Bay Harbor Islands ("BHI") is a town in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,628 at the 2010 census. It is separated from the mainland by Biscayne Bay, over which the land masses are connected via the Broad Causeway. On the mainland side, BHI is bordered by the city of North Miami, while to the east it borders the villages of Bal Harbour and Surfside. To the south lies the exclusive village of Indian Creek. BHI is about 20 minutes' driving distance away from Miami International Airport, and it is situated between the larger cities of Aventura and Miami Beach.
History
BHI was founded by Shepard Broad on April 28, 1947. It consists of two islands: Broadview and Bay Harbor. The western island (Broadview) contains exclusively single family homes, and the eastern island (Bay Harbor) contains a business district and multi-family housing.
Geography
Bay Harbor Islands is located at 25°53′15″N 80°8′9″W (25.887522, -80.135739).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.6Â km2). 0.4 square miles (1.0Â km2) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.52Â km2) of it (39.34%) is water.
Surrounding areas
- Â Biscayne Bay
- Biscayne Bay Bal Harbour
- Biscayne Bay  Bal Harbour, Surfside
- Biscayne Bay Surfside
- Â Indian Creek, Surfside
East Island architecture
The East Island of Bay Harbor features one of the largest concentrated collections of mid-century Miami Modern architecture of the 1940s and 1950s, including historic buildings designed by Morris Lapidus, Henry Hohauser, and Charles McKirahan.
In 2014, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named Bay Harbor's East Island to its annual list of the "11 Most Endangered Historic Places" in America because the island's architecture was coming under pressure from development. Two members of the town council responded to the listing by questioning the need to preserve the buildings. Some residents, in turn, criticized council members for as lack of attention to historic preservation.
Demographics
As of 2010, there were 3,199 households out of which 18.8% were vacant. In 2000, 20.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.6% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.4% were non-families. 43.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 18.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.97 and the average family size was 2.71.
In 2000, the town population was spread out with 18.0% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 23.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 80.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.3 males.
In 2000, the median income for a household in the town was $38,514, and the median income for a family was $43,939. Males had a median income of $38,750 versus $31,044 for females. The per capita income for the town was $29,261. About 8.0% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.7% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.
As of 2000, speakers of English as a first language constituted 52.05% of the population, while Spanish accounted for 43.90%, Portuguese 1.65%, Hebrew 1.30%, and French 1.10%.
As of 2000, Bay Harbor Islands had the twenty-second-highest percentage of Colombian residents in the US, with 4.72% of the US populace. It had the fifty-first-highest percentage of Cuban residents in the US, at 8.51% of the town's population. It also had the ninth-most Peruvians in the US, at 3.11%, while it had the twentieth-highest percentage of Romanians, at 1.10% of all residents (tied with Hollywood, Florida and many other areas in the US.) Bay Harbor Islands' Turkish community had the seventh-highest percentage of residents, which was at 1.20% (tying with five other US areas, such as Highland Beach.) It's also home to the seventeenth-highest percentage of Venezuelan residents in the US, at 1.15% of the population.
Notable people
- Garrett Wittels, baseball player
In popular culture
In the Dexter (season 2), the discovery of Dexter's victims' remains inspires the press to dub the serial killer the "Bay Harbor Butcher".
References
External links
- Town of Bay Harbor Islands official site