CLIENT NEWS: Developer seeks rezoning to build hotel on Calle Ocho
September 8, 2025The owner of a property in Miami’s Little Havana wants to rezone the site to build a hotel on popular Calle Ocho.
The city’s Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board voted 6-1 in favor of the rezoning on Sept. 3 and it will need City Council approval at a later date. The application was filed by 1630 Southwest 8 Street LLC, owned by Gediminas Bulota in Miami Beach, concerning the 15,763-square-foot site at 710 S.W. 16th Ave. It wants to rezone it from T5-O (65 units per acre, up to five stories) to T6-8 (150 units per acre, up to eight stories).
The same company already owns the neighboring site at 1603 S.W. 8th St., which is already zoned T6-8. That property spans 8,108 square feet and has a 11,342-square-foot commercial building.
Local attorney Melissa Tapanes Llahues, who represents the developer in the application, said her client would develop both parcels together with a hotel. The site plan by Modis Architects shows an eight-story hotel with 149 keys, 17,030 square feet of commercial space, a rooftop pool deck and 128 parking spaces. She noted there are only three major hotels on Calle Ocho and there’s a lack of public parking, so this project would provide for both of those needs.
“It beautifies the Calle Ocho corridor with an upscale destination hotel,” Tapanes Llahues told the board.
Several board members asked her whether her client would sign a covenant limiting development of the site to a hotel, as the T6-8 zoning would allow other uses, such as multifamily. Tapanes Llahues said her client would not sign such an agreement but it fully plans to develop a hotel there. Ultimately, the board approved it without that requirement.
Calle Ocho is a popular tourist destination and there’s been a wave of development there in recent years that has increased density in the neighborhood. Several board members were concerned that new development was not in keeping with the historic character of Calle Ocho and Little Havana, but building design is not covered by the Planning Board. Tapanes Llahues noted that the city’s Urban Design Review Board would be responsible for approving the design elements.
