By Andrew McIntyre

Law360 (February 10, 2021, 9:39 AM EST ) Berkowitz Development's SkyRise Miami project applied for its latest construction permit shortly before the coronavirus swept across the U.S., and a year later the developer, with help from various law firms, is still finalizing that permit while also trying to nail down a steel supplier and contract.

The entertainment and observation tower, which has been billed as Miami's Eiffel Tower, is Florida's tallest project under construction, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Plans call for theater, ballroom and restaurant space at the top, in addition to the observatory, and the 990-foot project also has a retail component.

The project is slated to have a total of 115,780 square feet, including 85,790 square feet of "recreational" space, 12,760 square feet of retail and 12,000 square feet of commercial space, according to a construction permit application filed in January 2020. Plans also call for 4,080 square feet of restaurant space and 1,150 square feet of space that's listed as "juice bar/coffee shop/bakery/deli/ice cream shop/cigar bar" use, according to the January 2020 application.

Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP, Akerman LLP and Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP have helped Berkowitz Development Group Inc. with the project, while SkyRise Miami has had counsel on prior litigation from Feigeles & Haimo LLP and Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert.

Berkowitz Development is building the tower in partnership with entertainment space operator and services provider Legends, which also owns and operates the One World Observatory at One World Trade Center in New York.



Prior to 2020, Berkowitz had an approved construction permit and had done significant foundation work to get the site primed for vertical construction.

Then, at the request of the city, the developer in early 2020 applied for an additional construction permit, but city officials told Law360 this month that that permit, filed on Jan. 27, still requires additional plans and documents from the developer. That permit lists a project cost of $200 million.

"From a construction point of view, because of COVID[-19], because of delays, because of design changes, construction has substantially slowed," J. Fred Blitstein, vice president and director of government relations, logistics and construction permitting for SkyRise Miami, told Law360. "We started the foundation, marina, sea walls, clearing the site. We're just about ready now to submit the balance of the plans."

While the developer at one point had a permit to work on the project seven days a week, absent holidays, Blitstein said that permit needs to be reissued, which is in progress.

Meanwhile, on the design front, despite roughly a decade of planning, the project now requires minor internal design changes to comply with current building codes, which has also added to the delay, Blitstein said.

Also, the developer has not yet finalized a steel supplier, and trying to nail that down during the pandemic has been a challenge. Blitstein told Law360 he could not disclose which steel companies the developer is in talks with, but noted that the developer has been talking with firms from multiple countries.

"The only thing we have not finalized is the production of our unique steel modules and our massive piping," Blitstein said. "We've gone back and forth on our steel contract. That's had an impact."

The story of SkyRise Miami goes back roughly a decade.

Early on in the process, Berkowitz needed help with engineering for the project, and looked to architecture firm Arquitectonica for help. Among the chief engineering questions were elevator speed, number of stops, number of passengers per elevator, number of elevators and size of elevators, said Bernardo Fort-Brescia, principal at Arquitectonica.

"You have multiple destinations on the top. It's not just an observatory. ... All of that has to be accessed," Fort-Brescia said, noting that plans call for high-speed elevators. "That whole vertical transportation analysis is probably the most defining aspect of the design."

Of course, there were various other challenges, one of which was putting together funding, and the developer by 2013 had set up an EB-5 regional center, an entity that facilitates EB-5 investment. The EB-5 program at that time was a way for foreigners to invest as little as $500,000 in a U.S. project and, provided the project created 10 jobs per investor, get a green card as well as green cards for dependents and minimal return on investment. Congress has since raised the minimum investment threshold to $900,000.

Ronald Fieldstone, a partner at Saul Ewing, helped the developer with that EB-5 matter, and H. Ronald Klasko, managing partner at Klasko Immigration Law Partners LLP, also worked on that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regional center deal. Fieldstone told Law360 he couldn't comment on the specifics of the EB-5 work, and Klasko, who's role wasn't immediately known, couldn't be reached for comment.

City officials approved the project in June of 2014, and at the time, Berkowitz Development founder Jeff Berkowitz said there was "literally no question in my mind that we're ready to build this."


The city's approval, though, in turn needed public approval, and a 2014 ballot initiative drew quick opposition in the form of a lawsuit by local architect and photographer Charles Corda.

A Florida state judge later that month upheld the ballot initiative, but another suit came in early August when then-Miami-Roads Neighborhood Civic Association President Graciela Solares filed a suit claiming the city had gone beyond the reach of its charter. The Florida Supreme Court declined to take it up a year later.

Voters in August 2014 approved the initiative with more than 68% support, and the city in December 2014 then approved a $9 million subsidy for the project. That subsidy was challenged in court in early 2015 by then-Miami school board member Raquel Regalad and billionaire Norman Braman.

Later that year, SkyRise was permitted to intervene in the suit as a defendant. That case survived a dismissal bid in 2015, and in 2016, it settled on the terms that the project was barred from accepting public funding.

Following that settlement, the project moved forward for several years as the developer prepared for vertical construction.

The project "was in foundation and site work when COVID[-19] hit," Fort-Brescia said. "Then everything abruptly stopped with COVID[-19]. Otherwise, the project was ready to go. All the drawings, studies, engineering, had already been completed."

Blitstein told Law360 that the project at the moment is "at a very very delicate stage," writing in a subsequent email that the project is at "go stage."

"There's really no other structure in the U.S., maybe in the world, like this one," Blitstein said. "Basically what it is is it's Disney World at 1,000 feet in the air."

Representatives at Berkowitz and Legends couldn't be immediately reached for comment, and Bilzin Sumberg partner Alexandra Lehson, who represents Berkowitz Development, declined to comment on the project. A representative for Akerman LLP, which has done zoning work on the project, declined to comment.

Arquitectonica has teamed up with China Construction America division Plaza Construction to build the project, with Plaza Construction acting as construction manager. A representative for Plaza Construction declined to comment.

Berkowitz Development is represented by Alexandra Lehson and James Shindell of Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP.

Berkowitz Development is also represented on zoning matters by T. Spencer Crowley and Matthew Barnes of Akerman LLP.

Berkowitz Development had counsel on the EB-5 portion of the project from Ronald Fieldstone of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP.

H. Ronald Klasko of Klasko Immigration Law Partners LLP worked on the USCIS regional center matter, although his precise role was not immediately clear.

The plaintiff in the July 2014 ballot initiative challenge was represented pro se. The city was represented by City Attorney Victoria Mendez. That case is Corda v. City of Miami et al., case number 2014-18320-CA-01, in the Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida.

The plaintiff in the August 2014 ballot initiative challenge was represented by Linda Carroll. The city was represented by City Attorney Victoria Mendez. That case is Solares v. City of Miami, case number 2014-20667, in the Circuit Court for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida.

The plaintiffs in the 2015 challenge to the $9 million subsidy were represented by Richard Ovelmen, who has since passed away, and by Enrique Arana and Justin Wales of Carlton Fields PA. The City of Miami was represented by Kurkin Forehand Brandes LLP. SkyRise, which was later allowed to intervene as a defendant, was represented by Julie Feigeles of Feigeles & Haimo LLP and Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert. That case is Raquel Regalado et al. v. City of Miami, Florida et al., case number 2015-2861-CA-01, in the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit for Miami-Dade County.

--Additional reporting by Nathan Hale. Editing by Alanna Weissman and Alyssa Miller.

This is the fourth article in a five-part series that looks at the tallest towers under construction in five states. The prior article looked at One Chicago, while the next and final article in the series focuses on the tallest U.S. tower under construction, a project in Manhattan.

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