Developer drops proposal to build big apartment complex by Robert Is Here fruit stand

The apartment developer trying to build a complex across the street from the iconic Robert Is Here fruit stand withdrew plans for the project ahead of a Thursday vote before the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Developer Treo Southwest had been pushing for a change in land rules for the 20-acre farm that would allow construction of up to 497 apartments outside Florida City. A Treo lawyer said Wednesday night that the developer plans to move forward with a smaller complex that doesn’t require a change in county land rules.

A commission vote on the larger plan was delayed twice since last summer, when Robert Is Here owner Robert Moehling began a public campaign to brand the project as an attempt to bring suburban sprawl and traffic to South Dade’s farm country.

“You’ve got thousands and thousands of apartments being built all over here. It’s ridiculous,” Moehling said Wednesday during a phone interview while he managed the counter at the business that got its start when he was selling cucumbers from a roadside coffee table at the family farm. “What they’re doing down here is destroying any community atmosphere of the country.”

On Jan. 15, Treo lawyer and lobbyist Juan Mayol wrote the county’s planning department a two-paragraph letter stating the company was withdrawing its application for the project. The move canceled, at least for now, Treo’s request to change Miami-Dade’s Comprehensive Master Development Plan to allow for a larger development on the site at West Palm Drive and Southwest 192nd Avenue.

Mayol said in an email Wednesday that Treo pulled the land-use request after the Moehling family refused to accept “significant density and height limitations” as a compromise. Moehling confirmed he refused offers to support a scaled-back request from Treo. Mayol said Treo now plans to “move forward with the development of the property in accordance with existing land use approvals.”

Current land rules and restrictions allow development of 198 apartment units on the property, though Treo would still need to win zoning approval for a specific project. Treo needs a change in the county’s development plan to build more than 198 units.

The developer is tied to Treo Group, a leading builder in Miami-Dade. It has a city deal to develop the Regatta Harbor retail and marine complex in Miami and more than 40 buildings and projects across the county listed on its website. One of Treo Southwest’s minority owners is developer Sergio Pino, according to the application.

Moehling said he was wary of Treo’s withdrawn request, given the developer’s other options. “We don’t really know how to deal with it,” he said. “I don’t know if they’re going to submit it again. I don’t know what their endgame is.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 6:00 AM.