8 September 5-11, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | News | letters | coNteNts | T he Uplands, a proposed museum and retail complex on the site of a disused marina in Miami’s Lit- tle River neighborhood, has drawn the ire of neighbors and other groups who cite the project’s proximity to a protected manatee zone. “They are going to bring in WaveRunners, and they will be flying through here at 30 knots racing each other,” fumes Anthony Ad- ams, a homeowner who has had the Little River and its frequent manatee visitors as his backyard since 1978. “This is a no-wake zone because manatees move slow, and many have propeller scars on their backs.” Just a few blocks northwest of Adams’ house, the property at issue is located at 471 NE 79th St., on the east bank of the Little River as it bends to the north behind the Tropical Market grocery store. Miami-Dade property records show that the wedge- shaped parcel, which covers roughly two- thirds of an acre, was purchased for $3.5 million by Emancipator 471 LLC in 2021. The company name is a nod to the fact that the parcel is the former site of the Emancipa- tor Boatyard, once owned by S. Mortimer Au- erbach, who, in the 1940s, designed a world-renowned wooden racing boat he dubbed the Emancipator. “They were among the fastest in the world,” Emancipator 471 principal Avra Jain tells New Times. “The building represents an important period in Miami’s industrial and architectural history, showcasing the evolu- tion of boat manufacturing and design. The Emancipator and other boats produced there contributed to Miami’s reputation as a hub for innovative boat design and racing.” Jain and her wife, Dalia Lagoa, head up the Vagabond Group, a real estate develop- ment company that has revived historic and industrial properties in Miami’s MiMo Dis- trict, Little Haiti, and Little River. The duo also developed Factory Town, a late-night dance-music venue in a Hialeah warehouse district. (New Times honored the pair as “Best Power Couple” in the 2023 “Best of Miami” issue.) In documents submitted to state environ- mental agencies, Emancipator 471 empha- sized the history of the proposed Uplands site. The company said it would reduce the number of boat slips from 21 to eight and re- store the boatyard and marina to convert it into “a dining, shopping, historic experience” and a “safe, secure, and environmentally re- sponsible marina for boaters and visitors to Miami.” The new marina, the developers stated, would provide short-term docking services only during the non-manatee season (May 1 through November 14) “and an area to ob- serve manatee congregation from the docks during the winter months when the manatee season is at its peak.” The rest of the year, the marina would be “closed to all vessels, paddle craft, and peo- ple.” Moreover, its piers would be reserved for “temporary docking while people enjoy our facility. There will be no maintenance al- lowed, no liveaboards, no storage, no fueling allowed at this facility.” Says Jain: “I could have built a high-rise. Instead, I designated the site historic.” What About the Manatees? According to the Little River Conservancy, a local nonprofit advocacy group, the waterway for which it is named is one of Miami’s four original natural rivers that empty into Bis- cayne Bay. Also known as “C-7,” the Little River me- anders some 12 miles eastward from Hialeah Gardens through Hialeah, unincorporated Miami-Dade, El Portal, and the Miami neigh- borhoods of Larchmont Gardens, Oakland Grove, the Upper East Side, Shorecrest, and Belle Meade before reaching the bay. It’s also a major drainage conduit for Doral and points west, according to the conservancy’s website. The group works to improve the river’s water quality, which it characterizes as “highly polluted by factors such as fertilizer runoff, industrial and construction waste, and leaking septic tanks.” That diagnosis is backed up by data that Florida International University (FIU) re- searchers collect from a monitoring buoy lo- cated near the mouth of Little River before it reaches Biscayne Bay, says Brad Schonhoff, director of FIU’s CREST Center, a federally funded initiative to study aquatic systems along so-called urbanization gradients. Schonhoff says the buoy “acts as an early indicator of issues, especially when it rains and pollutant levels increase and oxygen lev- els decrease.” Lack of oxygen — hypoxia, in science- speak — can cause dead zones for fish and plants. “However, wildlife and mammals can adapt because they can rise up,” Schonhoff points out. “From what I know, manatees use the Lit- tle River year-round for a freshwater source,” Beth Brady, a staff member at the nonprofit Save the Manatee Club, tells New Times. “But they are more frequently observed during winter months. Manatees do not tol- >> p 10 Above: The current state of the property at 471 NE 79th St. Below: Architect’s rendering of the proposed Uplands development. BOATYARD BROUHAHA Emancipator 471 LLC Emancipator 471 LLC B Y T H E O K A R A N T S A L I S
