Miamians should OK deal for new city administration building
For a complete list of the Miami Herald recommendations for the Nov. 6 general election, click here.
Giving a thumbs up, or down, to the $1 billion soccer stadium and commercial development at Melreese
Golf Course proposed by David Beckham and his partner, Jorge Mas, is not the only major public land deal Miami voters have to consider on Nov. 6.
The other deal on the ballot, Miami Referendum 2, has been much more low-key, even though it involves riverfront real estate. This deal will give the city a new main office building.
Here’s how it came to be: Miami administrators long have been complaining that their 1992-constructed office building downtown, a 10-story tower at 444 SW Second Ave. on the north bank of the Miami River, has become too expensive to maintain and too small for the city’s large bureaucracy.
So the idea was born to work out a deal with a developer to transform the 3.15-acre primo site in exchange for building the city’s new headquarters.
Unlike the Melreese land deal, here the city held a competitive bid for offers for two years. The winner was the Adler Group, which will do the construction through affiliate Lancelot Miami River LLC. The city then spent 18 months negotiating the deal to lease the land.
With a deal reached, and as required, Miami voters must now approve the lease because it is a private development proposed for public waterfront property.
The deal features three towers and will be a mix of residential, office and hotel space with roughly 37,000 square feet of retail and a parking garage with a minimum of 1,000 spaces. The development will also include workforce housing, a real plus, and a critical need, in this community. It would also add a riverwalk and other public amenities.
In exchange, the city would get a new administration building and parking facility, rent payments of about $3.6 million on the waterfront property and a cut of any future major property transactions from what will be built there: a planned three-tower private residential development with each tower offering housing for different income levels. The new city administration building might be built next to the residential towers, but other sites are being considered.
This is the question that Miami voters will see on their Nov. 6 ballot:
Shall the city enter into a 99-year lease of approximately 3.15 acres at 444 and 460 SW Second Ave. with winning bidder, Lancelot Miami River, LCC; providing:
Privately funded mixed-use riverfront development; new public, Riverwalk and other public amenities; greater of $3,620,000 annual rent, increasing 1.5 percent or 3 percent of gross revenues; $69,400,000 purchase option; 2 percent capital transaction fee; living wage and 10 percent workforce housing and the the design and development of a new administrative building?
The Editorial Board always questions the wisdom of the city giving up public property, especially waterfront land.
But at least the city is not getting swindled and should have something to show for it.
The Miami Herald recommends YES on Question #380.
This story was originally published October 26, 2018 at 12:49 AM.