Miami Today: Week of Thursday, May 18, 2017

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

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American Dream mega-mall expects October OK, pg. 13 RAIL SERVICES CUT: Faced with plunging mass transit ridership in all forms, Miami-Dade County this week reduced operating hours on its Metrorail and Metromover systems and cut frequency of its Metrorail service to Miami International Airport.

In February, the most recent month for which the county has made figures public, Metrorail ridership fell 8.1% from February 2016 to 1.68 million rides and the free Metromover fell 9.3% to 780,514 monthly rides. Bus ridership fell 10.1% in the month. Starting May 22, the two rail systems will now run from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 a.m. to midnight Friday, 6 a.m. to Midnight Saturday and 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. The county’s most recent rail addition, Metrorail’s service to the airport, will now run every 30 minutes instead of every 15 minutes on weekends.

Miami set to inventory, enforce development covenants, pg. 13

The Achiever

By Marcus Lim

TICK, TICK, TICK: Miami-Dade’s Transportation and Public Works committee on May 11 approved a maximum taxicab meter rate for for-hire vehicles and eliminated a cash discount. If the full commission approves, this will revise the cab flat rate to and from Miami International Airport and PortMiami. This will allow taxis to have flexibility in their rates, said Alice Bravo, director of transportation and public works. The recommended maximum meter rate is $2.95 for the first one-sixth of a mile and 8 cents for each one-sixth of a mile until it reaches one mile. Thereafter, it would be 40 cents for each additional one-sixth of a mile. Recommended waiting time rate is 40 cents a minute.

TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT: Miami-Dade’s Transportation and Public Works Committee last week gave preliminary approval to apply for a $960,000 grant from the US Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration for transit-oriented development planning. The funds would be used for the master transit-oriented development plan for the east-west corridor project, one of the six corridors included in the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) plan. The legislation says the aim is a plan to create transit accessible mixed-used development that connects residential areas with employment centers throughout the corridor and major economic generators, including Miami International Airport and downtown Miami. The estimated cost for planning the development of the corridor, which extends from the Miami Intermodal Center to Florida International University, is $1.2 million. The federal funding is to be 80% of the cost of the planning, with bond proceeds from the county transportation surtax used for the required 20% local match of $240,000. The measure now moves to the full county commission for action.

Ronit Neuman

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

Ties Sagamore Hotel into city’s fast-growing arts scene The profile is on Page 4

County won’t delete lobbyists from charter team

By Susan Danseyar

There won’t be restrictions on who can serve on a task force to examine the Miami-Dade County charter.

Commissioners Tuesday rejected Chair Esteban Bovo Jr.’s attempt to exclude registered lobbyists and anyone having commercial contracts with Miami-Dade.

Although a few commissioners agreed with him, others questioned how to define a lobbyist and why the requirement wasn’t set before appointments began.

“If you think about diversity of service and the far reach of the county, that could be just about anybody,” said Sally Heyman. “This is broad and vague and we’ll knock out people who want to be engaged with the community.”

Jose “Pepe” Diaz said anyone appointed will have a special interest in something. He advised appointing the best person. “If you eliminate one group, you’d have to eliminate a lot of people who represent environmental issues and unions. What’s the definition of someone who does business with the county?

That could be anybody.”

Joe Martinez said he was concerned about

Convention hotel plans meet delay

excluding any group. “We want people with knowledge to be able to serve. At the end of the day, we decide about their recommendations.”

On March 21, commissioners created the task force to review the charter, the county’s equivalent of a constitution, which requires a study every five years. The task force will recommend proposed amendments to the charter.

Commissioners then can allow the public to vote on any or all recommendations.

The full 15-member task force hasn’t been appointed. Included so far are Robert Cuevas, former county attorney: attorney Marlon Hill; Carlos Diaz-Padron, an attorney and former West Miami mayor; and William Kerdyk Jr., formerly a Coral Gables commissioner. Several appointees are currently lobbyists: Luis Andre Gazitua, George Burgess and Neisen Kasdin.

Barbara Jordan said Tuesday that commissioners would know who they couldn’t appoint had the restriction been made before. One couldn’t get people who know more about Miami-Dade government than Mr. Burgess, the county’s last manager, and Mr. Cuevas, she said.

Mr. Bovo said he initiated a conversation about prohibiting lobbyists in 2012 when the

commission last had a charter review and it was his oversight not to do so this year. “No lobbyist will be offended by this,” he said. “Lobbyists still have the ability to come to meetings because public comment will be allowed.”

Mr. Bovo said the public wants to be sure government is working in the most open and efficient way and he doesn’t want questions about whether those studying the charter have special interests.

Rebeca Sosa said in the past commissioners had proposals to eliminate certain people.

She offered an amendment to also eliminate land-use attorneys with zoning applications before the county, members of political parties, campaign workers and campaign lawyers. The commission rejected her amendment.

Xavier Suarez supported the legislation, saying Mr. Bovo’s intent was to eliminate anyone required to register with the county as a lobbyist.

“It turns out the person I initially appointed is a lobbyist (Mr. Gazitua),” Mr. Suarez said. “He has communicated with me that if we disqualify him, he’ll find someone else.”

Mr. Suarez added that commissioners should appoint people who don’t have contracts with the county.

Miami Beach won’t be told how to develop a headquarters convention hotel until June or later, more than a year after commissioners appointed a seven-member study team that was expected to wrap up Monday.

The Blue Ribbon Steering Committee did outline nine action points, including the site, a straw ballot to gauge perception and the aim that the hotel’s architect be renowned, but in the end it decided to review the action points one last time and reconvene after Memorial Day for a twelfth session.

