The arguably historically significant ''Miami Beach Red" concrete in several of its forms. Photo by Michael Menchero

Shades of the City
Roughly 95 percent of Miami Beach's Sidewalks Are Built of Pricey 'Miami Beach Red' Concrete. Will the City Begin Phasing it Out?

By Lee Molloy

The Miami Beach Capital Improvements Oversight Committee has already discussed it, the Historic Preservation Board will soon be putting in their two cents, and the issue will  go before the City Commission. However, on Tuesday, Jan. 5 it was the Design Review Board (DRB) that weighed in on the red-hot topic of the day — should the city stop installing the pricey, but arguably historically significant, ‘Miami Beach Red’ sidewalks that date back to at least the 1940s?

According to a Letter to the Commission from City Manager Jorge Gonzalez dated Sept. 28, 2009 it was the construction of the New World Symphony (NWS) Campus in the town center that brought the issue to the forefront. Representatives from the building’s designers, Gehry Partners, and international landscape design firm West 8, made the case for gray concrete on the sidewalks alongside the campus, which was subsequently approved by the city administration.

That decision led city staff to examine the standards for the color of concrete throughout the city, and recommend a change to natural concrete color for all areas outside of the historic districts. The Historic Preservation Board was first tasked with the decision on the fate of red concrete within those districts.

Tuesday, Mike Alvarez, assistant director in the Public Works Department, presented the DRB with some pragmatic reasons for making the change.

First, at more than $200 per cubic yard, installing the ‘Miami Beach Red’ costs the city roughly twice the price of gray concrete, which, in part, is due to a necessity to thoroughly clean the mixing trucks after they pour red concrete.

Additionally, due to the way the red concrete is mixed and transported, its comprehensive strength is reduced from roughly 3,000 Pounds per Square Inch to 2,000 PSI, which is more prone to cracks in the sidewalk.

Red sidewalks, washed with high-pressure hoses, also tend to lose their color over time.

Furthermore, when utility companies such as FPL carry out necessary work that involves tearing up parts of the sidewalk, it is often impossible for them to color match the surrounding concrete, which further exacerbates the patchwork coloring of the sidewalks.

Is Red Really Historic?

According to Senior City Planner Debbie Tackett, some uncertainty surrounds the origins of the ‘Miami Beach Red’ sidewalks.

There are rumors that the de facto patriarch of Miami Beach, Carl Fisher, wanted the sidewalks to symbolize “putting down a red carpet for tourists.” Some ruminate that former City Engineer Moris Lipp, who worked for the city after World War II, told colleagues at the time that the idea was originally Fisher’s.

Fisher died in 1939.

In practical opposition is one of Fisher’s first residential developments, The Palm View Historic District, located between the Collins Canal, and 17th Street to the west of Meridian Ave, still retains original gray concrete that dates back to the 1920s, with no red sidewalks in sight.

The method for creating the red sidewalks has also changed over the years.

It’s believed that prior to WWII, the red oxide was mixed with the concrete powder before adding the water. After the war, however, in order to cut costs, the red oxide was applied to the surface of the wet concrete after it was laid, which created uneven shades of sidewalk color around the city.

Miami Beach residents, including former Mayor Harold Rosen, told the administration that they remember the sidewalks being painted red in the ’60s and ’70s.

Currently, the sidewalk outside the Miami Beach Convention Center is one example of not of red concrete, but a painted rendition. Today some property owners have also taken it upon themselves to paint the sidewalk outside their buildings, without permission, in order to achieve an even color. 

Since the ’90s, the city has reverted to the pre-WWII method of integrating the red pigment into the concrete mix when rebuilding sidewalks. However, the color often varies significantly from pour to pour.

Reviewing the Design

DRB member Gabrielle Redfern is not happy that city staff seemed to have already initiated a policy change without seeking public opinion on concrete color, by approving the request of the NWS designers.

“I’m hoping that the [Design Review] Board will share my outrage in this,” she said.

However, Redfern’s fellow board member, Clotilde Luce had a more laidback perspective.

“Could we have a color that is the exact color of chewing gum?” she asked. Adding that although many people visit Miami Beach, “I don’t see anybody taking pictures of the sidewalk,” she said. “The red sidewalks are, I hope, a thing of the past, and I won’t miss them in any way.”

Board Chair Thomas DeLuca, an architect by profession, suggested that something may be considered historic, but is not necessarily worth saving.

“Unfortunately there is great design, successful design, and there is unsuccessful design,” he said. “One of the contributing factors of unsuccessful design is the designer’s shortsightedness of how their design, and the material, lasts.”

DeLuca thinks the ‘Miami Beach Red’ sidewalks are “not a successful design” partly because of the upfront costs but also because they are a “maintenance nightmare.” He says he would “rather put that money into landscaping improvements” such as lining the streets with trees for shade.

The DRB’s first recommendation to the city commission is that when large portions of a block’s sidewalk need to be repaired or replaced, then the whole side of the block should be converted to gray.

However, smaller portions of concrete repair should be made with the prevailing color, and any deviation from the established color or material should be approved by the DRB or the Historic Preservation Board.

Only Redfern, who wanted to see a single concrete color codified across the entire city, dissented.

“It’s going to take a hundred years to solve the schizophrenic problem with our sidewalk,” she said.

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