![\"Cars](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_10_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\" "\\"Numerous")
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Numerous development projects are underway in the North Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach, the result of a 2018 rezoning in the area\u2019s \u201cTown Center.\u201d <\/p>\n
Photo by Matias J. Ocner<\/p>\n
mocner@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
Ten years ago, a master plan was unveiled<\/a> to reimagine North Beach, the most affordable, least gentrified slice of Miami Beach that stretches from 63rd Street to 87th Terrace.<\/p>\n Now, the neighborhood\u2019s transformation is entering top gear.<\/p>\n Numerous projects are underway within a \u201cTown Center\u201d that was rezoned in 2018 to allow bigger buildings. A dozen developments are planned or have been completed in the rezoned area from 69th to 72nd Street between Indian Creek Drive and Collins Avenue, according to a map provided by the city.<\/p>\n More than 1,300 residential units are coming, along with ground-floor retail, hotel rooms and parking garages.<\/p>\n The changes are impossible to miss.<\/p>\n A 22-story luxury condo building that allows short-term rentals, 72 Park<\/a>, opened last year. Five nearby projects are under construction. And more are on the way, both inside and outside the formal Town Center.<\/p>\n The Byron Carlyle<\/a>, a defunct movie theater on 71st Street, is set to be reborn as a cultural arts center. A parking lot on 72nd Street across from the Miami Beach Bandshell is slated to house a community center<\/a>. Ocean Terrace<\/a>, currently home to shuttered motels and a new beachfront park at 74th Street, will see condo and hotel towers. Farther south, David Martin\u2019s Terra Group will redevelop<\/a> the former site of the Deauville Hotel.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Welcome to \u2018real\u2019 North Beach. Is the anti-South Beach finally ready for prime time?<\/a><\/p>\n The rapid transformation after years of planning is something to celebrate, said Russell Galbut, one of the top developers in Miami Beach whose firm, Crescent Heights, is involved in several North Beach projects.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really building something special in North Beach,\u201d Galbut told the Miami Herald. \u201cThis rejuvenation is going to be second to none.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of discussions years ago, community members and city officials agreed on a trade-off: While taller buildings would be allowed in the Town Center, other areas of North Beach with mostly low-rise apartments would receive new historic designations to protect them from demolition.<\/p>\n Still, some are worried about potential negative impacts of the construction boom, including the possibility that gentrification will push out full-time residents of North Beach, a largely working-class neighborhood.<\/p>\n The new units aren\u2019t income-restricted, and short-term rentals are allowed in the Town Center to attract snowbirds and tourists. And while the rezoning meant that many of the new residential units coming to the area would be relatively small \u201cco-living\u201d units between 375 and 550 square feet, even those can be expensive.<\/p>\n At 72 Park, the smallest units are 470 square feet, with prices starting at $700,000, according to a fact sheet<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWill our residents be able to find housing affordability in these new developments?\u201d said Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez, who was first elected in 2021. \u201cOr was the zoning done for people to come and invest and not live in Miami Beach, but profit from our community at the expense of the quality of life of the residents of our city who are struggling to live here?\u201d<\/p>\n Fernandez said he fears the area\u2019s \u201calready strained, aging\u201d infrastructure won\u2019t be able to keep up with the pace of development. North Beach is next in line<\/a> on the city\u2019s list of major anti-flooding projects.<\/p>\n But Galbut said he believes those issues can be addressed through the North Beach Community Redevelopment Agency<\/a>, a special district where property tax growth will go toward investment in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to be able to self-fund an entire infrastructure in North Beach,\u201d Galbut said.<\/p>\n Still, Manning Salazar, a North Beach resident who serves on an advisory board for the Community Redevelopment Agency, said he and others who helped shape the city\u2019s master plan feel like their priorities have been cast aside.<\/p>\n The 2016 plan contemplated buildings up to 125 feet tall in the Town Center. The rezoning approved by city officials two years later allowed for buildings up to 220 feet.<\/p>\n Salazar added that the new developments coming to North Beach appear to be aimed at \u201chigh-income\u201d buyers and feature short-term rentals geared toward a transient population.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to lose the character of our neighborhood,\u201d Salazar said. \u201cWe want development that\u2019s going to fit in more organically with the rest of the city and maintain the makeup of the residents as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid the construction and population growth, traffic is also a concern. On the blocks surrounding 71st Street, major backups have become common during rush hour.<\/p>\n Even the city\u2019s police chief has felt the effects. At an April 22 City Commission meeting, Chief Wayne Jones said that on a recent Thursday around 5:30 p.m., it took him almost an hour to drive eight blocks from the 63rd Street bridge to 71st Street on Indian Creek Drive.<\/p>\n Commissioner Tanya Katzoff Bhatt said at the meeting that, while developers are required to conduct traffic studies for new projects, no one is looking at the issue holistically.<\/p>\n \u201cThat screws over the residents,\u201d Bhatt said, citing the number of projects coming to North Beach. \u201cWhen you aggregate them together, [it] destroys the limited space that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n Bhatt, a North Beach resident since 2016 who was elected in 2023, said the city ceded too much control to developers when the 2018 rezoning was approved.<\/p>\n Outside the Town Center, Bhatt pointed to the Deauville and Ocean Terrace projects as examples of developers working closely with the city and residents to provide substantial community benefits. But inside the rezoned area, she said, the city is now unable to control a wave of development that is likely to strain affordability, infrastructure, traffic and parking.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way this was done has had such deleterious consequences that I don\u2019t believe were anticipated, and there\u2019s no way to mitigate for them,\u201d Bhatt told the Herald.<\/p>\n Galbut, the developer, said critiques of the neighborhood\u2019s overhaul come from a \u201cminority of people who really have loud voices\u201d and praised the elected officials who approved the plan years ago.<\/p>\n Even the naysayers would admit that North Beach is \u201cbecoming a special community,\u201d Galbut said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a place starts to become magical, everybody jumps in,\u201d he said. \u201cWe made South Beach a magical place. They\u2019re doing the same in North Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n A map shows the status of development projects in North Beach. City of Miami Beach <\/p>\n
![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_14_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\" "\\"MIA_14_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\\"")
An aerial view of the recently completed 72 Park building in North Beach on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_13_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\" "\\"MIA_13_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\\"")
Construction of a luxury apartment building on 71st Street is one of several ongoing projects in North Beach. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_7_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\" "\\"MIA_7_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\\"")
A person walks past the Byron Carlyle Theater in North Beach on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_8_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\" "\\"MIA_8_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\\"")
A worker walks past a construction site for PALMA Miami Beach on 71st Street on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_15_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\" "\\"MIA_15_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\\"")
A line of cars on Indian Creek Drive approaches the 71st Street intersection during afternoon rush hour on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MIA_1_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\" "\\"MIA_1_North_Beach_Development_MJO.JPG\\"")
The future site of 7200 Collins, one of many new developments coming to North Beach. Photo by Matias J. Ocner mocner@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n