Burger King’s former base on the bay is for sale. What’s next for the land?
An 80-acre bayfront site, once home to Burger King’s global headquarters, is set to be transformed from an aging office park into an expansive mixed-use development.
The current owner, Atlanta-based Goddard Investment Group, put the Palmetto Bay property, now called Laguna Vista, on the market this past week. Quito Anderson, a principal at the firm, told the Miami Herald Goddard is looking for developers interested in buying the land outright or working with the company on the project.
The property at 17777 Old Cutler Rd. and the proposed development have been controversial in Palmetto Bay. The village council voted to reject the development plan in 2022. But after the property owner sued, the village was forced to settle last year, approving plans for residential units, a hotel, and office and retail space.
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Even after reaching the settlement, Palmetto Bay Mayor Karyn Cunningham has been less than enthusiastic about the project. She worries the development will disturb environmentally sensitive bayfront land and bring more traffic to Palmetto Bay, a South Miami-Dade suburb with a population of about 25,000.
The office park that’s set to be redeveloped was once home to Burger King’s headquarters, a sprawling campus that housed corporate offices, test kitchens and Burger King University, the fast food giant’s training center.
In 1992, just four years after the company moved in, the offices were hit hard by Hurricane Andrew. After a year of repairs, Burger King moved back in, only to move out for good in 2002. Burger King’s offices are now at an office park near Miami International Airport.
Now, the bayfront office park is known as Palmetto Bay Village Center and has tenants including the Everglades Foundation. The planned project will retain a “majority” of the existing office space, either to continue using as offices or to repurpose in other ways, Anderson said.
The current tenants will be able to continue renting offices during and after the redevelopment, said Michael Fay, a principal at Avison Young, the international commercial real estate firm marketing the property.
The site is already zoned and permitted to build 413 multifamily units, 42 town homes, a 120-key hotel, 280,000 square feet of retail and 315,000 square feet of office space.
DPZ CoDesign, a Miami architecture firm known for its walkable mixed-use projects like Seaside, drew up the plans for the project. DPZ did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.
“This is a super exciting development, and it’s going to be something that I think is well sought after,” Fay told the Herald.
Fay said the property will be on the market for 45 to 60 days before developers will be asked to make offers. He didn’t say how much he expected the property to sell for, and he said the firm doesn’t know how much the project will cost.
Anderson said a developer would be able to alter certain details of the existing plans, but others are set in stone. For instance, a developer could not exceed the 455 residential units agreed on in the settlement.
The settlement also states that 22 acres of the property, about a fourth of the real estate, will be given to Palmetto Bay as a park. Cunningham said the village attorney has confirmed to her that any future developer would also be required to give the village the park land.
For the mayor, that’s one of the most important parts of the settlement agreement.
“Am I thrilled that there’s going to be development there? No,” Cunningham said. “You’ve got to take the hand that you’re dealt, and try and figure out how to make it better. So for me ... it’s the 22 acres.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 7:46 AM.
