Miami Today: Week of Thursday, March 19, 2015 by Miami Today

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

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BANKING & FINANCE

On digital currency: open mind but caution, panel warns, pg. 15 ASIA AIR LINKS: Miami-Dade aviation leaders met last week in Taiwan with key government and airline officials in a bid to create a passenger air link. “Our MIA team is being very deliberate in its efforts to bring direct Asia passenger service to Miami for the first time,” said Emilio González, county aviation director, who along with aviation Director of Marketing Chris Mangos met in Taipei with airline executives from the Republic of China’s flag carrier China Airlines and with Taiwan-based EVA Air. They also met with the Taiwanese Civil Aeronautics Administration along with customs, immigration, economics and foreign affairs leaders. Miami has since 1997 had cargo links with China Airlines Cargo. Direct Asian passenger service would expand Miami-Dade’s international trade, tourism and business, said Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

City National Bank sale to Chile group is ‘in final stages,’ pg. 16

THE ACHIEVER

BY LIDIA DINKOVA

OUTPOURING ON BRICKELL: What developer Florida East Coast Realty says will be the largest single concrete pour in Florida history will begin at 10 p.m. Friday as more than 175 concrete trucks make a minimum of 1,440 round trips from five concrete plants to 1101 Brickell Ave., where the company is building 83-story, 830-foot-tall Panorama Tower. The tower’s 19-story pedestal is to contain 100,000 square feet of medical office space, a 2,000-car garage, a 208-room hotel and 50,000 square feet of retail and restaurants. Above that are to be 64 stories with 821 residential rental units. The concrete pour is to take 26 to 30 hours over the weekend, with more than 600 people working, including 62 police officers to control traffic as the trucks roll in and out, over and over. A FARE ISN’T FAIR: Miami-Dade commissioners overwhelmingly voted Tuesday not to charge a fare on Metromover. The measure needed a two-thirds vote but instead failed 11-2. Among other things, opponents of the measure have argued that if there were a fare on the currently free people mover, ridership would decrease. The Metromover has been free about 12 years. County voters approved in 2002 a half-percent sales surtax with the understanding that part of the revenue would support a fare-free Metromover. Commissioners Barbara Jordan and Sally Heyman pushed for a Metromover charge. Ms. Jordan said she might take the initiative to charge Metromover riders to the voters at a future referendum. “I really feel that if we went to the voters today and asked the voters, ‘Do we want downtown Metromover riders to ride for free?’, they would say ‘No’.”

Jordana Pomeroy

Photo by Maxine Usdan

Director seeks sharper Frost Art Museum identity The profile is on Page 4

UM stem cell research on heart may go national BY LIDIA DINKOVA

University of Miami stem cell research on generating healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors is on track to be tested across the US. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, part of federal medical research arm the National Institutes of Health, is to fund the $8 million cost if the trial wins necessary approvals. The trial, the first of this research in humans, is a step toward restoring full heart function in heart attack survivors. The research developed at the UM Miller School of Medicine’s Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute is on combining two types of stem cells to generate healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors. Scientists have in the past studied using one type of stem cell at a time, a method that’s worked OK, said Dr. Joshua Hare, founding director of the UM stem cell institute. But UM research shows that combining two types of stem cells expedites healing and regeneration of healthy heart muscle. “We could remove twice the scar tissue

AGENDA

Tourist tax might fund new transit

than with either cell alone,” Dr. Hare said. “We had some scientific information that they actually interacted and worked together, so we tested that. It worked.” Researchers combined mesenchymal stem cells, usually generated from human bone marrow, and cardiac stem cells, isolated from a mammal’s heart. Stem cells are cells that haven’t matured to specialize to work in a particular part of the body, such as the heart. Because these cells are in a way nascent, they have the potential to become specialized for a particular body function. Doctors have been using stem cells to regenerate lost tissue – from bones to heart muscle. The mesenchymal and cardiac stem cells each work well in generating healthy heart tissue in heart attack survivors, Dr. Hare said. Combining them expedites the process, according to the UM research. After a heart attack, scar tissue replaces a survivor’s healthy heart muscle. The scar tissue essentially hinders the normal heart function of pumping blood in and out. Dr. Hare used a sports analogy to explain what the dual-stem cell therapy is believed

to achieve. “The normal shape of a beating heart, the inside of the beating chamber is shaped like a football,” he said. When there’s scar tissue “the whole thing remodels and blows up like a balloon and becomes a basketball, and that’s very undesirable. So by replacing that scar tissue, that can cause the chamber to revert back to a football shape.” The research is to be tested at seven centers: UM, the University of Florida, Stanford University, Texas Heart Institute, University of Louisville, Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation and Indiana University. The Food and Drug Administration and a board of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute still must approve the trial before patients are recruited and the funds are granted. The trial is on testing the research on heart attack survivors only. But Dr. Hare said this therapy could potentially help other patients, including children born with congenital heart defects, a severe condition where even post-surgery patients could face problems with heart function.

Miami-Dade wants to increase tourist taxes and use the added income to fund mass transit projects. The county commission Tuesday voted to urge the state legislature to allow the tax increase. The initiative reflects a county push to secure funds for mass transit aimed at alleviating traffic congestion. Commissioner Esteban L. Bovo Jr., who sponsored the legislation, conceded at the meeting that increasing the taxes won’t be easy. “This is a very prolonged dance and a very long shot,” he said. The legislation seeks permission for the county to levy 1% more tax on each of two existing tourist taxes. The county wants to increase the tourist development tax, now 2%, and the convention development tax, now 3%. As it is, 60% of the tourist development tax revenue goes to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau and the rest is split between the county’s culture department and the City of Miami. Most of the revenue from the convention development tax goes to the county. State statute provides for the two taxes, which means the state, not the county, would have to enact legislation that allows for changes of the taxes. William D. Talbert III, president and CEO of the convention bureau, opposed the county action seeking the tax hike. He said tourists already put money in the government’s pocket with the existing taxes – about $142 million last fiscal year. “At least 25% of your gas tax is paid by visitors, and that funds a lot of transportation projects. Also, at least 25% of your sales tax is paid by visitors,” he said. He added that Miami Beach increased its bed tax to help reconstruct its convention center. The tourist and convention development taxes are paid throughout the county except in a few coastal municipalities.