“We spent a year vetting this, heard from tons of experts. I would like to see us now or in the next month make a recommendation,” said Commissioner Ricky Arriola, the chair. “This is way too important for our community and there is too much interest in seeing something done.”

The committee first met May 9, 2016, after only 54% of voters backed a hotel two months earlier – short of the needed 60%.

The committee has vetted concerns. Traffic was one, so the panel got an independent traffic study that said a hotel at the Miami Beach Convention Center, which now is being enlarged, would change the customer base from day trippers at trade shows to long-term stays for conventions.

The target site is where the Jackie Gleason theater sits. A new theater with modern amenities would preserve the history.

Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, panel vice chair, initially voted against a hotel but switched after all the meetings.

“I’m going to vote yes on it, I’m going to support it,” she said Monday. “I have sat here for a year and I would like to move forward.

I know how it works now.”

After a year, Mr. Arriola is ready to compile everything and close up shop.

“I would like to see us now or in the next month make a recommendation, whatever it is. I don’t care.

I want to end this committee,” he said. “We do have the ingredients for a winning recommendation in front of us.”

COUNTY TO SEEK PARTNER TO BUILD NEW COURTHOUSE ...

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NO RELIEF FOR NARROWED TRAVEL AT BRICKELL BRIDGE ...

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TENTATIVE STOPS CITED ALONG SIX TRANSIT CORRIDORS ...

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PALMETTO BAY AIM: PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY DOWNTOWN ...

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BIG GROUPS MUST WAIT 30 MINUTES OR MORE FOR RIDES ...

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SAFETY-NET GROUPS BRACE FOR FINANCIAL STRUGGLES ...

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VIEWPOINT: A TRICK TO UNSNARL DOWNTOWN TRAFFIC ...

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COMMISSIONER SEES WATSON ISLAND AS A TRANSIT HUB ...

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MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

The Insider BETTER BUS TERMINAL, AVENTURA: The Miami-Dade Transportation and Public Works Committee last week gave preliminary approval for a new bus terminal and layover area at Aventura Mall. The resolution, sponsored by Sally Heyman, states that this will provide a better terminal with amenities and driver layover facilities. The agreement with the Aventura Mall Venture is effective as of June 27, 2016, when the terminal got its certificate of occupancy and the county began using it, runs 45 years with a 45-year renewal unless terminated. If the full commission approves, Miami-Dade would pay $3 million to use the terminal for the full term of the agreement. That is the cost of the improvements to the mall garage for the terminal. The commission will also be asked to approve termination of the old Aventura Mall bus layover area license agreement approved in 2000.

LOCAL JOBS: County commissioners Tuesday gave preliminary approval to increasing the minimum number of workers a vendor must employ in a local business location to qualify for local preference. Should the full commission give approval, small businesses that have hired at least one full-time employee for a year prior to bidding on a county contract that is exempt from Miami-Dade business tax receipts must submit proof to the county.

Miami-Dade provides preferences to local businesses with specific ties to the county that will create jobs.

Rebeca Sosa The ordinance was sponsored by Rebeca Sosa.

TALKING ABOUT PARKS: Two or more commissioners of the City of Miami are expected to take part in a Sunshine Meeting next week to discuss Museum Park. The special meeting is set for 3 p.m.

Wednesday, May 24, at Museum Park at 1075 Biscayne Blvd. All attendees should meet in the parking lot entrance area of the park.

NEW WATER TAXI STOP: A move by Miami city commissioners to dedicate a public park and water taxi pick-up and drop-off location on Brickell Key set for May 11 has been deferred to June 8. Commissioners are considering accepting a right-of-way deed of dedication for upland property on the key, a man-made triangular island at the foot of Southeast Eighth Street. It is part of a development agreement the city has with property owner-developer Swire Properties.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

Seek courthouse deals, mayor told

By Susan Danseyar

Miami-Dade is getting closer to building a new civil courthouse, whether through a private partnership or some kind of lease payment from the private sector for properties the county owns.

County commissioners on Tuesday approved legislation directing the administration to solicit ideas from developers, financiers, real estate investment companies, contractors and builders to design, build, finance, operate or maintain the new courthouse.

Chief Judge Bertila Soto said there are 15,000 lawyers in MiamiDade who drive the economics here. “There have been 30 years of studies about the civil courthouse and they all tell you to replace it,” she told commissioners.

As Miami becomes an international city, the courthouse has become a third-world courthouse, said Stephen Zack, a civil trial lawyer. The 15,000 lawyers serve the county’s constituents, but the rest of the world comes to MiamiDade to seek justice, he said.

Clerk of Courts Harvey Ruvin thanked commissioners for moving forward with a new civil courthouse as quickly as possible and commended them for listening to the voters who didn’t want taxes raised to pay for the new facility.

‘There have been 30 ‘We need a new civil years of studies about the courthouse and would love civil courthouse and they more satellites. Everything all tell you to replace it.’ that can be dispersed, we’ve already done.’

Bertila Soto

Jennifer Bailey

Commissioners Rebeca Sosa and Jose “Pepe” Diaz asked that the solicitation be open so that a developer could also build satellite courthouses. Judge Jennifer Bailey said the Eleventh District has satellite courthouses with 100,000 cases dispersed among them. “We need a new civil courthouse and would love more satellites,” she said. “Everything that can be dispersed, we’ve already done.”

