Former Bikini Hostel lot, slated to become a park, could first host a condo sales center

The lot where the Bikini Hostel stood on West Avenue, promised to Miami Beach as a future public park, could serve for up to 54 months as a sales center first for the condo tower planned across the street, under a zoning change that goes to a City Commission committee Tuesday.

The Land Use and Sustainability Committee takes up the proposal at its 3 p.m. meeting Tuesday, Nov. 10, at City Hall. City staff recommend that the committee endorse it and send it on to the Planning Board and the commission, according to the committee memo.

The site, at 1247-1255 West Ave. and 1234 13th St., was part of the public benefits the developer of 1250 West Ave. agreed to in exchange for extra height and floor area in the Alton Beach Bayfront Overlay, which the commission approved in 2025. Under the development agreement, the developer was to buy the hostel, relocate its residents, demolish it and build a park to hand over to the city. A timeline in the agenda backup says the developer bought the property in September 2025 and finished the demolition in April 2026.

The agreement already allows the lot to be used as a temporary sales center before it becomes a park, but the city’s zoning code does not, according to the draft ordinance; Commissioner Joseph Magazine asked for the change in December 2025.

What the draft rule says

The draft ordinance would let a sales building for a condo project in the overlay sit on a separate multifamily-zoned lot within 100 feet of the project. That lot would have to be open to the public for passive recreation, such as a temporary art installation, from 11 a.m. to sunset on days the sales office is open. The sales building would have to come down if a permit for the full tower is not issued within three years.

The fact sheet in the backup, which makes the case for the change, calls the art program “Miami Bloom” and says the public could use part of the site in early 2027. Its timeline says the city has until Aug. 7, 2027, to decide whether the lot will become a park; the sales center use would end by Feb. 7, 2030; and a park would be finished by Feb. 7, 2031, and handed to the city in spring 2031. If the city decides against a park, the timeline says, the developer would wind down the sales center and transfer the property to the city.

After the committee, the change goes to the Planning Board and then the City Commission. The public can comment at Tuesday’s meeting; the agenda has the details.