RENTERS IN COUNTY INCREASED 25% IN SEVEN YEARS ...

PILOT EFFORT COULD BRING CAR CHARGING STATIONS ...

TURKISH BROTHERS PLAN TO BUILD BUSES IN COUNTY ...

BIG JUMPS SEEN IN DOWNTOWN TOWERS’ VALUATIONS ...

STATE GIVES NOD TO TRIMMING BOULEVARD’S LANES ...

APPRAISER FINDS FRAUD IN HOMESTEAD EXEMPTIONS ...

VIEWPOINT: BIG DRAMA AT GROVE PLAYHOUSE IS REAL ...

CHINA BANKING LINK TO FOLLOW HONG KONG MEMO ...

MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

THE INSIDER MEGA-MALL ADVANCES: The Miami-Dade County Commission approved Tuesday legislation that paves the way for a mega-mall to rise in Northwest Miami-Dade. Triple Five, the company that developed the Mall of America in Minnesota and that’s developing American Dream mall in New Jersey, now wants to open a mega-mall in Miami-Dade. The resolution the commission approved is the beginning of a long process for the developer to build the mall here. The legislation allows for the purchase of the vacant land from the state government for $12.3 million and for an additional $7.25 million to be paid to the school district, which currently leases the land from the state. Triple Five is to pay both the nearly $20 million cost. PASSPORT APP: If you’re traveling internationally, you can now skip the regular customs lines once you land at Miami International Airport. The airport now supports the Mobile Passport smartphone app. Passengers can enter their passport information on the app instead of on paper and once they submit it, they’re sent a barcode. Then, passengers can go through a specially designated lane for app users and scan the barcode. This allows them to skip the regular customs lines. The Mobile Passport app is the result of a partnership among US Customs and Border Photo by Maxine Usdan Protection, Airports Council International – North America and app The market is flooded with too many condos priced too high for the average buyer, said Javier Gonzalez. developer Airside Mobile. Passengers with a US passport and Canadian citizens with both a Canadian passport and B1 or B2 visas may use the app. The app is the latest in a slew of technology amenities implemented at the airport, including automated passport kiosks and an e-magazine. Miami International Airport is one of two US airports that offer the app. COUNTY JOBS GAIN: Miami-Dade added 42,900 jobs in the 12 months ended Jan. 31, the Beacon Council reported Tuesday. “The only industry that lost jobs was local government,” said President and CEO Larry Williams; that sector dropped 2,000 jobs in the one-year period. Unemployment dipped to 5.8% from 5.9% at the end of last year and from 6.9% at the end of January 2014. The biggest job gainer by percentage in the 12 months was construction, which added 3,100 jobs to increase employment levels 9.1%. Professional and business services had the largest total number of jobs gained, Larry Williams 8,700, up 5.9%, the Beacon Council said. Retail gained the second most jobs, 6,300, up 4.4%, followed by leisure and hospitality, up 4,200 jobs, or 3.3%. NORTH AMERICAN FRIEND: Roxanne Dubé has taken the reins as new consul general of Canada in Miami. She succeeds Louise Léger. Ms. Dube served as legislative and cabinet assistant to the minister of foreign affairs of Canada before she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1998. In Ottawa, she held positions as director of parliamentary and cabinet affairs; director and acting senior coordinator of federal, provincial and territorial relations; corporate secretary; director general of the Geographic Strategy and Services Bureau; director general of North American Programs and Operations; and executive coordinator of the North American Platform Program. From 2005 to 2008, Ms. Dubé was ambassador to Zimbabwe with concurrent accreditation to Angola and Botswana. BATTLING OBSTACLES: Ramiro A. Ortiz, who for the past two years had been CEO and president of HistoryMiami, has left the museum to consult as a business advisor for Spain-based Cuban entrepreneur and lifelong friend Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals, operator of Battlefrog obstacle course racing. The organization runs 7- and 8-kilometer races through obstacles, including a race in Miami on Feb. 28, one last weekend in Orlando and one due in March 28 and 29 in Houston. Mr. Ortiz, who went to the museum world after a career as a top banking executive, says he’s now Ramiro A. Ortiz reinventing himself again at age 65. His two-year contract with the museum expired as he made the switch. Battling is nothing new for Mr. Ortiz, who years ago was a boxing promoter. MEETING RISING CHALLENGE: A number of presenters will come together in Miami Beach for a March 27 conference to discuss mitigation and adaption strategies to address sea-level rise. Hosted by W South Beach Hotel & Residences, the “Community Resiliency Summit – Miami Beach Rising Above” will highlight strategies implemented in Miami Beach under the city’s leadership and how these can be used nationwide. The program will introduce programs for students that meet science, technology, engineering, arts and math initiatives and have an environmental focus. Dr. Barry Rock, NASA scientist and the co-founder of Forest Watch and Ocean Watch programs, will be one of the featured speakers. There will be presentations by the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce; Greater Miami & the Beaches Hotel Association; academics from Harvard Graduate School of Design, University of Miami and Florida International University; Ken Berlin, CEO of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project; educational non-profits; and city officials. Attendance is by invitation only. Details: environment@miamibeach100.com EXCELLENCE FROM BRAZIL: The Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce has named Frances Aldrich SevillaSacasa, CEO of Itaú Private Bank International, to receive its annual Excellence Award. The bank is a Miami-based subsidiary of Brazil’s Banco Itaú. Ms. Sevilla-Sacasa in 2011 served as interim dean of the University of Miami’s School of Business Administration. She has also been president and CEO of U.S. Trust Co. and president of U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. The award will be presented May 15 at the Four Seasons Hotel on Brickell F. A. Sevilla-Sacasa Avenue. CORRECTION: In last issue’s story about the Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency’s yearly allocation for the Suited for Success, an error was made regarding the group’s address. It moved to the Culmer Center in June 2014. The job-preparation organization schedules appointments with clients solely based on referrals from more than 120 agencies.

