The situation with Bruce Berkowitz's Fairholme Capital private art museum, which the art collector plans (planned?) to establish on Biscayne Boulevard, is at a standstill. People at the city say they want it but, despite a redesign with a two-building configuration to conform more closely to the Miami 21 zoning code and Berkowitz's promise to do whatever necessary to aid the process, the planning and zoning department is, well, being an absolute hot mess.
The structure has been classified as an office building instead of a civic structure because it will also contain the offices for Berkowitz's company and private foundation, even though it will have 6,000 more square feet of gallery space than PAMM itself. And the planning department is saying that it doesn't abide by certain rules of commercial structures even though those rules clash with the necessities of displaying incredibly valuable and seminal art. Additionally, the planning department and other city agencies have proven to be a complete pain to work with over the last year, rarely returning phone calls, and issuing conflicting edicts. When Berkowitz followed the requests of one agency, those actions led him to be cited in violation by another. This is an incredible opportunity that Miami could lose, says the Miami Herald, and as the saga drags on it's becoming clearer and clearer that the planning department is the problem.
· Fairholme project offers seminal opportunity [Herald]
· Fairholme Capital coverage [Curbed Miami]
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