controversial provision that creates a pathway for certain “large destination resorts”—including a planned pool deck overhaul at the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach—to bypass traditional local review processes.
“This bill egregiously interferes with our residents’ right to public input,” Fernandez said at the time. Miami Beach Commissioners approved a resolution requiring the City Attorney to confer with Mayor Steven Meiner on whether to pursue litigation challenging the measure.