Miami renter population grew 25% in 7 years as times returned to good

BY SUSAN DANSEYAR

Miami’s rental population is growing and market watchers are divided as to why, with some saying it’s temporary and others that housing prices are prohibitive for anyone but the superwealthy. According to NYU Furman Center’s study titled “Renting in America’s Largest Cities,” nine out of 11 cities saw double-digit growth in renters and five of those saw growth exceeding 20% in a seven-year period. Miami’s rental population grew 25% between 2006 and 2013, the report states. In 2013, of 905,639 households in Miami-Dade, 55.8% owned their residences compared with 67.6% statewide, according to the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research. It makes sense that renters are increasing because more newcomers move to Miami and often choose to lease while they “get their bearings” and, within a year or so, might very well pick the neighborhood that best suits their needs and buy, said Ron Shuffield, president and CEO of realty brokerage EWM. “It’s not that they don’t want to own their own homes,” he said. “A higher percentage of people are renting who are qualified to purchase but have elected to rent for a temporary period.” According to Multiple Listing Service data, 51% of EWM’s transactions this year in MiamiDade were sales as of February, with 49% rentals. Sales were “booming” in 2002 and 2003, Mr. Shuffield said, when EWM’s rentals were only 40% of its transactions. The meltdown year of 2008 was the worst for sales, Mr. Shuffield said, at only 32% of transactions compared with 68% rentals. In February 2009, 43% of transactions were sales and 57% rentals. For the same month in 2010, 47% were sales and 53% rentals. In 2011, 49% were sales and 51% rentals; for 2012, 55% sales and 45% rentals; for 2013, 50% for sales and rentals; and 2014, 47% sales and 53% rentals. The numbers, Mr. Shuffield said, don’t include pure rental

Newcomers flooding the market often rent a while: Ron Shuffield.

buildings but, rather, individual units owned by investors. People are renting because condos and single-family houses in Miami-Dade have become too expensive, said Erica Gonzalez, an associate with RE/MAX Advance Realty. A 33-year-old Miami native who would love to own her own home, Ms. Gonzalez said she and friends the same age with professional jobs can’t come up with the 25% deposit – at minimum – for a place of their own. For her few friends who do own, Ms. Gonzalez said their homes are in places like West Kendall but “life has brought them east” where they don’t have as long a commute to work. One woman she knows is renting her West Kendall home and using the proceeds to rent closer to the city’s core because it’s still more affordable than a mortgage. Ms. Gonzalez has clients relocating to Miami who are renting until they can buy but can’t purchase until they sell their own homes. Most, she said, are from other parts of Florida and the Midwest. Whether they can sell their homes depends on the markets they’ve left. Javier Gonzalez, also an associate with RE/MAX Advance Realty, said most people ages 25 to 35 who can qualify for a mortgage can only get an FHA-approved loan. With required down payments of 25%, they can’t buy because FHA won’t allow such a high percentage. What this means for the community, Ms. Gonzalez said, is a more transient population. Mr. Gonzalez said the market is flooded with too many condos right now and the prices are too high for the average buyer.

“We need to slow down the building and let the properties become ownership [rather than investment],” he said. “An investment is used and traded; your home is not.” The only way that can happen, Mr. Gonzalez said, is through government initiatives that create financial opportunities for a broader range of people to buy a home. People rent out of both necessity and choice, said Calum Weaver, senior vice president for CBRE. Some cannot qualify for a mortgage; others used to own and can afford to again but prefer the freedom of renting, he said. In the past five years, Mr. Weaver said, the population in Miami-Dade has greatly increased. Moreover, demand for rental units is strong and the supply hasn’t been enough to satisfy it. “Less than 5,000 rentals were built in the last five years,” he said. “When the new supply comes only, it will satisfy the backlog of the past five years.” Mr. Weaver sees the trend toward renting continuing. The biggest contributing factor to reverse that trend, he said, would be if banks made financing more attractive, with lower down payments required.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

TODAY’S NEWS

MIAMI TODAY

Plan to cut Biscayne Boulevard car lanes has tacit state nod BY CATHERINE LACKNER

A plan to re-do Biscayne Boulevard being advanced by Miami’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has the tacit approval of the Florida Department of Transportation, though the former, not the latter, will continue to lead the project. “As state transportation partners, we find the DDA’s vision to be pedestrian friendly, aesthetically pleasing and in line with the department’s Complete Streets vision,” said Gus Pego, secretary for the state road department’s District Six, which enc o m p a s s es Gus Pego Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, via email. Complete Streets, initiated in 2003, “encourages street connectivity and aims to create a comprehensive, integrated network for all modes” of transportation, including walking and bicycling, according to the transportation agency’s website. It also says roads should be safe for people of every age and level of mobility.

Photo by Maxine Usdan

Narrowing boulevard in this area would be “pedestrian friendly, aesthetically pleasing,” said Gus Pego.

