Crescent Heights Plans 557-Foot Tower on Miami Beach's Alton Road

Crescent Heights has filed for a 43-story, 557-foot residential tower at 1575 Alton Road in Miami Beach, routing the project through Florida’s Live Local Act rather than the city’s standard zoning process, Florida YIMBY reported September 21.

Why it matters

Miami Beach caps height and density by referendum more often than most cities let elected boards decide it, which is why a 557-foot tower on Alton Road is a genuine outlier rather than routine infill. Florida YIMBY reports the proposal would rise to within two feet of the 559-foot Blue and Green Diamond towers on Collins Avenue, which have stood as Miami Beach’s tallest buildings since 2000. A prior version of this same site was filed at 18 stories and roughly 225 feet. The jump to 43 stories tracks directly to the Live Local Act, which lets developers claim added height and density through an administrative approval in exchange for workforce housing, sidestepping the commission votes and referendum exposure a conventional rezoning on Alton Road would face. Coverage of how that law is reshaping the South Florida market hub has tracked similar trades elsewhere on the barrier island; this filing is the tallest test of it yet.

The numbers

The filing calls for 163 total residential units: 62 workforce units on the lower floors, reserved for households earning up to 120 percent of area median income, and roughly 101 market-rate units beginning around the 15th floor. Plans include about 1,739 square feet of commercial space along Alton Road, 149 vehicle parking spaces, 170 bicycle spaces, and roughly 4,107 square feet of indoor amenity space plus a pool and terraces. RSP Architects is listed as architect. Florida YIMBY did not report a project cost.

What’s next

Because the project is proceeding under the Live Local Act’s administrative track, it does not require the design review board or commission hearing a conventional height increase on Alton Road would need, and Florida YIMBY’s report did not include a hearing date. Crescent Heights has not issued its own announcement on the filing.