South Florida Residents Thrilled as Bal Harbour Village Gears Up for New Cut Walk Jetty

Edited by: TJVNews.com

South Florida residents and visitors are gearing up for something mighty special! In the otherwise troubling times in which we live, a new addition to the eye catching landscape of Bal Harbour, Florida in the North Miami Beach area is exceptionally welcome.

The Village of Bal Harbour’s upcoming Jetty Cut Walk will offer villagers an entirely new experience, according to a statement on the cadence-living.com web site.

Awarded in 2019 to Mikyoung Kim Design with Cadence, the design will bring visitors closer to the kinetic energy of the Atlantic Ocean’s wind and tidal patterns. The new experience for humans visiting the Jetty will also remind them of their co-existence with Earth’s other creatures, specifically the unique marine population that lives on Village’s coastline.

All design interventions for the human experience will be paralleled with enhancements for the existing native flora and fauna. Coral and dune plantings in the area will both receive improvements that benefit marine and wildlife habitats. Extended catwalks over the ocean, a variety of options for sitting along the Cut Walk and within the cove will provide new ways to interact and relax while visiting the jetty. A new native beach garden walk will give visitors and children a different perspective of “beach lounging”. All of these added elements provide more options for exercising and spending more time outdoors enjoying this ocean front environment.

Removed from the vehicular traffic, a tiled promenade begins alongside busy Collins Avenue and extends outward along the Jetty, curving gently into the sea. The ground plane is transformed by a kaleidoscopic stone mosaic that mirrors the water’s palette of hues. With room for both pedestrians and cyclists, it beckons visitors to traverse the seaside at a human scale, with room for both contemplation and interaction. Lush plantings subtly delineate the promenade from the hotels and other mixed-used properties.

With sensitivity to the site’s unique ecology, a wooden boardwalk layers onto the promenade. Its materiality and configuration suffuses the site with a warmth and texture, contrasting with surrounding hotels’ sleek modernity and stature. Similarly referencing the harbor’s ebb and flow, the boardwalk gently bends northward from the shoreline into the ocean, shading visitors with an organic canopy structure. Outward from the canopy, three sections of stepped seating fluidly emerge into the water, providing visitors a restful vantage point with a serene ocean view.

The Mikyoung Kim Design Studio is an internationally acclaimed, award winning landscape architectural firm.  Subsequent to the review and careful consideration of various submittals by other design firms, Mikyoung Kim was selected as the best qualified. Mikyoung has worked in Boston, Miami, New York, Seoul and other major cities in developing innovative ways of integrating art and landscape ecologies to create memorable family-centered destinations. The firm has received over 50 design awards for their work including the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), National Design Medal and numerous ASLA National Honor awards.

Staff held the Design Development Phase kick off meeting with the consultants on January 16, 2020, and the consultants have commenced the preliminary meetings with the environmental permitting agencies. Currently, consultants are finalizing the environmental permits with the Army Corp of Engineers, Florida the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Miami Dade County Department of Environmental Resources Management.  The next milestone came in 2023 with the completion of Construction Drawings

Initial design concepts draw inspiration from the ocean’s dynamic movement. Removed from the vehicular traffic, a tiled promenade begins alongside busy Collins Avenue and extends outward along the Jetty, curving gently into the sea. The ground plane is transformed by a kaleidoscopic stone mosaic that mirrors the water’s palette of hues.

Bal Harbour was born of a vision of infinite possibility: a vision that has defined this community, making it an internationally renowned destination. Today, Bal Harbour is among the most elegant, exclusive and sought-after beach destinations in South Florida and beyond.

In 1929, Miami Beach Heights, a Detroit-based real estate development corporation purchased the raw land that would become Bal Harbour Village. Headed by visionary industrialist Robert Graham, along with associates Carl Fisher and Walter O. Briggs, they began the task of crafting a remarkable new community from the ground up.

One of the 20th century’s leading urban planning firms, Harland Bartholomew & Associates was enlisted to design the Bal Harbour Village as a modern community committed to exceptionally high standards, superior services, and civic pride.

In 1941, development is halted during World War II, with the land leased to the US Military for $1 a year.

In August 1946, Bal Harbour Village is incorporated, and development began in earnest. Initially called “Bay Harbour,” the name “Bal Harbour” is finally selected as indicating both coast and bay—taking letters from “bay” and “Atlantic” to create “Bal.”