Newly christened Biscayne Green, the downtown author-ity’s project would narrow a stretch of Biscayne Boulevard from Northeast Eighth Street south to Biscayne Boulevard Way, reduce driving lanes from eight to four or six, and shave parking spaces from 388 to 187 to create room for medians with grass, trees and

walkways. It would replace a shared bicycle lane with a dedicated one and widen sidewalks. The cost for the medians was estimated at $24 million. “From an engineering perspective, we raised some concerns regarding the impact of the proposed lane reductions on one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares,”

Mr. Pego added, but overall the state agency, which goes by the initialism FDOT, doesn’t have major objections. “FDOT is committed to working with our partners – the City of Miami, the Downtown Development Authority and the county – on evaluating this concept and moving a potential

project forward. We will work in partnership with the DDA, the city and the county so that any improvement would address the mobility concerns within the central business district that we are hearing today.” The downtown authority is in the process of building a threedimensional model that it could use to build its case for the project, said Eric Riel Jr., authority team leader of planning, design and transportation, last month. There are still obstacles: the downtown group must work with the Miami Parking Authority to trim the parking spaces and reconfigure what’s left. The plan calls for some parking to be available at off-peak times only. The authority must also enlist the help of Miami-Dade County to redesign the intersections, develop a phasing plan, then submit construction documents to all relevant agencies. It is also the authority’s task to identify funding for it all. “We are looking to the DDA and/or the city to be the lead” on the project, Mr. Pego said, and also to address any issues that may arise from the loss of some parking spaces along Biscayne Boulevard.

Turkish brothers plan to manufacture buses in Miami-Dade BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

Two brothers from Turkey hope to bring their manufacturing prowess to Miami-Dade County and establish a plant to build cost-efficient, eco-friendly buses. Initial plans would see one shift of about 90 full-time jobs, say Claude and Jan Nahum of Karsan U.S.A. The introduction into South Florida’s industrial scene might come in the form of earning a contract from Miami-Dade County government for supplying buses powered by natural gas and the fueling stations to keep them humming. Nopetro, which bills itself as Florida’s leading compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling infrastructure provider, has teamed with Karsan U.S.A. in a bid to gain the contract from the county. “We responded [to the county’s request for proposals] as a team. We’ve partnered with Karsan,” said Jorge A. Herrera, Nopetro’s co-founder and chief executive officer. It could mean an initial investment of about $75 million for construction of the manufacturing facility and the special fueling stations. That figure does not include the cost of the new buses. It is one of a handful of proposals still being considered by county officials. The Nahums say they plan to establish a manufacturing facility in Miami-Dade whether or not they and Nopetro get the county deal. “If we are lucky enough to win it, it jump starts our step into the US market,” Claude

Jorge Herrera: partner of Karsan.

Claude Nahum: US market entry.

Jan Nahum: $5 million for the line.

Nahum told Miami Today. But he added, “This [contract] is not essential to us entering the US market.” The Nahums intend to submit a proposal later this year to manufacture new delivery vehicles for the US Postal Service. The brothers said they prefer to set up shop in an existing building, which would speed the ramp-up time to production, but they have not ruled out new construction. Jan Nahum estimated costs of $5 million to $6 million to build the assembly line at the plant. They envision the plant employing 80 to 90 full-time blueand white-collar workers. If the contract is awarded this summer and they can get a quick start, they could be delivering new natural gas powered buses to the county by mid2016, according to Claude Nahum. The brothers envision 1.5 buses completed each day, and full delivery of 300 new buses in about 14 months. The workers can be trained, and they anticipate bringing skilled trainers and engineers from Turkey to the US for that

training. “We’ve been looking at the US market for some time,” said Claude Nahum. Mr. Herrera said the partnership’s plan has been in the works for three years. “We’ve worked hand in hand,” he said. From about 2007 to 2011 the transit bus industry was “at a stall,” said Mr. Herrera, and municipalities were not replacing buses. Many buses have been used “beyond their useful life,” he said. Miami-Dade Transit, for example, needs 500 new transit buses, he said. Their proposal calls for delivery of 300 new CNG-powered buses to start out. Nopetro has a similar agreement with St. Johns County and Leon County, providing CNG infrastructure and related services. Converting to CNG offers more than financial savings to local governments, says Nopetro. Mr. Herrera has said that switching to natural gas could save the county government about $20 million a year on its fleet of 820 transit buses. Experts note that switching

to CNG cuts emissions drastically, including particulate matter by 89%, carbon monoxide by 70%, carbon dioxide by 25% and nitrous oxide by 80%, according to the company. Mr. Herrera says the partnership between Nopetro and Leon County is the nation’s first public-private partnership of its kind for natural gas fueling. By designing, building, operating, maintaining and supplying CNG and LNG fueling stations, Nopetro says it will be instrumental in displacing petroleum fuel, particularly diesel, from the transportation sector. The company’s goal is to transform all government fleets in the Southeast US to natural gas. Claude Nahum said the overall vision is beyond using a different fuel source and touches on the size of the buses and how they are used, which can be wasteful. “Changing to CNG is only a starting point,” he said. Plenty more can be done to make public transit more economical. He spoke of the large buses running around the clock, which are often full in the daytime and nearly empty at night. Two

people riding on a 40-foot bus is not very cost effective, he said. Enter Karsan’s smaller buses, which can be used by municipalities for those off hours and replace the nearly empty lumbering giants. “They’re smaller for the off hours… a lot of cities are doing that now,” he said. Claude Nahum said it is less costly to maintain the smaller buses, too. He said it may take some time to establish themselves as American manufacturers, but they’re optimistic about providing quality products here. Jan Nahum said they feel an obligation to provide the best transportation “for the operator, the rider and the community.” “Our interest is wider, our vision is larger,” he said. Mr. Herrera added, “We’re here to bring solutions, working collaboratively. This is an incredible opportunity.” On the county end, a selection committee is exploring details of the proposals from the finalists. County Mayor Carlos Gimenez appointed the members of the selection committee from a slate of recommendations from the Procurement Division of the Internal Services Department and some input from the user departments. The selection committee will recommend the award to the mayor, who in turn will make a recommendation of award to the county commission. The recommendation will go to a commission committee for approval and then to the full commission for final approval. A decision is expected within months.

MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

Major increases expected in downtown towers’ valuations BY SUSAN DANSEYAR

Come early June when 2015 taxable values are completed, Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Pedro Garcia expects that people will be impressed with how well the commercial market is doing in the downtown and Brickell area. “Everything is looking great and, with all the construction going on, the value of properties is increasing in the Downtown Development Authority district,” he said this week. “We’re working on the pricing now but already see tremendous numbers coming in.” Data from previous years indicate, for the most part, the taxable values on key Brickell and downtown office towers rising. Substantial increases in taxable value included Brickell World Plaza, located at 600 Brickell Ave., assessed at $112.75 million in 2014 compared with $102.5 million in 2013 and $90.1 million in 2012;

the Wells Fargo Center at 333 SE 2nd Ave. It was assessed at $123.5 million, the same as in 2013. In 2012, the building was assessed at $120.1 million. A downtown property, One Biscayne Tower at 2 S Biscayne Blvd., actually declined in taxable value. It was assessed at $124.1 million in 2014 compared with $125.2 million in 2013. The assessed value for 2012 was $118.5 million. For key downtown properties, Museum Tower at 150 W Flagler St. was assessed at $33.4 million in 2014 compared with $32.9 million in 2013 and $32 million in 2012. Southeast Financial Center, at 200 S Biscayne Blvd., was assessed in 2014 at $247.6 million compared with $242.5 million in 2013 and $246.4 million in 2012. A number of variables go into Photo by Maxine Usdan assessing the taxable value of an Miami-Dade County’s property assessment on the 600 Brickell tower rose $10.25 million in a single year. office building, Mr. Garcia said. and 1450 Brickell Ave., assessed pared with $130,748,010 in But there was no increase in They include vacancy rates, dein 2014 at $143,822,811 com- 2013 and $120,120,000 in 2012. taxable value year over year for preciation on a building and income after deducting expenses. “There can be differences in large income-producing properties from year to year,” he said. “If rents go down or there are more vacancies, the assessment is lower.” Every building is different, Mr. Garcia said. More than 80 people in his department work on assessments, looking at income and expenses in order to establish values. Looking forward, he said there will be 10,000 new condos, many in mixed-use projects, at the end of 2016, Anyone in Miami who is preparing to buy higher-end which will bring more people to residences, or is in the market for an investment property, the downtown and Brickell area and, thus, more workers in the is likely to be a Miami Today reader. Our readers have the office towers. For the entire Downtown buying power to purchase residential properties both Development Authority district, comprised of 1.7 square miles, for personal and for investment purposes. We have the taxable value of commercial property rose 7.63% from 2013 highest income level readership in South Florida. ($12,477,077,438) to 2014 ($13,428,725,854). The total millage rate for 2013 was 23.1295 compared with READERS DEMOGRAPHICS 23.1566 for 2014. That’s a relatively small in•53% of readers rank Miami Today as the best publication crease, as was the case for the for real estate news. rest of the county’s municipalities, according to Tom Dixon, •83% own residential real estate. former appraiser and founder •Average mean household income $219,025 with 43% being of Dixon Commercial Real Estate. If one owns a $1 million millionaires. property today in the Down•Of our 75,000 readers, 15% plan to buy a single-family home, town Development Authority, he said, taxes will be $23,156 10% plan to buy a condo, and 5% plan to buy a vacation compared with $23,129 in 2013, residence in the next year. an increase of $27. “Lower assessments equal lower taxes,” Mr. Dixon said. A ll figures fro m a survey released in 2012 by Behavio ral Science Research. “It does not mean the value of a property went down.” He noted that there are two parts to an assessment: the value of the land and the value of the For advertising information call 305.358.2663 building. On Brickell Avenue, Deadline is Monday, April 28 at Noon. Mr. Dixon said, buildings that went up in 1986 could only www.miamitodaynews.com have 10 stories. With zoning changes, today buildings can be built up to 60 stories. “The land value alone is worth more than some of the older buildings,” Mr. Dixon said. “People are paying a high amount for the land and then tearing the building down so A Singular Voice in an Evolving City they can rebuild higher.”

April 30

TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

MIAMI TODAY

Developer of river project plans to create park for Miami BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

Efforts to turn a small overgrown lot on the Miami River close to downtown into a lush pocket park for the public moved forward when a developer presented architectural drawings of what he’d like to see. Arturo Ortega owns land abutting the city-owned vacant lot and plans to build a residential project there. He wants to make improvements to the lot so it becomes a dedicated public park and a natural extension of the public riverwalk that will run along the water on his site. To show how serious he is, Mr. Ortega employed landscape architectural firm ArquitectonicaGEO to prepare plans for what he’s calling Flagler Cove Park. The drawings and rough site plans for the area were presented March 9 to a committee of the Miami River Commission. That same day Mr. Ortega had his first meeting with the city’s planning and zoning department in regard to the proposed development of a new residential project on the river. River commission officials had earlier applauded the efforts of Mr. Ortega in demolishing a large and rundown vacant structure on the river, with plans for redevelopment. Mr. Ortega sees this as a “winwin” for himself and for the city, and he said he got a similar reaction from city staff discussing the general overall idea. “It seems we’re all on the same page,” Mr. Ortega said. “We are definitely interested,” he said, as he had architects begin to show what they’d like the park to look like. The proposed park shows new lawn, trees, a curved pathway, further development of a small cove with a walkway extending over it, a slight berm and several benches. After hearing committee members’ ideas, Mr. Ortega’s team said they would look into having an area for dogs in the park and another for some playground equipment, but noted

