Walking Tour of Little Havana

Walking Tour of Little Havana

          We started our morning site visits in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood where we met with Jose Fernandez and Mauricio who is a recent graduate from FIU’s Real Estate Development School. Little Havana’s neighborhood is one of the richest cultural centers of Miami and is also one of the poorest.  The population is mainly Cubans and Central Americans and is abutting Bickell and downtown Miami where residential units are selling at $500 sq. f.t plus.  This neighborhood as of lately has been experiencing tremendous development pressure from the south, east, west and northern neighborhoods.  The City of Miami has also been pro- redevelopment in this neighborhood.  Everything sounds good so far, seems to be the place developers dream of, but there is a dark side.   Jose Fernandez, a neighborhood activist, is worried about gentrification and the inability of the current residents to afford anything different than what they already pay.  He fears that the Little Havana he knows and grew up in will disappear and become the Brickell West neighborhood, home to expensive apartments and foreign investors.  The city has implemented the new Miami 21 zoning in 2010 to help facilitate development guidelines so to preserve the neighborhoods from towering buildings next to single family lots or low rise development.  The zoning changes though have made development opportunities not economically feasible, and current buildings have better economics because of their grandfathered non-conforming density and parking requirements.  So the City just recently relaxed some of the requirements because the 2010 Miami 21 code was not spurring economic revitalization in the neighborhood.  This has neighborhood activists  buzzing and again worried about the gentrification of the neighborhoods.

            The issues facing little Havana are the same issues facing every large city in America.  Suburban sprawl is a thing of the past, and in South Florida it is not possible because of the everglades.  Progress in any poor neighborhoods will push out the people who cannot afford but will also lift some people out of poverty by providing vibrant work, live and play areas.
If no investment is made in this area than the buildings will continue to degrade, crime will increase and substandard housing will prevail.  It’s a delicate balance but all cities in America have a responsibility to make affordable housing in the name of progress in their poor neighborhoods, because the private sector will not provide it if it is not economically feasible.