A 51-story Brickell Avenue office tower with ground-floor retail faces a hearing this week before the county’s comprehensive master plan and zoning board for a general site approval that would add 14% to Class A Brickell office space. If approved, the developer would contribute $1.1 million to improve the Tenth Street Metromover Station and pedestrian uses along Tenth between Brickell Plaza and Brickell Avenue. Applicant 848 Brickell LLC commissioned famed Chicago architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to design the building, which would replace a 1981-vintage 13-story building that now is home to one developer, Key International. The other developer is Sterling Bay Properties. The acre-and-a-quarter site on the west side of Brickell Avenue between Southeast Eighth and Tenth streets is near both the Tenth Street and Eighth Street Metromover stations. It falls into the Metromover subzone, whose zoning and development Miami-Dade County, not the City of Miami, controls. City zoning applies until the county approves a new site plan. Based on the developer’s letter of intent, the county Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources says, the tower would have 750,901 square feet of offices with 6,506 square feet of ground-floor retail fronting Brickell. An internal garage would hold 1,006 cars. Planned are 68,546 square feet of plazas, balconies, terraces and rooftop green spaces, and a publicly accessible forecourt along Brickell. Architects plan two 40-foot outdoor terraces on separate floors, with panoramic terraces at regular intervals along the building’s north and south sides for the use of office tenants. Cars could enter from both Brickell and a rear alley. A covered drop-off zone would lead to a 10-story podium with parking. Plans have the 11th and 12th stories featuring fitness centers, cafés and conference spaces in a garden setting. The outdoor space on the 11th floor is to include sports courts, work areas and wellness lounges. Office floors of 19,000 to 27,000 square feet are to be column-free, the architects say. The building’s height would be allowed by airport zoning regulations. County commissioners deferred action on 848 Brickell on Sept. 25 to allow the developer to work more with county staff. The application is an initial review of the property after a commission public hearing, which was held in September, leading to rezoning. The Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources would hold a final administrative review at a still undetermined date. Metromover Subzone rules are geared to lead to a wide variety of land uses “intended to enhance and support the county’s existing mass transit system and to provide for transit-oriented development to promote ridership,” the county says. Staff found the application consistent with that aim. Seven conditions attached to the recommendation of approval include that the developers record a covenant that they will pay the county $1.1 million as a transportation contribution related to the transit station, offsite pedestrian and traffic signal improvements. The building would enter a Brickell market with almost 5.3 million square feet of Class A offices with an average asking leasing rate of $100.58 per square foot, highest in the county though only pennies above $100.21 in Miami Beach, according to a third quarter market report from brokerage CBRE. Today, more than 11% of that Brickell space is vacant. Related Posts:81-story Brickell Dolce & Gabbana tower advancesLodging, condo hotel due in trio of West Brickell towersHelicopter pad, Metromover entryway OK’d for…Brickell City Center record-setting office tower nearing76-story Brickell tower will raze office building…The post OK of 51-story Brickell office tower to fund transit appeared first on Miami Today.