F ILMING These film permits were issued last week by the Miami-Dade County Mayor’s Office of Film & Entertainment, (305) 375-3288; the Miami Mayor’s Office of Film, Arts & Entertainment, (305) 8603823; and the Miami Beach Office of Arts, Culture and Entertainment-Film and Print Division, (305) 673-7070. DAVID BISHOP PRODUCTIONS INC. Oklahoma. McDonald’s UK. Crandon Park Beach. TELEMUNDO STUDIOS/NBC UNIVERSAL MEDIA LLC. Miami. Dueños del Paraiso. Swale Parking. 44 BLUE PRODUCTIONS INC. California. Tentatively Rock and a Hard Place. Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. ITV PLC/CARLTON MEDIA. United Kingdom. Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway. Miami International Airport. 20TH CENTURY FOX TELEVISION STUDIOS. LA. UTH Pilot. Crandon Park Beach, Crandon Park Gardens, Hobie Beach, Miami-Dade County Children Courthouse, William Powell Bridge Turnaround. TVM PRODUTIONS INC. Fort Lauderdale. Graceland. 140 Building – Metro Flagler Building, Miami Beach Residential. FLAMA MEDIA NETWORK LLC. NY. Left Unattended. Miami Beach citywide. DOLPHINSB PRODUCTIONS LLC. Coral Gables. South Beach: Sugar. Normandy Island Neighborhood, Pelican Harbor Marina. PARAGON PRODUCTIONS SERVICES. Miami Beach. Stills for 3 People. Miami Beach citywide. SPIKE PRODUCTIONS CORP. Biscayne Park. Stills for Klingel. Countywide, Miami Beach citywide. SELECT SERVICES INC. Miami. Stills for Michael Stave. Countywide, Miami Beach citywide. THE PRODUCTION FACTORY LLC. Miami Beach. Stills for Jo Hope. Countywide, Miami Beach citywide. J PAUL PHOTOGRAPHY LLC. Michigan. Stills for portfolio shoot. Haulover Beach Park. PBNJ PRODUCTIONS. Florida. Stills for Beach Sheet. Crandon Park Beach.

Arturo Ortega offered this vision of a riverwalk in front of his building looking toward the proposed park.

the challenge as the lot is small. The committee didn’t vote. Mr. Ortega and his team plan to return with more detailed plans, perhaps by next month. River commission officials have been lobbying the city for years to turn the small vacant lot at 1 SW South River Drive into a park. The city property, a 4,500square-foot lot, has about 70 feet of river frontage adjacent to the West Flagler Street Bridge and an existing public walkway, Riverside Garden. The area is just northeast of Neo Lofts, a residential tower. River commission members said the small lot has attracted debris and troublemakers. In January, the river commission unanimously voted to ask the City of Miami to develop the small parcel into a public park and open space. Sallye Jude, a river commission member who has advanced efforts to bring more green space to the city, made the motion. The resolution calls on the city

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commission to dedicate all 4,500 square feet to public park and open green space for the long term, and to consider an agreement with adjacent landowner Mr. Ortega to make improvements including a new seawall,

and not allow the small site to be used for private development. Mr. Ortega owns two sideby-side parcels on Southwest South River Drive. He had previously told the river commission he has submerged land

leases for both of his parcels and plans to rebuild the seawall there, which he described as being in a “bad state.” The city’s land has little to no seawall. Mr. Ortega said he would consider extending his 170 feet of frontage and new seawall along the water on the city’s lot as part of a development deal for his site. Plans for Mr. Ortega’s land are preliminary, but he earlier said he’d like to build a 12-story building on one parcel and a low-level commercial structure on the other. In a letter to the river commission in late November, Mr. Ortega wrote, “Like I said, we are at an ideal point to reach agreements with the city since we are contracting a lot of the work that will be done in the following months, including fences, seawall, docks, construction, etc.” He went on to write about his commitment to “having a positive impact” on South River Drive. “I am open and willing to meet, discuss, and negotiate with the city different options that will, first and foremost, improve our neighborhood,” he wrote. Neighboring Neo Lofts, a 199-unit residential tower, opened in 2004.

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MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

New zoning pushes workforce housing entry into Omni area BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

A new zoning classification is available to developers who want a bit more floor space, in exchange for participation in the City of Miami’s public benefits program, a part of Miami 21, the city’s zoning code. City commissioners hope the new option will encourage development of much-needed workforce housing – a.k.a. affordable housing. Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who pushed for the change, also sees this as an opportunity to ignite development in the Omni neighborhood, an area just north of downtown that is home to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Mr. Sarnoff called it the city’s arts and entertainment district. The area is open and ripe for redevelopment, particularly Omni west, he said. “It’s kind of a blank slate,” he said. Mr. Sarnoff said the area has the greatest potential for housing urban dwellers who don’t own a car, due to its close proximity to Metrorail and the Metromover. There are also active county bus routes and the city’s trolley system. The current building boom includes tower after tower of luxury condos with price tags far out of the reach of many, noted Mr. Sarnoff. These residential towers rising in the city’s core “are becoming unaffordable to Americans, to Miami… This is our chance to build workforce housing,” he told his fellow commissioners last week. “This is our chance to get some zoning correct… We get to write this page,” he said. In Miami 21, a zoning classification of T6 is defined as being Urban Core. Commissioners approved an amendment establishing a new transect zone sub-classification

Photo by Maxine Usdan

The area west of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts is called ripe for workforce housing.

‘It’s kind of a blank slate.’

‘It’s the carrot approach.’

‘Mixed income doesn’t create ghettos.’

