This category covers two adjacent areas north of Edgewater. Little Haiti is inland, west of Biscayne Boulevard, with NE 2nd Avenue as its commercial spine; the boundaries the Miami City Commission adopted in May 2016 run roughly from 54th Street north to 79th Street. The Upper Eastside is the bayfront strip east of it, running north from about NE 37th Street to the Little River, and takes in Morningside, Bayside, Belle Meade, Shorecrest, Bay Point and Palm Grove.
Development
The area was settled after the Civil War; a post office opened in 1889 and the settlement was named Lemon City in 1893, predating Miami’s own incorporation. The bayfront subdivisions are land boom era: Morningside was platted between 1922 and 1924, became a City of Miami historic district in 1984 and was listed on the National Register in 1992. Haitian settlement grew from the late 1970s, and the name Little Haiti came into use after businessman Viter Juste proposed Little Port-au-Prince; the 2016 boundary designation was adopted over objections from Lemon City historians and from residents concerned about displacement. The MiMo/Biscayne Boulevard Historic District, designated in 2006, protects postwar motels along Biscayne Boulevard between NE 50th and NE 77th Street and limits heights there to 35 feet. The largest redevelopment proposal is the Magic City Innovation District, entitled in 2019, which carries a funding commitment to the Little Haiti Revitalization Trust.
Parks & Recreation
The Little Haiti Cultural Complex on NE 59th Terrace and the adjoining Caribbean Marketplace, designed in a Haitian gingerbread idiom, are the cultural anchors, with Little Haiti Soccer Park, Lemon City Park and Eaton Park nearby. On the bay side, Morningside Park, Legion Park, Baywood Park and Manatee Bend Park provide waterfront access, and Morningside Park has the area’s public pool and tennis courts.
Transit
Neither area has a Metrorail station; the line runs well to the west and requires a bus connection. Bus service is the backbone: routes run on NE 2nd Avenue between downtown Miami and Aventura, on Biscayne Boulevard including express service, on NW and NE 54th Street, and on NE 79th Street, which continues over the 79th Street Causeway to Miami Beach. The City of Miami Trolley runs Little Haiti and Biscayne routes. Brightline and Tri-Rail are at MiamiCentral downtown. Miami-Dade’s planned Northeast Corridor rapid transit project on the FEC tracks includes a station at NE 61st Street, still in planning.