Miami Beach commissioners to discuss possible convention hotel

The Miami Beach City Commission will discuss the possibility of a hotel near the soon-to-be-renovated convention center and a trolley system for Mid-Beach at its meeting Wednesday.

The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in City Hall, 1700 Convention Center Drive.

As the plans for the upcoming $500 million renovation of the Miami Beach Convention Center remain on track to start by 2016, commissioners have pondered putting a hotel at the corner of 17th Street and Convention Center Drive, behind the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater, to attract bigger conventions.

According to a memo to the commission from City Manager Jimmy Morales, leasing the site to a private developer will require a referendum with 60 percent voter approval. City staff is preparing a traffic study for the development of a hotel at that site and a schedule with a realistic scenario that would have voters deciding on the deal in November 2015.

The city would have to approve ballot language, selects a developer and negotiate a lease with that developer by Sept. 4, 2015.

The City Commission will decide Wednesday on whether to move forward with the process to solicit proposals from developers. Commissioners will also get an update on the whole convention center project.

In other business, the commission is expected to discuss the possibility of a trolley system for Mid-Beach. South Beach has a trolley loop, and North Beach will be debuting its trolley Oct. 29.

The commission will also discuss the recently-uncovered failure of previous administrators to collect unpaid developer fees that are meant to fund parking projects.

This story was originally published October 16, 2014 at 5:13 PM with the headline "Miami Beach commissioners to discuss possible convention hotel."