Miami Beach’s Art Deco Historic District spans 28 blocks and contains more than 800 preserved buildings, forming the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world. In 2023, the region welcomed over 27.2 million visitors who generated an estimated $21.1 billion in spending. For real estate investor Robert Balzebre, who completed six Art Deco restoration projects in Miami’s South Beach during the late 1990s and early 2000s, those numbers validate a development approach he adopted more than two decades ago.
“I think it all comes back to delivering the highest quality product that you can deliver for the consumer,” Robert Balzebre said. “That’s what I’m building that will stand there for hopefully generations, and what I’d like to be known for.”
What Threatened Miami Beach’s Historic Buildings in 2025
Florida’s Live Local Act, passed in 2023 to incentivize workforce housing, expanded significantly through Senate Bill 1730 in 2025. The legislation allows developers to bypass local zoning on commercially zoned properties if at least 40% of units are reserved for workforce housing, with height dictated by the tallest building permitted within a defined radius.
The Senate version of SB 1730 contained no protections for locally designated historic structures. The House version covered more than 2,600 historic buildings, including approximately 1,800 classified as Art Deco, Miami Modern, and Mediterranean Revival. The Senate version protected only individual buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation held by fewer than a dozen properties in the city…