Live Local in Miami Beach, by the numbers
The city publishes the list. Almost nobody reads it.
The City of Miami Beach keeps a public register of the Live Local Act applications its planning department has under review. As retrieved on 17 September 2026 it holds ten. Coverage of these projects arrives one building at a time, which makes each one look like an isolated fight. The register shows the pattern.
Here is the whole list, with the city’s own file numbers.
| City file | Address |
|---|---|
| PB24-0688 | 810 Alton Road |
| PB24-0689 | 42 Collins Avenue |
| PB24-0694 | 7401 Harding Avenue |
| PB24-0712 | 1575 Alton Road |
| PB25-0800 | 1501 Collins Avenue — the Bancroft Hotel and Ocean Steps |
| PB26-0814 | 7410 Collins Avenue |
| PB26-0820 | 1920 Alton Road |
| PB26-0836 | 709 Alton Road |
| PB26-0837 | 1030 6th Street |
| PB26-0840 | 425 Ocean Drive — the Savoy Hotel |
Four of the ten sit on Alton Road and three on Collins Avenue. Two have drawn reporting, and they sit at opposite ends of the beach.
What the law actually does
The Live Local Act, passed in 2023, requires municipalities to approve qualifying multifamily and mixed-use projects administratively on commercial, industrial and mixed-use land. It preempts local limits on height, density and floor-area ratio where a share of the units is held as workforce housing — in the reporting on these two projects, households at or below 120 percent of area median income.
The practical consequence is procedural, and it is the part owners tend to miss: the decision moves out of the public zoning boards. If you own nearby and expect a hearing to be your moment to object, on these applications there may not be one.
A second law reaches the historic buildings
Live Local governs approval. A separate statute governs demolition. The Resiliency and Safe Structures Act, passed in 2024, permits the demolition of certain historic structures in coastal areas that do not meet FEMA flood standards.
Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez told WLRN on 15 September 2026 that “the city has been stripped of its authority to stop the demolition of historic properties like the Savoy and Arlington.” Meg Lousteau of the Miami Design Preservation League told the same outlet that the outcome “was not only predictable, but was predicted.”
425–455 Ocean Drive — the Savoy Hotel
City file PB26-0840 asks for “approval of mixed-use, affordable housing project under the Live Local Act.” The property owner named on the application is Savoy Hotel Partners LLC of 455 Ocean Drive, the contact address on the form belongs to Allied Partners, and the applicants of record are Carter McDowell and Nicholas Noto of Bilzin Sumberg on Brickell Avenue. The folio is 0242030120190.
WLRN reported on 15 September 2026 that a letter of intent to demolish was sent in April 2026, and described a 38-storey building by Arquitectonica holding 90 condominiums, 60 workforce rental units and a hotel. The Savoy dates to 1937 and the adjacent Arlington to 1941. Both sit in South of Fifth, outside the Miami Beach Architectural District that was listed in 1979.
1501 Collins Avenue — the Bancroft and Ocean Steps
City file PB25-0800 was sworn in July 2025 by Richard Weisfisch for 1501 Collins LLC, care of PEBB Capital, against folio 02-3234-163-0001. The application is filed as an “Administrative Review Pursuant to §166.0415 Florida Statutes,” and its stated scope is “administrative approval of project consistent with the Live Local Act.”
World Red Eye and Floridian Development reported on 15 and 16 September 2026 a 325-foot, 25-storey tower holding 124 residences — 50 workforce rentals and 74 for-sale condominiums — with 42 hotel rooms and 15,999 square feet of commercial space, designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill with Built Form Architecture. The 1939 Art Deco Bancroft would be preserved and its late-1990s dining annex demolished.
The detail worth pausing on
Compare two reports of the same project.
The Real Deal, on 16 January 2026, described the plan the developers went to court over: 249 apartments, 40 percent of them workforce, and 38 hotel rooms. The plan reported this week holds 124 residences and 42 hotel rooms.
The residential count roughly halved. The more consequential change is one nobody has remarked on: the January plan was rental, and the September plan is 74 for-sale condominiums with a workforce rental component attached. That is a different product on the same corner — and it is new for-sale inventory at Collins and 15th Street, where the Bancroft wraps the northeast corner.
Where the Bancroft dispute stands
The developers — Pebb Capital, Maxwelle Real Estate Group and GFO Investments — sued the City of Miami Beach in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court, in a complaint The Real Deal reported on 16 January 2026. The complaint alleges the city refused to accept the Live Local application. The city’s position, as reported, is that the Bancroft and Ocean Steps parcels function as a single development site, which would require the consent of adjacent condominium owners. The developers dispute that.
As of 17 September 2026 the outcome is not a matter of public record. Floridian Development wrote on 15 September 2026 that it is unclear whether the litigation is ongoing. What can be verified is that PB25-0800 still appears on the city’s register of applications under review.
What a buyer should take from this
Three things, none of which depend on how the litigation ends.
The usual public process may not apply. These are administrative approvals by design. The zoning-board hearing many owners think of as their opportunity to weigh in is the specific thing the statute removes.
Follow the file number, not the press release. A project’s programme can change substantially between filings — the Bancroft’s halved — and the city’s register is where the current application lives.
For-sale inventory is being created by a workforce-housing statute. The 74 condominiums proposed at 1501 Collins exist because of the affordable component attached to them. That is the trade the law makes, and it is now shaping supply at the top of the Miami Beach market.
Frequently asked questions
How many Live Local applications is Miami Beach reviewing? Ten, per the city’s register as retrieved on 17 September 2026.
Is the Bancroft Hotel being demolished? No. The plans reported on 15 and 16 September 2026 preserve the 1939 Art Deco Bancroft and demolish a dining annex built in the late 1990s.
What is the difference between the Live Local Act and the Resiliency and Safe Structures Act? Live Local, passed in 2023, governs approval, height and density where workforce housing is included. The Resiliency and Safe Structures Act, passed in 2024, governs the demolition of certain historic coastal structures that do not meet FEMA flood standards.
Does 120 percent of area median income mean low-income housing? No. It is workforce housing, the band above the conventional affordable-housing thresholds.
Are the other eight applications detailed here? No. They are listed on the city’s register with file numbers and addresses; their plans are not described in this article.