Two years later, Miami-Dade mayor wants to toss developer bids for Miami airport hotel

The quest for a modern hotel at Miami International Airport could go on longer as Miami-Dade County’s mayor wants to throw out existing bids from developers and start again.

In a Wednesday memo, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she wanted to redesign the requirements for developers of the hotel project launched in 2020 under her predecessor, Carlos Gimenez.

A county selection panel in August recommended a development team led by Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross, who is a New York real estate mogul, and Jeffrey Soffer, owner of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, the county’s largest hotel.

County procurement staff under Levine Cava last month prepared a draft mayoral memo recommending award of the contract to the Ross and Soffer group, FDR Hotel LLC, to build a 451-room hotel on a 50-year lease paying $240 million in rent to the county overall.

Levine Cava scrapped those recommendations in her memo to commissioners Wednesday, asking for the chance to launch a new bidding process “that will incorporate a stronger focus on workers, local hiring, the environment and community benefits.”

The memo followed objections by two labor groups, with one letter coming from a lawyer representing the second-place finisher, Parmco Airport Hospitality.

The Nov. 28 letter from Liuna, the Southeast Laborers’ District Council, asks Levine Cava for “a fresh procurement process” to secure better wages for workers and negotiate union agreements earlier. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers sent a similar letter to Levine Cava the same day.

The FDR group maintains it secured the appropriate union agreements in time.

This story was originally published December 21, 2022 at 6:39 PM.