Miami Beach couldn’t make the case. Voters say ‘Nope!’ to Lincoln Road offices, Deauville plan | Editorial

Miami Beach residents may have had it up to here with the drunken raucousness that swoops into the city, but not enough to agree to turn over valuable public property to developers to jump-start the city’s reinvention into something with more gravitas.

That’s why a majority of them said No to two projects that city leaders touted as game-changing for Lincoln Road, a well-worn pedestrian corridor that, indeed, needs some sort of makeover if it is to regain its useful luster.

A beloved and bustling walkway that lured tourists and residents — and their precious doggies — to restaurants and shops that defined hip a decade ago, Lincoln Road now looks ragged around the edges, despite upgrades over the years. Rising rents drove out some businesses. The COVID-19 lockdown only accelerated the Road’s descent. Empty storefronts and “For lease” signs tell the story.

But voters clearly had reservations. They rejected: 1. a joint venture to lease city-owned property at 664 Meridian Ave. and build a six-story development, designated high-end office space, with about 43 market-rate apartments, retail and a parking garage; and, 2. two buildings at 1688 Lenox Ave. and 1080 Lincoln Lane North that would include office space, retail and 425 parking spaces.

Beach voters also slapped down developer and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross’ desire to build way up on the site of the Deauville hotel in North Beach, vaunted Frank Gehry design or no.

Bigger, they said, was not better.

The Editorial Board supported these three projects. But voters were not swayed by the revenue promised for city coffers and the North Beach Community Development Agency. And, though city leaders said there were ample public hearings about these ballot questions, opponents countered the proposals were foisted onto residents, done deals and without their input.

This trio of losses is a setback for Mayor Dan Gelber’s vision of creating a “live, work, play” neighborhood in the Lincoln Road area — a la Sunset Harbour — and luring city residents, who are staying away in droves, to come back. Less certain is what will happen at the Deauville site and, by extension, the revitalization of North Beach. Unlike the Lincoln Road parking lots that can, at least, continue to function as such, the site of the former Deauville is privately owned.

Ross was poised to purchase the property if the referendum passed. Now, with the unsafe structure set to be demolished in just a few days — Nov. 13 — there might be a hole in the ground along Collins Avenue that takes a long time to fill.

“People are just very wary of developers,” Gelber told the Editorial Board Tuesday night. “It’s very easy to demagogue: ‘It’s going to create traffic issues and density issues.’

“It’s hard to respond to an allegation that isn’t premised in truth, especially when there is a preexisting disdain of developers,” he said.

It also will be hard, after these losses, for the city to move forward and reinvent itself.