County may reclaim vacant Overtown land from redevelopment agency

Miami-Dade County may take the unusual step of reclaiming a valuable Overtown parcel from a city redevelopment agency after attempts to develop the property failed.

At the request of County Commissioner Audrey Edmonson, the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to consider a proposal Tuesday to exercise a reverter clause placed on a 90,000-square-foot piece of land currently belonging to Miami’s Southeast Overtown Park West Community Redevelopment Agency. If commissioners approve the proposal, the county would take back the land at 152 NW Eighth St., which was ceded to the redevelopment agency along with two other properties as part of a 2013 legal settlement.

With its ownership subject to construction deadlines, the redevelopment agency had hoped to work with developer R. Donahue Peebles’ Overtown Gateway Partners to turn the property — currently valued at $7.3 million and used as a surface parking lot — into a mixed-use complex of hotel rooms, shops and apartments, including some affordable units. But the project never materialized, and the redevelopment agency killed the deal this summer.

Miami commissioners had hoped to find a new developer for the site and convince the county to once again agree to a deadline extension. But Clarence Woods, executive director of the redevelopment agency, said county officials told him they were more inclined to take back the property and pursue a project themselves.

“It doesn’t have any effect on us,” said Woods. “We believe we’ll be at the table when it comes to selecting a developer on the project.”

Edmonson has had friction with the redevelopment agency in the past, and Miami commissioner and redevelopment agency chairman Keon Hardemon campaigned against her in 2012. But Woods said he doesn’t believe politics are involved.

“We just want to work with the county to make sure it gets done in a way we can all benefit,” he said.

This story was originally published October 27, 2016 at 6:12 PM with the headline "County may reclaim vacant Overtown land from redevelopment agency."