Revised designs for the revamping of Lincoln Road in Miami Beach still have businesses worried about the project’s impact on their operations, The Miami Herald reports.
The newspaper says landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations has updated its plans to include more green space near Washington Ave., a reimagined Euclid Oval with a colorful floor and a new logo for the road with a black-and-white motif inspired by the street’s iconic piano key floor.
The design’s initial cost estimate nearly doubles the city’s existing budget for the project, the Herald reports. “Of the anticipated $43 million it would take to give Lincoln Road and its side streets the full makeover, the Beach currently has about $22 million set aside. The administration said it looks to allocate more money for the work during budget talks in the summer. Officials also hope to cut costs by adjusting designs.”
The city paid the landscape architect $500,000 to “dream up an updated look and feel for the promenade that includes infrastructure improvements, such as much-needed drainage upgrades, and aesthetic enhancements.”
The merchants are most worried about the timing and phasing of construction.
Streetscape and road reconstruction projects are known for choking businesses that can’t survive the loss of sales. In Coral Gables, where Miracle Mile and and Giralda Avenue are undergoing a redo, some merchants have relocated. Some of those who have remained say they are barely hanging on. One jeweler has seen sales fall off 50 to 60 percent.