The entrance to Miami Lakes Business Park West is near one of the key traffic intersections in town: It begins on Miami Lakes Drive and is very close to the Palmetto Expressway and Interstate 75.
“You’re right at the highway, you get off and we’re the first building on the left,” Thomas Bartelmo, president and chief executive officer of The Kislak Organization and chief executive officer of the Kislak Family Foundation said about its proximity to the Palmetto.
For 35 years, the company has anchored the northeast corner of the business park, which extends south for several blocks and is home to major corporations.
“When the family was able to identify that site, I think that’s what they felt, that there was visibility from the highway,” Bartelmo said about the real estate firm.
The properties between Northwest 77th Court and Northwest 79th Court/Bob Graham Parkway reflect the history and culture of Miami Lakes: Public service, commerce, investments and real estate, education and farming.
There is Popular Bank; Ana G. Mendez University; Value Store It Self Storage; a pasture where the Graham Dairy’s Holstein cows graze and Miami-Dade County Fire Rescue Station 64.
The Graham Companies developed the park in the 1980s. The Miami Lakes Architecture Control Committee for Commercial Properties enforces protective covenants for the design and height of new buildings.
It also oversees paint colors, landscaping and signage at existing structures.
Popular Bank is expanding along Miami Lakes Drive with a new building it hopes to occupy at the end of 2022.
“Having a headquarters in Miami Lakes is really good, you’re able to attract talent from many areas,” Popular Bank Florida Regional President Israel Velasco said.
Both Velasco and Bartelmo like the area dining options.
The Park Centre Shops are just west along Miami Lakes Drive. Velasco said he’s a lunchtime regular at Latin American Grill.
The rest of this neighborhood will be explored further in future stories.