Quaint Buena Vista Building Becomes Unmitigated Historic Preservation Disaster

August 16, 2016

Instagram

Artist Oliver Sanchez’s Instagram post summed it up perfectly. An historic Mediterranean Revival store with upstairs apartment in Buena Vista that kept its graceful original facade intact for almost a century has become an unmitigated disaster, losing its character entirely while gaining a sloppy new look, that frankly doesn’t look like much. The result is an unmitigated disaster and historic preservation, if one dares even use that term here, at its very worst.

The worst part is, it was no secret this was happening. The redevelopment made the real estate blog/news website rounds when it was announced, with a big rendering that has turned into reality. It was there and nobody noticed. Nobody raised the issue. Called Upper Buena Vista, the project by BVM Development is going to be a ‘mini urban village’ of shops, apartments, and ‘creative-class’ types of stuff with an old warehouse aesthetic. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a case of a good old building being stripped of its authentic past and redone in an an entirely fake history.

Upper Buena Vista

Hey, it’s Miami not Havana. #wtfchitecture @like.china @felicegrodin #domingocastillo #buenavistamiami

A photo posted by swampspace (@oliverswampchez) on Aug 16, 2016 at 8:29am PDT