As a prominent developer gets ready to demolish two hotel buildings in a signature Miami Beach historic district, officials in a city known for its robust preservation rules say they are powerless to do anything about it.
The reason: a controversial year-old state law that gives property owners in certain coastal areas unfettered power to tear down historic buildings, overriding local regulations designed to protect structures designated as architecturally or historically significant.
The plan by Miami developer 13th Floor Investments is the first in Miami Beach to take advantage of the so-called Resiliency and Safe Structures Act, though city officials say it likely won’t be the last. Local critics say the act, which its sponsors contend is meant to promote new development better designed to meet rising seas, threatens scores of buildings in Beach historic districts, including some of its most famous, like the Eden Roc, Casablanca and Cadillac hotels…