The current aging civil courthouse at 73 W Flagler St. has been discussed by two task forces,

chaired and overseen by Commissioner Sally Heyman. “This just moves us to the next point,” she said Tuesday. A few weeks ago, Ms. Heyman said the plan is to have a true public-private partnership for the new civil courthouse and the county has identified real property that’s undeveloped but is just waiting to get a better evaluation with interested developers on land values.

“We will use due diligence to get the best possible deal for the public,” said Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava.

ADDING TO CRA? Ken Russell, Miami commissioner and chair of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), has given direction to Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso to begin investigating a non-contiguous expansion of the Omni CRA to add the West Grove, a traditionally blighted area that stretches from the bustling eastern sections of Coconut Grove to Douglas Road. “We want to find out if it’s legal and appropriate,” Mr. Russell said. The CRA has hired a consultant to determine whether the property values there have already begun month at Southwest 127th Avenue. things we’re looking at is a possible

By Catherine Lackner escalating in light of a recent spurt in development in Daniel Alfonso “We already have service in this rail extension down this corridor; the rest of Coconut Grove.

While many details about the six corridor,” he said. “These decisions we have a dedicated right-of-way.

Stops found in six transit corridors

DISPLACE NONE: “CRAs get a bad rap, but if things are done right, they can offer great benefits,” especially in affordable housing, Mr. Russell said. “I don’t want anyone to be displaced.” He is working with Frank Schnidman, former Florida Atlantic University John M. DeGrove Eminent Scholar chair in growth management and development, to make sure ethical concerns are met. Dr. Schnidman is a frequent critic of CRA spending.

SUMMER YOUTH JOBS: Teens in low- to moderate-income areas in the City of Miami will have job opportunities this summer. City commissioners have accepted $367,500 from the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund Inc. for the Summer Youth Employment Program Expansion 2017.

The money will support up to 100 added summer jobs with local entities for youths aged 16-19. The program aims to make low/moderate income youth more self-sufficient and increase their access to financial tools and education. Since the program began the city has employed more than 380 youth and generated more than $980,000 in economic impact.

BRIDGE INSPECTIONS: Miami-Dade’s Transportation and Public Works Committee last week gave preliminary approval to transferring a $1 million grant to the US Department of Transportation and Federal Transit Administration for Metrorail and Metromover Guideway bridge inspections. The program began in 1986 to find critical deficiencies and perform preventative inspections on the current 25 miles of Metrorail and current 4.4 miles of Metromover elevated guideway superstructures. The Florida Department of Transportation has programmed $1 million in its surface transportation program for the bridge inspections. The county’s Department of Transportation and Public Works is requesting the transfer of the funding to the Federal Transit Administration’s program and will apply for the grant.

GUARDRAILS FOR PROTECTION: Miami-Dade’s Transportation and Public Works Committee last week gave preliminary approval to fund guardrails for preventing accidents and injuries. According to the legislation, in numerous areas in the county guardrails have been damaged or sections are missing. The Department of Transportation and Public Works estimates more than $325,000 would be required to repair and replace guardrails at locations currently identified. The resolution by Joe Martinez directs the administration to find available funding to repair, replace and install needed guardrails. Joe Martinez If no funds are found, the administration would include a plan as part of the mayor’s next budget.

BY ANY OTHER NAME: East End Capital and The Related Group want to rename their Wynwood 25 development and have launched a competition with a June 16 deadline. The winner will be eligible to receive three months’ rent at Wynwood’s first major rental apartment project or $2,500 cash and $250 in gift cards at Wynwood merchants. Breaking ground this summer, the project is slated to bring 289 rental apartments, 31,000 square feet of retail and 340 parking spaces to Wynwood. Substantial art programming will be integrated into the building exterior, the paseo and the building interiors, the developers said. Participants must complete the online form at www.wynwood25.com, and multiple entries are permitted.

corridors of the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit plan remain to be worked out, the county’s Transportation & Public Works Department has identified tentative stops along all of the routes.

Speaking before the Transportation Planning Organization’s Fiscal Priorities Committee, Albert Hernandez, department assistant director, said many of the stops dovetail with existing transit.

On the 9.7-mile Miami to Miami Beach corridor, an extension of Metromover is being considered, with a potential station at Museum Park and 10 stations on Miami Beach.

“These are the locations based on the latest study by the City of Miami Beach,” he said. “The benefit is that we can leverage our existing system and it doesn’t interfere with local traffic alignment.”

Station locations would include Washington and Meridian avenues, and 7th, 10th and 14th streets, Lincoln Road and the Miami Beach Convention Center. The service’s westbound leg would land in Wynwood with seven stations at locations yet to be determined.

The 11-mile east-west corridor’s 10 stations would start at the Miami Intermodal Center and ending at the Tamiami Campus of Florida International University. The university station would abut a bus facility on Southwest Eighth Street.

“We’re retrofitting a garage to put the bus terminal right in front of the rail,” Mr. Hernandez said.

The 10-mile Kendall corridor’s 10 stations would connect the Dadeland Metrorail South Station to a planned park-and-ride facility at Southwest 162nd Avenue. The county is also opening a park-and-ride lot next

were made based on ridership and density.”

The 9.2-mile north corridor along Northwest 27th Avenue would have seven stations, he said, beginning at the Dr. Martin Luther King Metrorail station and continuing to the Miami-Dade/Broward County line at Northwest 215th Street. Stations are contemplated at Northwest 82nd Street, the north campus of Miami Dade College, in Opa-locka, and on Northwest 166th, 183rd, 199th and 215th streets.

