By MICHAEL VASQUEZ

Museum backers have said the project will prove disastrous for Vizcaya, Miami's only National
Historic Landmark. The views visitors experience in Vizcaya's main garden, they predict, will now be
overwhelmed by in-your-face towers of concrete rising as high as 310 feet.

The project will be built by Jorge Perez's Related Group, in partnership with Boca Raton-based Ocean
Land Investments. Perez's is one of South Florida's most prominent, influential developers.

Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who represents the Grove, has called the project out of scale
with nearby single-family homes. Sarnoff urged commissioners to reject the condos, but came up on
the losing side of a 3-2 vote.

''Why was this approved?'' a disappointed Sarnoff said after the vote. ``I think you have to look
carefully at the developer, and the political clout that he has.''

City Commissioner Joe Sanchez cast the deciding vote to approve the project, on the following
condition: Once slated to rise as high as 410 feet, the three high-rise towers would have to reduce both
their height and number of apartment units by 25 percent. Thus, the tallest tower now will be 310 feet
high, and the number of units has dropped from 300 to 225.

''Mr. Developer, take it or leave it,'' Sanchez said from the commission dais.

Perez took it.

''Like all compromises, we're not happy, we're not sad,'' Perez told reporters after the vote. ``We're
going to try to make it work.

Perez, who predicted the condo towers would have only a ''very, very minor visible impact'' on
Vizcaya, said he hoped to break ground on the project by next year.

The condos will rise on land now owned by Mercy Hospital. The hospital stands to gain about $98
million from selling the land, money it says will go to a much-needed $300 million capital
improvements program.