Huge Green Community Featuring Arquitectonica-Designed Town Center to Reinvigorate North Miami
NORTH MIAMI, Fla., Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ — Near a large mangrove preserve, Biscayne Landing will bring green buildings and waterfront views as part of national LEED-ND pilot program for “enviro-neighborhoods.”
Biscayne Landing, a new master-planned mixed-use community in North Miami, has been named as a nationally recognized pilot “green neighborhood” project. The development, a massive undertaking by the company Boca Developers on 200 acres of former landfill near a nature reserve, includes 6,000 total living units and a dynamic town center designed by Arquitectonica, with 12 buildings, 1,684 dwellings, 180,000 square feet of office, a 200-room hotel and nearly 300,000 square feet of retail. Many of the new buildings will also be rated as certified green buildings.
The innovative landscape architecture for the town center, designed by Arquitectonica GEO, features drought-resistant, native-compatible plantings. Contributing to the environmental pilot effort, the landscaping concept dramatically reduces the need for irrigation and recycles captured rainwater.
Biscayne Landing is one of a few projects nationwide selected for a “focus group” of a major pilot program rating new communities according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system. Created by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council, LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism, and green building into the first national standard for neighborhood design.
Biscayne Landing’s town center and 167 acres total are included in this prestigious national program, making it among the largest in the nation — and verifying that the community meets the highest standards for environmentally responsible development.
Says Bernardo Fort-Brescia, FAIA, principal of Arquitectonica, “This is quite a change for North Miami, bringing sustainable high-end condos, offices and shops that will become a sorely needed economic engine. And the new landscape design by Arquitectonica GEO is very much worth looking at. There’s no other community like this in Miami.”
North Miami Mayor Kevin Burns, who has adopted the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, is a highly vocal champion of the project. Close to Miami’s downtown and South Beach, the 200-acre site overlooks Biscayne Bay and the Oleta River State Park, Haulover Park, and the Atlantic Ocean. Local voters have supported the project in two citywide referendums.
Boca Developers, builders of Biscayne Landing, describe the project as a “walking community” of comfortably dense buildings and thoughtfully landscaped surroundings. All of the residential buildings will be highly energy-efficient and green, according to Boca Developers’ executive vice president Herb Tillman, with features such as solar panels, rainwater irrigation, sunshading, tinted/insulated glass, and “grey-water” recycling.
Arquitectonica and Arquitectonica GEO will help the developer attain LEED Silver certification, or better, for all town center buildings. A new office building will be designed for a rating of LEED-CS Platinum — the highest possible, and a first for South Florida.
For more information, contact Chris Sullivan at 914/462-2096 or chris@ccsullivan.com. For images, contact pressrequest@arquitectonica.com
Arquitectonica
CONTACT: Chris Sullivan for Arquitectonica, +1-914-462-2096