“We own a 14-acre parcel at 215th Street and are under procurement with a possible developer for a transit-oriented development there,” Mr. Hernandez said.

“The real estate is there to accommodate it,” said Dennis Moss, county commissioner and committee chair.

“It’s not as densely built out as some other corridors.”

On the 13.5-mile northeast corridor from downtown Miami to Aventura, an undetermined number of stations will be built, probably with public-private partnerships.

“Brightline is building the downtown station for this corridor and we will have potential stations in Midtown, on Northwest 79th Street, in North Miami, North Miami Beach and Aventura,” Mr. Hernandez said.

“We are working with developers and municipalities to locate where these stations should be. It depends on the availability of land and the opportunity to develop around the stations. We want density around the stations.”

On the south corridor busway on US 1 from the Dadeland South Metrorail Station to Homestead and Florida City, potential development opportunities exist, he said. “One of

This is one of our highest ridership locations and there’s good potential for development on Quail Roost Drive, in Florida City and possibly at Southland Mall.”

The county is currently leasing a 500-space park-and-ride there and may buy that property, he said.

Xavier Suarez, county commissioner and committee member, said recruiting developers and cities is a good option but needs safeguards.

“That’s been done very nicely in the Northeast corridor with the cities.

But if we just leave it for them to be proactive, we might start doing the actual rail and they’re not yet ready.

If they want a station, if they want a platform, they have to ante up.”

We want to hear from YOU! Phone: (305) 358-2663 Staff Writers: Camila Cepero ccepero@miamitodaynews.com Susan Danseyar sdanseyar@miamitodaynews.com John Charles Robbins jrobbins@miamitodaynews.com Letters to Editor editor@miamitodaynews.com People Column people@miamitodaynews.com Michael Lewis mlewis@miamitodaynews.com

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MIAMI TODAY

VIEWPOINT

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

Miami Today is an independent voice of the community, published weekly at 2000 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 100, Miami, Florida 33133. Telephone (305) 358-2663

The single secret ingredient to unsnarl downtown’s traffic The simplest, least-costly solutions to problems often are the best, but also the most overlooked.

Ta k e t h e gelatinous slow-moving traffic on the main streets in Brickell and downtown.

D r i v i n g i s Michael Lewis rapidly deteriorating.

On the other hand, the most-discussed solutions are the least promising – at least, in the next few years.

For Brickell, the hot topic is to tunnel under the Miami River near the Brickell Avenue Bridge starting from far to the south to dump out cars somewhere in or past downtown.

In downtown, meanwhile, the Downtown Development Authority is intent on narrowing – yes, narrowing – Biscayne Boulevard, which is also US highway 1, in the misplaced hope that the flow will somehow even out and thus get cars through the heart of the city faster. The logic eludes us.

Both remedies, along with most others touted for center city traffic, amount to throwing a lot of money at the problem and hoping something works.

We’re not opposed to solutions based on vast projects that are well thought out, though we recall painfully that a decade ago the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County spent $3 billion on a baseball stadium that was going to somehow cause an economic boom in the heart of Little Havana. We’re still waiting.

Other traffic solutions are around, like making two-way streets one way or oneway streets two way – we’re not sure which is now in vogue – or not building garages in residential towers so that occupants will dispense with cars and walk, bicycle or take transit everywhere (assuming that we suddenly built rail lines that go everywhere).

On the most costly end of the scale, we’re working on six SMART transit routes that will somehow connect in a single system countywide and beyond. But even if we can afford all of the SMART plan and even if transit can be built on its $3.6 billion budget, which is barely half of what the same six transit legs were going to cost 15 years ago, that won’t solve the downtown dilemma for decades.

In the interim, a far less elegant solution to downtown and Brickell gridlock won’t enrich a single contractor or lobbyist. Holland & Knight attorney Bruce Jay Colan has been pushing the remedy for at least a decade.

That answer is – drum roll, please – what seems to be the City of Miami’s lowest priority: enforce the traffic laws.

That would mean ticketing drivers who enter an intersection in heavy traffic and sit there as the light turns red, waiting for traffic ahead to get moving. How many times have you sat grumbling as that blocking of the box road-blocked your whole lane?

Then there are the cars and delivery trucks that double park illegally as drivers duck into a building on some errand that cuts traffic lanes in half until they return. It’s common.

Yet, Mr. Colan laments in a position paper that he’s been handing to city officials and civic leaders for years in vain, the city has no permanent traffic enforcement squad.

It’s so simple. Policing requires no capital investment. It could start almost tomorrow to move traffic.

Of course, it’s not the long-term solution, because more and more cars are being pumped every day into the same number of traffic lanes – or fewer, if the Biscayne Green plan actually takes lanes out of a boulevard that has just added a new science museum this month and faces more construction that aims to bring us casinos and other gambling just north of downtown along that highway.

Brickell, meanwhile, is to get more 80-story-plus residential towers complete with other uses to attract visitors, including the 85-story front door to Brickell City Centre on Brickell Avenue.

No amount of policing can make that traffic go away. But good enforcement can

Still chasing our transit tail after 50 years In the 1970s Miami began its change from not just a tourist town but to also a hub city of international commerce and services. This promoted growth. Planning and engineering studies called for increasing ground transportation Maurice A. Ferré through a network of new expressways and a system of fixed rail throughout the county.

In 1972 Miami-Dade voters approved (2 to 1) the billion-dollar “Decade of Progress” bond issue. Controversy over the enormous expense to build Metrorail led to a citizens’ petition for repeal, which was narrowly defeated in 1978. Then President Ronald Reagan was elected and 77% of US Department of Transportation funding for the controversial Metrorail project faced federal elimination. Metrorail once again narrowly survived.

