Oak Row’s 500-Unit Tower Wins Support From Miami Historic Board

Miami’s Historic & Environmental Preservation Board unanimously approved Oak Row Equities’ plan for a 500-unit apartment tower.

Oak Row’s First & Fifth project is slated for 49 Northwest Fifth Street in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood. The development went before the city’s historic preservation board because the site includes the remnants of the Salvation Army Citadel building.

That structure was built in 1925 and designated as a local historic resource in 1983. However, most of the building was destroyed in a fire.

“The small, minor remaining portion contains details that reveal this to be one of Miami’s few examples of the Venetian Gothic subtype of the Gothic Revival style,” Oak Row’s attorney, Iris Escarra of Greenberg Traurig, wrote in an application to the board. “The exterior stucco is scored to resemble stone, while the motif on the windows and arcade is reminiscent of the Doge’s Palace in Venice.”

First & Fifth will include 500 luxury multifamily units. The site is catty-corner from MiamiCentral Station, the southern end of the Brightline private rail service.

The project is one of several on Oak Row Equities’ plate. The company’s splashiest deal is its pending acquisition of the waterfront site at 1001 and 1111 Brickell Bay Drive. The $520 million purchase price would amount to the largest land transaction in Miami’s history.

Jeff Ostrowski can be reached at jostrowski@commercialobserver.com.