WEEK OF THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2016
A Singular Voice in an Evolving City
WWW.MIAMITODAYNEWS.COM $4.00
COCONUT GROVE
With newcomers, 38 eateries most on Grove record, pg. 14 ADDING TOURISTS: Demand for travel to Greater Miami and the Beaches during 2015 was ranked, for the top 25 US markets defined by Smith Travel Research (STR), fourth in both revenue per available room and average daily room rate and sixth in hotel room occupancy. From January to December, revenue per available room was $152.83 compared with $144.21 over 2014, up 6%; average daily room rate was $195.75 versus $184.79, up 5.9%; and average daily occupancy was 78.1% versus 78%, up 0.1%. Room supply for 2015 was 50,775 in comparison with 48,999 in 2014, up 3.6%; and monthly rooms sold in 2015 came to 14,470,258 versus 13,957,205, up 3.7%. MiamiDade ranked third nationally in December for average daily room rate, revenue per available room and hotel occupancy, according to STR’s report on the top US markets. On Tuesday, Wendy Kallergis, president and CEO of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association, said the numbers indicate our area is doing better compared with prior years. Even with new hotel inventory, she said, we continue to grow occupancy.
Top city parking projects ticketed for Grove, pg. 16
THE ACHIEVER
BY SUSAN DANSEYAR
LONG WALK COMING: Construction is to begin this spring and end in summer 2018 on a 320-foot-long pedestrian bridge over Southwest Eighth Street connecting the City of Sweetwater with the main campus of Florida International University, the university announced last week. The $9.3 million bridge is to be funded with an $11.4 million US Department of Transportation grant that also will pay for improvements to the campus entrance and to the Southwest 109th Avenue area of Sweetwater and provide a smart parking software system that will alert users to available space in university garages. MCM construction and FIGG Bridge Engineers are to design the bridge. ETHICS FOR OFFICIALS: The public can get a peek at ethics training that local elected officials are all required to take. Identical two-hour programs will cover the county’s conflict of interest and ethics ordinance, the citizen’s bill of rights, the state’s sunshine and records act and portions of the state ethics code for public officials and employees. The sessions are open to anyone, including candidates for office. One will be at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 17 in the council chambers at North Miami City Hall, 776 NE 125th St., and one at 6:30 p.m. March 10 in the commission chambers at Miami City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive in Coconut Grove. Details: (305) 350-0630.
Ken Okaniwa
Photo by Marlene Quaroni
Sees US-Japan trade gains in Trans-Pacific Partnership The profile is on Page 4
Mayor says commission’s port order out of date BY SUSAN DANSEYAR
So much changed after county commissioners directed Mayor Carlos Gimenez last fall to expedite development of the southwest corner at PortMiami that he won’t act as ordered until he first has all involved assess the best use, he told commissioners in a memo. Instead of seeking to develop 11 acres as commissioners ordered, he instructed Port Director Juan Kuryla to survey cruise and cargo lines, cargo terminal operators, longshoreman associations, stevedores, freight forwarders, truckers, Miami’s Downtown Development Authority, ground transportation operators, the taxi industry and harbor pilots. Most of those meetings are due by midFebruary, Mr. Gimenez wrote, after which he expects to discuss findings with commissioners. In addition, he directed that any uses by the port itself of the vacant corner remain consistent with “traditional port maritime activities.” In his Feb. 4 memo, the mayor said new information came to light after 2011, when the commission adopted both a compre-
AGENDA
Swap adds parking for arts center
hensive development master plan and the port’s 2035 master plan, which incorporated potential commercial development on several areas of the port. At the time, he wrote, studies found the southwest corner of limited value for cruise and cargo operations, so the 2035 master plan recommended commercial development there to provide a third strong revenue source for the port’s capital investment program in new cruise and cargo infrastructure. “A subsequent planning process, which included a survey of 2,500 businesses associated with the trade and cruise industries (of which 250 companies responded), recommended a potential mix of uses centering on trade offices and facilities as well as hotels targeted to the cruise industry,” he wrote. But in the interim, David Beckham’s group sought the site for a Major League Soccer stadium and the county got an unsolicited proposal for a major mixed-use development there. However, title searches then revealed half-century-old state and City of Miami deed restrictions. Of particular concern is Miami’s stipula-
tion that the land must be used for seaport purposes or it reverts to the city, which led to the commission’s October direction that the county attorney speak with state and city attorneys to clarify their view of the deed restrictions. Additionally, the mayor wrote, cruise and cargo numbers have increased and port finances are vastly improved. Cruise traffic and cargo volumes have risen 22% and 11%, respectively, since 2011, he said. “Combined with a new ferry contract for service to Bimini and a flat lining of operating expenses, these favorable growth numbers have pushed cash reserves from approximately $18 million to $48 million; plus an additional $10 million to the port’s restricted reserves.” During the period, he said, port revenues that can repay debt rose from $43 million to $68 million. “Even with the issuance of new portbacked revenue bonds totaling approximately $500 million,” he said, “the port’s current ratio projections exceed those that were used in selling investment grade bonds to the market in 2013 and 2014.”
County commissioners unanimously approved a land swap last week that makes way for the placement and setback requirements of the Florida’s Department of Transportation’s longawaited I-395 signature bridge and provides space for the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts’ evolving parking needs. This will involve exchanging a county-owned 60,170-squarefoot site south of Northeast 13th Street between Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast Second Avenue for the FDOT-owned property totaling 61,904 square feet immediately west of the county’s land between Northeast Second and First avenues. Now, the state can reconstruct I-395 with its planned signature bridge from west of I-95 to the MacArthur Causeway while the Arsht Center maintains its view and receives space for parking in a nearby community park. Based on appraisals by the transportation department, the sites have an equal value of $27.8 million. The swap would require the transfer of Safe Neighborhood Parks grant requirements from the land the county would give to FDOT to the one it would receive from the transportation department. The swap will preserve the view corridor at the front of the Arsht Center’s Ballet Opera House by restricting any permanent buildings from being put up on the property that would obstruct it. According to Michael Spring, director of the county’s Cultural Affairs Department and senior advisor to the mayor, the state requested a different site from the county but, noting the Arsht Center’s ever-growing need for parking, proposed this land exchange in the best interests of all parties. In a memo to commissioners, Mr. Spring reported Miami-Dade County has a track record of partnering with FDOT on projects that have a countywide impact.
I-395 FUND DIVERSION FOR BAYLINK ROADBLOCKED ...
2
CONSTRUCTION WORK’S VALUE DIPPED HERE IN 2015 ...
9
MIAMI TO DISCUSS JURY REPORT ON DEVELOPMENT ...
2
CHANGES ALLOWED FOR TRANSIT-ORIENTED PLANS ...
11
ZAPATA BIDS TO MAKE 20-YEAR PLAN PUBLIC IN MAY ...
3
REVISED USES FOR COCOWALK COMING IN 90 DAYS ...
13
VIEWPOINT: TWO RAIL SYSTEMS, BUT UNITY IS VITAL ...
6
PLANNERS AGREE TO SPLIT APART BAYLINK’S LINES ...
23