Downtown Kendall Master Plan and Code

Location: Kendall, FL. Miami-Dade County

Thirty years ago Kendall Drive was a narrow country road at the edge of a young metropolis, but today this location is imbedded in extensive suburban development. In response to uncontrolled westward growth, the South Florida metropolis has called for the redevelopment and densification of its established coastal communities, called Eastward, Ho! The Downtown Kendall Master Plan is a response to this vision. The study area is at the intersection of four heavily traveled, regional roadways that support intensive retail, office, hotels, and nearby residential neighborhoods. The study area enjoys a high level of density, but its design and orientation is almost entirely auto-dependant, offering little pedestrian accessibility. The objective of the Downtown Kendall Master Plan and Code was to establish order among the physical chaos, facilitating development in a sustainable pattern and creating a lasting identity for the area. Dover, Kohl & Partners and Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Company conducted a seven-day charrette in June 1998. The resulting plan allows any number of developers to realize projects within the patchwork of individual properties, with each property contributing to a unified whole. Mixed-use buildings now front a network of interconnected streets, mid-block parking garages replace the vast expanses of surface parking, and transit is re-integrated into the district. The Master Plan and Illustrative booklet was approved by the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners in 1998 and the code was adopted in 1999. This new ordinance replaces the existing FAR-based Miami-Dade Zoning Code with a more controlled Form-Based Code. Intensive development in the district has followed the Masterplan and Code, producing a unified, transit-oriented community that provides a sustainable alternative to sprawl. The Downtown Kendall project has been featured in Florida Trend, on NBC 6 and WPBT reports, and in a special issue of Business Week, “21 Ideas for the 21st Century.”

Transect Zone(s): T4 general.
Status: 1-25% Built
Project or Plan's Scale: District
Features: Bus transit, Green buildings, Live/work, Mixed uses, Rail/fixed guideway transit, Sustainable infrastructure, Transit oriented development.
Total built area (in sq. ft.):
Total project cost (in local currency):
Retail area (in sq. ft.):
Office area (in sq. ft.):
Industrial area (in sq. ft.):
Number of hotel units:
Number of residential units (include live/work):
Parks & green space (in acres):
Project team designers: Dover, Kohl & Partners, Duany, Plater-Zyberk & Company, Hall Planning & Engineering
Project team developers: Chamber South, South Miami, Florida; Metro Miami-Dade County Board of Commissioners; Florida Department of Community Affairs; Miami-Dade Transit Agency; South Florida Water Management District; South Florida Regional Planning Council

Previous site status:

Starting/Ending date of construction/implementation: -