Yet, by then the Miami-Dade mantra was clear: “trains not highways.” That mantra has continued for 40 years. In the last 20 years almost all highway improvements in Miami-Dade have been built with MiamiDade Expressway (MDX) toll money participation or as tollways by MDX or the Florida Department of Transportation’s Turnpike. This follows Florida’s example where in the past 30 years, 96% of all new mile lanes in highways have been built as tollways statewide.

Fifty years ago we had the opportunity to provide Miami-Dade County both mass transit alternatives with trains and buses, as well as a network of new expressways. The decisions of choosing one option over another created the gridlock we have today, an unfinished system of local expressways and a minimal system of Metrorail. This historic

The Writer

Maurice A. Ferré has been a member of the Florida Transportation Commission since 2011. He was mayor of Miami from 1973-1985, a Miami-Dade County commissioner from 1993-1996, a MiamiDade Expressway Authority board member from 2015-2017 and a county Transportation Planning Organization board member from 2011-2017. blunder was repeated time and time again as local mayors, over the decades, killed the reconstruction and extension of State Road 112, the new north-south Sunshine Parkway and the I-395 project.

Transit, not roads, also became the national obsession of urbanists. In the oldest and most dense cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco, where generations of Americans grew up riding rail, transit worked. But in the rest of the nation, where most families live in single-family homes, it did not work.

Currently, in sprawling urban areas like Dallas, Denver, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Miami-Dade, fixed rail has decreasing ridership. America overwhelmingly loves cars, not trains. Miami is no exception (97% use vehicles, 3% transit).

Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) has a fundamental problem that must be fixed before any major growth in the system: the cost of the existing level of service is unsustainable.

MDT’s operating costs have grown by 40% in the past five years, from $390.4 million to $544.735 million in 2016. Of this, $205 million is sustained through countywide and unincorporated area property taxes, $201.861 million from the half cent sales tax for transit, $107 million in transit fares, and other taxes and fees. The

total annual tax burden on a Miami-Dade County household to sustain the operating budget of transit is over $600 per family.

That’s already a hefty tax burden when only 3% of travelers use transit.

In Miami-Dade, transit has extremely poor fare-box collections, 18% of costs and decreasing. In New York fare box collections are over 50% of costs. Miami-Dade also has very high operating costs. While costs continue rising rapidly, ridership decreases just as quickly.

Metrorail operating cost for the current 25 miles is $74,660,000 per year ($2,986,400 per mile). If the proposed six SMART corridors are built with fixed rail (84 miles), the operating and maintenance costs for transit services will increase by $252 million yearly.

Where will MDT get $1 billion a year to transport 3% of the daily travelers of our community?

More important, how will the remaining 97% of our travelers, using vehicles, get around? Even if transit usage were to increase dramatically, say to 5%, can MDC afford to pay $4,000 per year for each of the approximate 250,000 people in MDC who will use our transit system? It would be cheaper to move them in Uber.

In 2002, Miami-Dade County voters approved all six of 2017’s SMART corridors to be delivered for $7 billion, according to engineering estimates in 2002 dollars.

Included was the MIA-Airport Connector, built for almost three times more.

Fifty years later we are at it again, spending $50 million more on engineering studies.

MDT has rejected professional engineering estimates of building costs up to $9 billion and claims that all six corridors will cost only $3.6 billion, 15 years later. This is the same funny math we have been using for 50 years; the same math that brought us the Marlins Stadium.

open some current bottlenecks, at least helping to slow mobility’s decline.

The problem, as Mr. Colan notes, is not that Miami police don’t know how to write traffic tickets and keep cars moving. The issue is that traffic enforcement gets bottom priority. When you don’t have traffic cops active and visible, you’re giving frustrated motorists carte blanche to exacerbate traffic jams by breaking the law to get ahead.

If everyone obeyed the law when nobody was watching we wouldn’t need traffic enforcement. Everyone would police himself or herself.

But we’re not all saints.

It’s past time for city hall to demand traffic enforcement.

City commissioners do a great job of slowing down cars in outlying residential areas with traffic-calming devices and an occasional police officer. Bravo: it works.

Now, how about speeding up cars in the congested heart of the city by shifting police to permanent traffic duty or creating traffic-control jobs? It’s cheaper than digging a miles-long tunnel and far more effective than narrowing our busiest boulevard because someone thinks traffic will flow better.

Folks, traffic policing is not rocket science. Big cities have done it well for years. And, unlike some other solutions, it can pay for itself: just write tickets, fine offenders, and government could make a profit by speeding up travel.

Letters to the Editor

Follow Beach on casinos

I have been reading Michael Lewis through the years. I am invariably impressed with his commitment to our region. His last column on the threat to our identity as a city now posed by Genting and its casinos plans is totally on target. We need to keep our identity as an international cultural center for us to stay as a magnet for leadership and the truly America’s crossroads. As he well says, Art Basel and Florida Atlantic City don't mix.

Surely, it is the time for all our county cities to follow the wise Miami Beach decision.

Felipe Fernandez

Play fields on landfill OK

I am a Key Biscayne resident and will endorse playing fields on the Virginia Key landfill site. Our village should form a partnership with Miami to help fund the much sought after playing fields BUT the remaining acres should remain natural.

