LARRY'S SERVICE CENTER

I

n efforts to expand its footprint for what this vaction getaway is most famous for its sun, sand and night life; Miami Beach Zoning continues to reduce the size of allowed areas for Industrial Use to a dwindling area in the Sunset Harbour neighborhood. Because of this, few service centers and other business that cater to the practical needs of the local population still exists on this small island.

Redesigning an existing tow yard into an automotive repair center was the simple part of this project since the building and site was already setup to handle large volumes of cars with 6 oversized garage bays and office facing the street. A new color scheme was implemented with blocks of color to organize the existing façade with its current opening along with linear striping to convey movement and to give subtle reference to the “L” shape of the building.

Because of the paradigm shift the local Planning and Zoning objectives have to converting this area into more a commercial area rather than the existing industrial area it currently is zoned for, the difficulty of this project was obtaining the required Conditional Use approval through the City of Miami Beach Planning Board. Although there was some pressure from other developers in the area to block this Use on this site, we had made the case that this repair center was a much needed service and had united the local residential committees to support our petition.