Marc Sarnoff

Francis Suarez

Willy Gort

of T6-24(B) that will have a higher floor lot ratio of 16 and a higher percentage of public benefits eligibility of 40%. The change will basically allow developers to build higher and wider if they agree to include units of workforce housing in the structure. Other ways

to earn the extra square footage would be to agree to build public improvements like a landscaped bike path or a new playground in a park, provide public open space, green buildings, Brownfield site rehabilitation, and civic space or civil support space, or to make cash contri-

butions to the Miami 21 Public Benefits Trust. “It’s the carrot approach,” said Commissioner Francis Suarez of the incentive to provide affordable housing. “Our young professionals, they are being priced out of the Miami market,” said Commis-

sioner Keon Hardemon. “This is a good thing,” Mr. Hardemon said of the new zoning classification. “For those living in the urban core, we need that mix of income.” Commission Chairman Wifredo “Willy” Gort said he liked the change as well and hopes to see more residential developments that offer housing for mixed-income levels. “And mixed income doesn’t create ghettos,” he said. When people who work downtown cannot afford to live downtown, it creates a variety of challenges, Mr. Sarnoff noted. “The further we send our labor pool outside of the city limits, to the north and the west, it means more pollution,” Mr. Sarnoff said. A downtown workforce forced to live far away and commute only aggravates the city’s festering road congestion, he said. At an earlier meeting, Mr. Suarez said, “I think it behooves us from a planning perspective to put people closer to the urban core, closer to where there is more density, and I think that’ll make it easier for people to move around…” Mr. Sarnoff offered an example of a mixed-income residential tower as having affordable workforce housing units on the lower levels (fifth, sixth and seventh floors) facing west and away from the bay -– the upper floors would still draw the big-money tenants. “This is nothing new,” he told commissioners. Mixed-income residential towers have been a reality in major cities like New York, Boston and Philadelphia for years, Mr. Sarnoff said. According to Planning Director Francisco Garcia, any change to a T6-24(B) zone would have to be applied for through the usual zoning change process. That is required by law.

Partnership bringing 250,000 orchids to Coral Gables trees BY SUSAN DANSEYAR

If Mother Nature cooperates, Coral Gables will be graced with 250,000 native orchids within a few years. Working in partnership with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden through its Million Orchid Project, the city will be bringing back the fragrant, flowering plants that once grew wild in the trees throughout much of Miami-Dade County. A year ago, the city commission unanimously voted to budget $30,000 annually for five years to reintroduce the orchids once plucked from the trees and shipped north as potted plants. The city celebrated Earth Day 2014 with Fairchild’s planting of a few orchids in the trees along Merrick Park. About 250 small plants were placed in the trees, said Carl Lewis, director of Fairchild who is spearheading the Million Orchid Project. It’s still an experiment to see if the orchids, nurtured from seed in Fairchild’s

Photo by Maxine Usdan

Carl Lewis says it’s not yet known if the orchids can live on their own.

micropropagation lab in the DiMare Science Village, can live on their own, Dr. Lewis said. “We’ve asked residents of Coral Gables to check on the plants and report back to us.” So far, so good, he said. “Last

year, even with the dry spring, we learned orchids are pretty resilient,” he said. The Florida butterfly orchid, in particular, did very well. Other native species being planted in Coral Gables include the cowhorn,

cockleshell and pine pink orchids. “Orchids [planted in trees] don’t really care what’s going on at the street level,” Dr. Lewis said. “They just want a good environment.” The Million Orchid program, which started in September 2012, is inspired by the one used at Singapore Botanic Gardens, where Dr. Lewis said there was tremendous success reintroducing orchids in city environments. “We’re hoping the same will be true in Miami,” he said. Currently, Dr. Lewis said, Fairchild has about 500,000 orchids in some stage of development. They live in the lab nine to 18 months. Volunteers, some of whom are from Coral Gables, test different growing conditions in the lab to see which ones work best. The seed pod of an orchid, which can generate more than 12,000 seeds, is sterilized. When they open, seeds are planted in

glass bottles that contain a mixture including agar, charcoal and banana powder. Within three months, the seeds begin to sprout. When the seeds outgrow the bottles, they are transferred by hand to larger bottles and then transplanted to the Fairchild Nursery, where they continue to grow in mulch-filled baskets until they are ready to grow on trees. Every day since 2012, the botanical garden’s scientists, along with graduate students and hundreds of volunteers, have been busy growing hundreds of thousands of native orchids in the lab. “It’s almost impossible to create the perfect conditions [in nature], the right light, the right fungus,” said Nannette Zapata, Fairchild’s chief operating officer. “So we have to create those conditions in the lab.” Once placed in the trees in Coral Gables, the orchid species will bloom at various times of the year.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

BANKING & FINANCE

MIAMI TODAY

Panel on digital currency encourages open mind but caution BY L IDIA DINKOVA

A panel comprised of a digital currency expert, a law enforcement official and an executive with PayPal encouraged people to have an open mind when it comes to digital currency but at the same time to approach this relatively new method with caution. Digital currency, also referred to as virtual currency, is an online payment method that in most of the world isn’t backed by the US government or by a central bank. That means that merchants and consumers can trade with each other in a peer-to-peer format without an intermediary such as a bank. Perhaps the most widely known digital currency in the US is bitcoin. Digital currency is largely decentralized except in Ecuador, where the federal government recently became the first one to back the payment form. Panel speakers at the recent Florida International Bankers Association’s Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Conference in Brickell said the benefits of digital currency extend to consumers and merchants as well as to law enforcement officials trying to nab money laundering or other illegal action involving digital currency. Perhaps the biggest benefit to merchants is that unlike credit cards, no merchant fees are associated with digital currency, said John Beccia, general counsel and chief compliance officer at Circle Internet Finan-