Cecile Sanchez

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

TODAY’S NEWS

MIAMI TODAY

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No relief on tap for reduced number of Brickell Bridge lanes

By Catherine Lackner

Drivers frustrated with the reduced number of lanes on the Brickell Avenue Bridge won’t see relief any time soon. In 2013, two traffic lanes were removed – one each north- and southbound – because of pedestrian and bicyclist safety issues.

“I met last week with staff to go over the northbound third lane of Brickell Bridge issue,” said Jim Wolfe, Florida Department of Transportation secretary for District 6, May 3 via email. “I am reviewing all of the concerns raised about the bridge.

“In this case, I found that the current lane configuration is warranted.

When there were three right turns north of the river onto Biscayne Boulevard Way, the before condition, traffic could not handle the turn. The traffic island was heavily scarred from being run over, which Drivers headed north on the Brickell Avenue Bridge must merge from three lanes to two before crossing. made this pedestrian refuge unsafe.

“Many vehicles then proceeded safety improvement on, and adjacent FDOT video camera focused on ‘no right on red’ traffic light when to hit the Wells Fargo Building. to, the bridge. the northeast side of the bridge the pedestrian or [cyclist] is crossing The redesign to two right turns has “It is my understanding that the frequently views cars running the the intersection, incorrectly thinking substantially reduced this problem, improving safety for both pedestrians and vehicles. We also found that the lane reduction did not have an impact on traffic flow.

“To verify our traffic calculations, our consultant ran test vehicles in both in the before and the after condition finding no appreciable change in travel time,” Mr. Wolfe’s email said.

Advanced Traffic Engineering Consultants studied traffic on and around the bridge on Aug. 1, 2013, during six time periods of varying lengths between 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

“The travel time for existing operations was compared to preconstruction operations to assess the impact associated with the new intersection geometry,” the consultant’s report said. “The evaluation revealed that northbound travel time was not significantly impacted, but rather decreased by approximately three seconds. The respective travel time was 3.72 minutes and 3.67 minutes, which statistically indicates little to no impact on northbound traffic time.”

But marine interests and area business people say they favored another plan, one that would leave lanes open and build a barrier in front of the Wells Fargo Center.

“I’m writing to express my opposition to FDOT’s current ‘trial project’ which resulted in the elimination of a northbound vehicular travel lane on the Brickell Bridge,” wrote Horatio Stuart Aguirre, chair of the Miami River Commission, on Aug. 12, 2013.

“The new need for drivers to merge from three lanes down into only two … while driving on top of the Brickell Bridge, makes backup longer and takes more time to restore traffic flow,” after a bridge opening, said his letter, written to Gus Pego, then District 6 secretary for the state transportation department.

The project also included the installation of a pedestrian and cyclist crossing light at the north foot of the bridge, but a May 12, 2015, letter to Mr. Pego from Jose Felix Diaz, Florida House representative for District 116, says that hasn’t worked.

“I respectfully request that FDOT’s … alternative #4 be replaced with alternative #1, which would restore desperately needed vehicular lanes and still provide the

it’s their turn, because the traffic light is red and the flashing beacon is indicating that it’s safe to cross.

“On March 24, 2105, the MPO’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee passed a unanimous resolution to recommend that FDOT suspend [the project] pending an area-wide study of see the impacts of the lane reduction,” his letter said.

On May 12, 2015, Mr. Aguirre wrote again, this time to the Miami city commission. “The community has been begging FDOT to please restore the removed lanes on and adjacent to the Brickell Bridge, and replace it with FDOT’s alternative #1, which still provides safety improvements without the unintended and negative consequences.”

He attached letters of support from Joseph Bier, executive manager of the Epic Residences; and Bob Murray, general manager of the James L. Knight Center, attesting to the traffic snarls that have frustrated residents, guests and employees at the two properties.

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TODAY’S NEWS

MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

Watson Island transit hub vision tied to project default claim

By John Charles Robbins

Instead of a mega resort for the rich called Island Gardens, Ken Russell sees Watson Island as home to a multimodal transit hub with plenty of wide open green space offering “the most amazing views of our downtown skyline.”

The City of Miami commissioner shared his vision for the city-owned island at the tail end of the commission’s May 11 meeting.

Mr. Russell vowed to bring a motion at the May 25 meeting to find developer Flagstone Property Group LLC in default of a muchamended 15-year-old agreement.

Mr. Russell wants the city to take back its property, which would include a $27 million deep water marina opened in January 2016, the only component of Island Gardens to be completed.

The marina, christened Deep Harbour, boasts of being North America’s only marina designed exclusively for super-yachts.

For its part, Flagstone representatives continue to defend the company, saying it has done its best to meet deadlines while wrestling with financial and economic issues, litigation and other impediments.

The city owns the 6.5-acre site on the northwest side of the barrier island connecting the City of Miami and Miami Beach via the MacArthur Causeway.

City voters approved leasing the land to Flagstone for the development back in 2001.

Flagstone has been paying $2 million a year rent. Critics of the

Illustration shows completed Island Gardens on city’s Watson Island.

project claim the rental fee is based on outdated appraisals and have said the city should be reaping more than triple that amount.

The overall development, estimated to cost from $640 million to more than $1 billion, is to include a five-star luxury hotel, a four-star lifestyle hotel, fractional ownership residences, high-end retail and waterfront dining, in addition to the marina.

While the developer did complete and open the marina last year, the bulk of the site has remained vacant and unused for more than 15 years.

Mr. Russell, vice chairman of the commission, has the island in his district. Since his election in 2015, he’s hinted his desire to recapture the city land from the developer.

