Billionaire TV Station Owner Makes 7.3M SF Mixed-Use Play On Tiny Island In Biscayne Bay
The owner of a local TV station in North Bay Village is hoping to redevelop its nearly 13-acre site to build a new 7.3M SF, mixed-use development.
WSVN’s parent company, Sunbeam Properties, has applied for a special area plan to allow for a huge project on a series of properties on either side of the 79th Street Causeway, which will be discussed at the city of North Bay Village’s Planning and Zoning board meeting Aug. 17, the South Florida Business Journal reports.
Sunbeam and WSVN are run by the billionaire Ansin family, which is looking for a new headquarters for the TV station outside of North Bay Village — a pair of tiny islands between Miami and Miami Beach on Biscayne Bay — although it plans on occupying part of the new project.
If approved, the project will stretch over 12.9 acres spanning 1400, 1401, 1415, 1600, 1601 79th St. Causeway, plus 155 and 1624 North Bay Causeway. Sunbeam has acquired a handful of properties in recent years around WSVN's headquarters in hopes of a huge project.
“Sunbeam and the Ansin family are delighted to work with the city of North Bay Village to advance our vision for a mixed-use development along Biscayne Bay,” Sunbeam Television Corp. CEO Andy Ansin said in a statement to the SFBJ. “We share the goals of North Bay Village’s forward-looking zoning code to promote pedestrian-friendly and resilient development.”
Sunbeam Properties’ plan is to develop nearly 2,000 apartments — 117, or 6%, of which would be workforce housing — 870K SF of office and retail space, a 113K SF hotel and a lot with over 5,000 parking spaces, according to the site plan Sunbeam submitted to the city.
PlusUrbana will be designing the project. While planning staff said the site plan is largely conceptual at this point, with heights far exceeding the present maximum, it recommended approval as long as Sunbeam meets 25 conditions laid out in the staff report.
While WSVN's redevelopment is the biggest potential project coming to North Bay Village, it is far from the only one. The 21-story 7918 West Drive, with 54 luxury units across 250K SF, each with different floor plans designed by architect MTTR Management broke ground last week, The Next Miami reported.
The project is being developed by P&O Global Technologies, a subsidiary of Malaysian facial recognition technology firm Pacific & Orient Berhad, according to its fact sheet.
