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The construction of the former Babylon Apartments would have 34 condominiums and 15 hotel keys.
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A developer needs to build a 23-story mixed-use tower with racquet sports courts at the former Babylon Apartments in Brickell in Miami.
The assignment comes five years after a debatable proposal to construct a 24-story building on the assets failed in the face of opposition from neighbors. However, the zoning has since been replaced. In February, Miami-Dade County included progression in the Metromover subarea, allowing for a height of 23 stories, according to developer William Jacome.
Jacome needs to build the Bathroughlon Racquet Club project with 34 condominiums, 15 hotel keys, 13,700 square feet of restaurants, 4,400 square feet of floor space and a fitness center at 240 Southeast 14th Street in Miami, according to an application filed through the developer with the county. . on Wednesday. The assignment is advertised as a potential racquet sports center in Brickell with 14 tennis, pickleball, paddle tennis and racquetball courts.
The vacant 0. 4-acre lot is approximately 800 meters walk from the Financial District’s Metromover station.
Jacome is asking Miami-Dade for a pre-bid meeting, which is held so developers can compare input from county staff on a task before submitting formal bids.
The site has a history. In 1982, the six-story, ziggurat-inspired Babylon Apartments were completed, helping propel the then-little-known Miami architecture firm, Arquitectonica, into the juggernaut it is today. The assignment marked Arquitectonica’s first construction in Miami.
The original owner of Babylon Apartments, Ray Corona, jailed in 1987 for extortion and alleged cash laundering for indicted Miami drug lords Sal Magluta and Willy Falcon.
In 1989, an entity related to former spaghetti western actor Francisco Martinez Celeiro bought the building and then spearheaded an unsuccessful bid to double the permitted height from 12 stories to 24 stories.
In 2018, Celeiro achieved his years-long efforts to revoke the historic prestige designation of Babylon Apartments in the city of Miami, leading to its demolition. Despite strong opposition from neighbors, city commissioners in 2019 approved Celeiro’s request to double the permitted height of the 24-story site. Mayor Francis Suarez vetoed the vote a short time later, and commissioners upheld his veto, with some raising “spot zoning” issues.
After the death of Celeiro, whose level is called George Martin, in 2021, the site remained vacant and was owned by an entity run by his son, Francisco Martinez-Miyashiki. In January, an entity run by Jacome spent $8. 7 million on the site, according to records.
Brickell, the epicenter of South Florida’s growth boom. As part of the most notable moves by financial firms into the tri-borough area, billionaire hedge fund Ken Griffin moved its headquarters from Citadel and Citadel Securities to Brickell from Chicago in 2022.
The Babylon Racquet Club is one block south of the 2. 5-acre bayfront site Griffin bought for a record $363 million in 2022 and where he is set to expand his Citadel and Citadel Securities headquarters tower.
In addition, Michael Stern’s New York-based JDS Development Group is making plans for a Dolce-branded supertall condo-hotel.
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