On Thursday, Mr. Russell said he asked to discuss Flagstone because he’s frustrated by the more than dozen years of inac-

tivity and excuses.

Mr. Russell read from a prepared statement: “It has been more than 15 years since the City of Miami and our voters gave the right to develop our public land on Watson Island to Flagstone. Ever since, we’ve entertained a litany of excuses as to why very little of the project voters approved has been built.”

Mr. Russell told his fellow commissioners they have a pretty clear-cut issue facing them: that Flagstone is in default.

He said Flagstone had a deadline of May 1 to have all material permits approved and actually begin construction by May 1.

“I understand they moved some dirt around a few days before to try to convince us that construction had begun, and that’s not the first time they’ve done that, by the way,” said Mr. Russell.

“The phased permit expired and was not renewed before [May

1]. The master building permit has not yet been obtained,” Mr. Russell said.

He said the city has been waiting 15 years for Flagstone to deliver what it promised: a bustling neighborhood, two five-star hotels, a fish market and yacht marina.

“Back then, the city was looking to attract signature projects that would pump up our local economy. Midtown didn’t yet exist. Wynwood as we know it today didn’t exist. Downtown and Brickell were a shadow of their current form,” he said.

“We didn’t have the Arsht [performing arts center], the Frost [science museum], the Pérez [art] museums. Most of all, we didn’t have the congestion and infrastructure needs that we do now. And yet here we are, 15 plus years later, still talking about Flagstone.

“At this point, I have to ask, is Flagstone even relevant anymore to the vision of what our public land on Watson Island could and should be? Is this project – should it ever be built, and I’m pretty skeptical about that – what Miami needs and deserves?”

He continued, “The voters spoke back then, but if they spoke today, what would they say?”

Mr. Russell said if the city got to decide the fate of the property, he would advocate for a request for proposals that has a developer implementing a multimodal transit hub that connects and finances the Baylink and water taxis.

It could be the point of public transit to all of the best amenities on the island, he said, including beauti-

ful green spaces with great views.

“But the voters don’t have a say unless this developer is in default, and I believe that they are,” he said.

Mr. Russell had hoped to vote on the matter May 11, but some commissioners preferred to give the matter time and have it formally placed on the May 25 agenda.

On concluding his remarks, Mr. Russell said, “The city has lost millions in undervalued rent. The only silver lining is that we can now look at the land in the context of our needs today. I hope for your support in giving the voters this long overdue chance.”

Commissioner Frank Carollo indicated his support, reminding everyone of his past statements which are echoed by Mr. Russell and others.

And Mr. Carollo mentioned his unsuccessful attempts in recent years to find Flagstone in default and get the prime waterfront land back in the city’s hands.

Mr. Russell’s resolution is expected to direct the city administration to issue a notice of default to Flagstone and direct the city attorney and auditor general to conduct an analysis of the agreements to see if there are other breaches as well.

Mr. Russell said he believes the city is entitled to keep all prepaid construction based rent, reclaim the upland and take back the marina component.

Island Gardens Deep Harbour marina is open and offers 5,000 linear feet of capacity, accommodating an average of 50 yachts stretching up to 550 feet and drafts of 18 to 21 feet deep.

Beacon Council honors Traurig, others, looks toward goals The Beacon Council last week bestowed on veteran land use attorney Robert Traurig its highest award, honored as well 13 organizations for achievement and unveiled its new CEO in a brief question-and-answer session at its annual Beacon Awards ceremony.

Mr. Traurig, a founder of national law firm Greenberg Traurig in 1967, was the principal land use attorney in a number of the largest and bestknown projects in Miami-Dade

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County for decades. He received the Beacon Council’s Jay MalinaAward, named for the late founder of the One Community One Goal job-building effort that began under the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and has been revived under the aegis of the Beacon Council.

The Beacon Council is the county’s public-private job creation engine, today funded primarily by money from Miami-Dade County but also by memberships of busi-

nesses and events like the 15th annual BeaconAwards. The ceremony was held May 11 at the Hilton Miami Downtown, 1601 Biscayne Blvd.

The incoming president and CEO of the Beacon Council, Michael Finney, told the crowd that he will take his time to learn the community, first focusing on the key controversies, the key partners, the key organizations and the key Michael Finney business sectors before setting specific goals.

He did, however, cite as most important to him supporting the small business community to make sure it has opportunities, including the opportunity to connect with the large businesses that are members of the Beacon Council.

On that same level, he cited the search for more opportunities for more direct foreign investment in Miami-Dade. His third early priority, he said, is to make sure that the community has the talent needed to meet the demands of the growing businesses and companies that the Beacon Council seeks to establish bases here.

The council, he said, supports the efforts of Gov. Rick Scott “to fund economic development in a big way.” The state budget that has been handed to the governor from the Florida Legislature slashes the funding for the state’s two primary

economic development organizations, Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida, raising the possibility of a veto.

Mr. Finney also raised a possibility – indeed a likelihood – that of working far more closely with Broward County on economic development.

“I can see us venturing north of the Miami-Dade border into Broward County,” he said.

In introducing Mr. Finney, Beacon Council Chairman Jaret Davis, comanaging shareholder of the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, the firm that Mr. Traurig founded, said that the search committee to find a new CEO chose from candidates who made up “an Jaret Davis extremely impressive list, but we were blown away by Michael Finney.”

Mr. Finney, CEO of Community Ventures of Michigan who until recently was the economic development advisor to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, will replace Sheldon Anderson, retired Northern Trust president for Florida and Georgia.