Photo by Maxine Usdan

The risks of digital currency are similar to risks we take when we use cash, said PayPal’s Gene Truono.

cial, a digital-currency company that allows people to convert, store and send digital currency. “So if you’re a merchant like Overstock or Expedia accepting bitcoin, you’re not paying an interchange fee. It’s a lot different than a credit card. Your transaction is instantly settled,” he said. “Other networks, credit card networks, there’s an intermediary and this is more decentralized. With an intermediaries, there’s more chance of fraud, there’s more points of failure that exist in those types of systems and the transactions could potentially take longer and there are the fees associated with it as well.” Panel speakers argued that

the transaction is also safer for consumers because they’re not disclosing their credit card information or any other personal financial data. Gene Truono, chief compliance officer at PayPal, a company that in a way functions as an e-wallet, said digital currency is somewhat similar to paying with cash. “I think some of the risks we talk about when we look at virtual currency are no different than the risks with cash, right?” Mr. Truono said at the conference. “The anonymity, the instant [nature], the low cost or the virtual low cost of the currency.” Mr. Beccia added that digital

currency is safer than other payment options because, and not in spite of, the fact that it is decentralized. “It’s inherently trustworthy because it’s decentralized, so there’s no intermediary and less of a chance of for default in terms of the currency itself,” he said. “So I think the lack of intermediaries make it inherently more trustworthy.” There have been mishaps with the use of digital currency. Popular bitcoin trading site Bitstamo was hacked this year resulting in nearly 19,000 bitcoins being stolen, according to media reports. Sellers and buyers of illegal merchandise, such as illegal drugs, have also used digital

currency because it allows them to remain anonymous. But, speakers said, an international online ledger, blockchain.info, follows bitcoin transactions and reports each transaction in real time. That has proved helpful to law enforcement. “You’ll see that each transaction is recorded in the public ledger. You get a unique address and we can actually pinpoint the location where the transaction occurred,” said Robert Villanueva with the US Secret Service. Just like other financial systems, digital currency has been used for money laundering, he added. “We see a lot of people taking advantage of that because they have dirty money from drug proceeds and they have real money and they use it to buy bitcoins with that real money,” Mr. Villanueva said. “In Florida, a money-laundering statute was recently utilized. We used that and arrested people who were doing that on the streets of Miami. They were laundering stolen money through bitcoin.” The biggest problem so far with digital currency, according to the panel, is that it’s new and it will take time for companies like PayPal as well as for law enforcement and consumers to get used to it. But, speakers added, digital currency is here to stay. “Is it going to replace credit cards or PayPal or Apple Pay? No,” Mr. Beccia said. “It’s going to be another option.”

Moody’s upgrades Miami’s general obligation debt rating BY JOHN CHARLES ROBBINS

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the rating to A1 from A2 on the City of Miami’s $13.6 million of outstanding general obligation debt. At the same time, Moody’s has upgraded the city government’s $426.4 million of outstanding non-ad valorem revenue, special tax (excluding streets and sidewalks) and limited ad valorem bonds to A2 from A3. The outlook has been revised from “negative” to “stable,” according to the ratings company. This is the second promising report on city bonds in as many months. In Moody’s summary rating rationale it reports that the upgrade is based on a resurgent economy with multiple major projects under way, a strengthened financial position, a new management team that has implemented prudent fiscal policies, and a manageable debt profile. The A1 general obligation debt rating incorporates Miami’s status as a major trade and transportation hub and tourist destination. The city’s credit is weighed down by weak socioeconomic indices, growing pension pressures, and protracted legal disputes, according to Moody’s.

The A2 rating assignment to the non-ad valorem, special tax and limited ad valorem debt is notched off the city’s general obligation debt rating. Non-ad valorem obligations are favorably protected by an adequate level of legally-available funds in relation to estimated maximum debt service requirements and a covenant to budget and appropriate. “The stable outlook reflects the city’s re-establishment of a healthy reserve position largely due to a disciplined management team as well as economic recovery,” says the Moody’s report. The ratings service added that ongoing US Securities and Exchange Commission investigations remain a potential risk to credit quality. Moody’s noted these are factors that could make the city’s rating go up: Further strengthening of cash and reserves, while controlling fixed costs. Significant economic expansion. These are factors that could make the rating go down: Deterioration of liquidity. Inability to contain or reduce fixed costs. Protracted weak economic recovery. Negative implications from outcome of a Securities and

Exchange Commission ruling. The general obligation bonds are secured by the city’s unlimited tax pledge on all taxable properties within the city. Moody’s announcement this month comes on the heels of a similar favorable report from Standard and Poor’s in February, which also made a point to stress the value of the city growing its reserves. Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services upgraded the city’s primary bond rating four rating tiers from BBB to A+ due to the city’s improved management score reflecting adherence to “robust” policies and practices, as well as improved budgetary flexibility.

The agency also revised its rating on the city’s general obligation, non-ad valorem, and limited tax debt, bonds from BBB- to A. Among reasons Standard and Poor’s gave for the improved outlook are: a strong economy in the region, strong budgetary flexibility and performance with increasing reserves for the past few years, a structurally balanced 2015 budget, very strong liquidity and very strong cash levels to cover both debt service and operating expenditures, and a strong institutional framework. Like many municipalities, Miami has emerged from a period of severe distress associated with the housing and mar-

ket crashes at the end of the past decade, reported Standard and Poor’s. After four consecutive years of dwindling reserves, Miami has added to those reserves in the last several years. When the books were officially closed on fiscal 2013-14, the city had a balance of about $28.4 million. That amount, coupled with reserves from recent years, took the overall balance to $103.9 million. “The steps taken by the city commission during the financial downturn and the city management’s steps since are now having the effects for which we had hoped and expected,” said Mayor Tomás Regalado.

MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015

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