Forget the dog park or the condos. Historic Jackson bungalow will stay in Brickell
In the end, there was no talk of turning the picturesque, publicly owned historic site in Miami’s Brickell district into condos or a dog park.
With no debate, Miami commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved a long-delayed lease for the tidy 1905 wood cottage that served as pioneering physician James Jackson’s clinic.
The renter: Dade Heritage Trust, the historic preservation group that has occupied and maintained the bungalow since 1977.
The lease approval came four and a half years after Miami voters overwhelmingly approved the no-bid lease renewal in a referendum. Bogged down by administrative delays, the new lease finally came up for commission approval in October, only to be deferred after Commissioner Joe Carollo questioned whether the house could be moved and the site put up for sale for condo development.
An analysis by a real estate consultant hired by the city concluded the site is too small to be profitably redeveloped. But the lease was deferred again when Carollo then wondered if it couldn’t be better put to use as a dog park. Estimates by movers that transferring the onestory house, a protected city landmark, would cost well over $1 million effectively put an end to the discussion, however.
On Thursday, Carollo
and his colleagues approved a shortened lease span for Dade Heritage of 10 years with a five-year renewal option, compared to the original 90-year term proposed by city administrators.
Annual rent will be $600, though the agreement requires the nonprofit group to maintain the building and a small garden and parking lot, make needed repairs and pay for insurance. Dade Heritage director Christine Rupp estimated that amount at more than $30,000 a year.
The group has its office in the Jackson cottage, moved from its original downtown site to what is today Brickell Bay Drive in 1917. Dade Heritage also maintains an exhibition gallery, a visitor’s center for the Downtown Development Authority and a butterfly garden at the house.
Jackson’s home next door was demolished for condos in the 1990s. Jackson Memorial Hospital is named after the doctor, Miami’s first physician.