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Miami residents will soon vote on three major deals to redevelop city-owned property:

Miami Riverside Center

Lancelot Miami River, an affiliate of Adler Group, wants to demolish and replace the city’s Riverside Center administrative building.

If the deal is approved, four new towers could be built.

Two would be 50 to 60 story condo towers, one of which will be luxury and the other mid-range. A third will be a 30-story rental tower, and the fourth would be a replacement administrative building for the city, valued at $140 million.

Voting is scheduled for November.

Miami Freedom Park

A partnership that includes David Beckham and Jorge Mas want to develop the Melreese golf course into a project valued at up to $1 billion.

The project could include a stadium, retail, hotel, office and parking garages.

Voting is scheduled for November.

Jungle Island Hotel

A 13-story, 300-room hotel is proposed at Jungle Island by owner ESJ Capital.

Voting is scheduled for the August 28 primary election.

Source: The Next Miami

Developers building projects along or near the Underline could be allowed to go bigger if they contribute funds for the city of Miami’s portion of the planned 10-mile long linear park.

Under a proposal crafted by the clty’s planning and zoning department, projects within a half-mile radius of Metrorail stations could get an increase in height from eight to 12 stories, as well as a floor lot ratio bonus increase from 25 percent to 35 percent in exchange for improvements and maintenance to the Underline, which will run underneath Metrorail’s elevated tracks from the Dadeland South Station to the Brickell Station. Developers could also opt to pay contributions into a public benefits fund set up by the city.

Renderings of the Underline linear park and trail in Miami-Dade County

“The objective is to incentivize sustainable development that embraces the 10-mile Underline,” said Melissa Tapanes, an attorney representing Friends of The Underline.

Donations would be based on a percentage of the market value of the per-square-foot price charged for units in projects near and along the Underline. In addition, the contributions would only apply to the five miles of the linear park that fall within city of Miami limits. Developers could also score a 20 percent parking reduction for their projects if they place bicycle racks in their development sites along the Underline.

At a recent meeting of the Miami Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board, Aaron Stolear of 13th Floor Investments said his employer strongly supports the legislation.

“We think it will enhance the Underline and make the vision happen,” Stolear said.

The board unanimously recommended approval, but the city commission will make the final decision.

Last year, 13th Floor and The Adler Group won a Miami-Dade County bid to develop Link at Douglas Station, a mixed-use development that will include 970 residences, a 150-key hotel and 70,000 square feet of retail space and a public plaza. The seven-acre project will connect to the Metrorail Douglas Road Station at 3060 Southwest 37th Court. As part of the deal, 13th Floor and Adler will make a $600,000 contribution to The Underline.

In a recent email, 13th Floor Managing Principal Arnaud Karsenti said the new legislation would not directly benefit Link at Douglas Station because the project is already receiving zoning bonuses and benefits from the county that exceed what is proposed by the city.

“However, we definitely believe that this will have a beneficial impact on all neighboring properties,” Karsenti said, “It will stimulate better urban development along the entire US-1/Metrorail corridor.”

In September of last year, Miami city commissioners approved $50 million in funding for the $120 million linear park. The money would come from development fees charged by the city. About $67 million will be raised through private donations and other public funding.

 

Source: The Real Deal

The city of Miami inched one step closer Thursday to a multimillion-dollar quid pro quo that would land it a new administrative building and parking garage, while facilitating the construction of a $465 million mixed-use project on the site of its current headquarters on the north bank of the Miami River.

With a swift vote Thursday morning, the City Commission authorized the appointment of a special estate counsel in the city’s proposed deal to lease its riverside administrative center to property developer Adler Group in exchange for the construction of a new building and parking garage elsewhere in the city.

Under the agreement, the developer would pay the city a projected $335 million over the length of a 90-year ground lease on the city’s two-acre property through rent and a cut of sales. That adds up to a present-day value of about $70 million. The deal was proposed last year by an Adler Group affiliate, Lancelot Miami River.

City employees would remain in the building at 444 SW Second Ave., which formerly belonged to Florida Power and Light, until the construction of its new headquarters in 2020.

Rendering of Adler Group’s Riverside Nexus Central. Studio X Architects

For Adler Group, the land swap is part of a larger plan to erect a sprawling mixed-use project on the river dubbed Nexus Riverside Central. The project would be built on the city site and a neighboring 1.5 acre parcel. It would include three 36-story residential towers with 1,350 units, a 150-room hotel and 30,000 square feet of shops and restaurants.

Despite Thursday’s vote, the proposal is far from set in stone. Even if a deal is reached by commissioners, who authorized hiring the law firm without much discussion, the question would then be put on the November ballot and at the mercy of voters.

The deal appeared to be headed for the shelf before Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman, a Coral Gables law firm, was chosen from a pool of 16 candidates. Commissioners first rejected the city attorney’s choice of Shutts & Bowen, raising questions about whether there would be enough time to get a deal together and on the November ballot.

Commissioners said they were uncomfortable that Shutts & Bowen, a Miami firm, represents a plaintiff suing the city, and also that former commissioner Marc Sarnoff currently works as an attorney at the firm.

“It’s the responsibility of the special counsel to ensure that the city gets a favorable deal,” said Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado.

A review of the proposal last year noted that the city would pay up to $123 million for its new 375,000-square-foot office and 1,200-car garage, a roughly $50 million gap from what Adler will pay to lease the riverside property. Administrators say early negotiations quickly cut into the difference, although the most recent development agreement, crafted back in November, doesn’t specify where those numbers stand.

Weiss Serota will help to negotiate further. The commission in a prior resolution voted that when the city undergoes a major real estate deal, a special counsel is needed to ensure the city receives a fair deal, and Florida law states that any long-term waterfront lease requires a voter referendum.

Regalado said he was hopeful that a deal would be reached and that a motion would be put to voters in November.

“The city’s riverside administrative center, located on highly sought-after riverfront land, lacks adequate parking and poses a challenge for residents to access,” Regalado said. “It’s not client-friendly.”

If approved and favorably voted on, the new administrative headquarters would likely be built in one of three spots: near Marlins Park in Little Havana, behind Lyric Theater in Overtown or inside the seven-acre Link at Douglas complex that Adler is building at the Douglas Road Metrorail Station.

 

Source: Miami Herald