Mr.Anderson stepped in temporarily when CEO Larry Williams left to return to Georgia in another economic development role.

Mr. Finney is to assume his new post June 5.

The other winners of the Beacon Awards were:

Bob Traurig receives Miami Today honors as Miami legend in 2013.

Bank of America, for corporate social responsibility. Wyncode, for education and talent development. The New Tropic, for entrepreneurship. The Miami Cancer Institute of Baptist Health South Florida, the Make It Miami Award. Career Source South Florida, the Judges’ Award. ATR, the Aviation Award. BankUnited, the Banking & Finance Award. Golin, the Creative Design Award. Crystal cruises, the Hospitality & Tourism Award. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, the Life Sciences & Healthcare Award. Invizio, the Small Business Award. MI9 Retail, the Technology Award. Interport Logistics, the Trade & Logistics Award.

12

MIAMI TODAY

TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

City commission backs move to raise penalties for parking infractions

By John Charles Robbins

A hearing on June 14 will discuss the shifting of responsibility to operate the historic Vizcaya property.

Trust moves into line to run county’s Vizcaya Museum landmark in Grove County commissioners on Tuesday approved without discussion on initial reading an agreement with the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust Inc. to operate the museum and historic landmark in Coconut Grove.

The Vizcaya property is the former villa and estate of James Deering, a retired millionaire who in failing health began building the estate. Miami-Dade now owns the property.

The operating agreement – which would shift responsibility from one trust to another – stipulates Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust Inc. will operate the accredited museum and National Historic landmark in agreement with all laws and standards of the US Secretary of the Interior, the American Alliance of Museums, the American Public GardensAssociation and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.

A public hearing about the legislation is scheduled June 14 at the commission’s Parks and Cultural Affairs Committee.Afinal commission vote would come later.

In October 2013, in anticipation of Vizcaya’s 2016-2017 Centennial, the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust approved a five-year strategic plan with the goal of fully preserving the entire landmarked estate, including the Vizcaya farm village across Miami Avenue from the main villa at 3251 S Miami Ave., to boost Vizcaya’s role as a community resource, according to the legislation.

The trust concluded Vizcaya’s

“enhancement can best be accomplished by the evolution of this public-private partnership,” with the county retaining sole ownership of the grounds, buildings and art collections but management and operations, including personnel, being overseen by a single, not-for-profit organization through an agreement with the county.

The county commission had directed the trust to develop plans and legislative amendments for the transition of the operation of Vizcaya to a public-private operating partnership similar to the structure of other successful cultural operations owned by Miami-Dade.

A cooperative public-private venture would be focused on increasing private financial support with “the ultimate goal of enriching Vizcaya’s capacity to serve as a cultural and educational hub,” the ordinance states.

The operating agreement includes terms for the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust Inc.’s board of directors: maintain continuity with the trust; include a majority of appointees by the county; ensure the long-term financial success of the museum and historic landmark; conducte meetings under the Sunshine law and make records available; operate Vizcaya with a balanced annual budget using earned revenue and contributed income along with county and other government funds, and raise grants and donations to support operations, capital improvements

and endowment to complement public support of Vizcaya.

The county has given Vizcaya $2.5 million in operating funds each year and an allocation of capital funds through the 2004 Building Better Communities general obligation bond program. The agreement requires the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust Inc. to annually submit to the county an operating budget, recommended capital repair budget, reports and independent audits for review.

The agreement includes terms that all of Vizcaya’s county staff will be offered employment with the trust with salaries similar to those currently offered by Miami-Dade with competitive benefits. Employees who don’t want employment with the trust would be eligible for classified rights or placement assistance through the county’s Human Resources Department.

Additionally, the agreement stipulates the trust would comply with state law on competitive bidding and with county code governing small business, responsible wages and composition of the workforce.

Miami-Dade would continue to have free and reduced-fee access to Vizcaya for events of county-wide significance and the trust would maintain regular public access, establish non-discriminatory fees for the use of Vizcaya and continue offering discounted admission for children, students, seniors and social-service organizations serving low-income people.

Banc America to finance county fleet

By Susan Danseyar

Miami-Dade commissioners Tuesday approved Banc ofAmerica Public Capital Corp. providing $22.5 million for lease/purchase and payment of financing costs for vehicles.

Deputy Mayor Edward Marquez said May 9 the resolution, on behalf of the finance department, is designed to cover 742 vehicles, mainly for police and the corrections and rehabilitation departments.

The legislation states Banc of America Public Capital Corp. is to provide $22.5 million for the lease/purchase for animal services; the county commission; the elec-

tions department; corrections and rehabilitation department; police; medical examiner; parks, recreation and open spaces; internal services; solid waste; and the property appraiser’s department.

The amount to be financed will be $15.25 million for a five-year term at 1.7% and $7.25 million for a seven-year term at 1.87%. Principal and interest payments would occur each Oct. 1 and April 1 with the first payment April 1, 2018.

Total interest cost is estimated at $1,268,473.11.

Mr. Marquez said during the Government Operation committee last week he asked for the resolution to appear before the county commis-

sion Tuesday because there’s a time limit for Banc of America and the county wants the good interest rates.

Commissioner Xavier Suarez said last week it’s hard to disagree with vehicles for police and corrections but asked about one for a member of the county commission, 30 for solid waste and mosquito control and another 41 for the internal services department.

The vehicles are all highly needed, said Jennifer Moon, director of the office of management and budget.

A half-ton pick-up truck is for a member of the county commission and the 41 vehicles are part of a three-year contract, said Tara Smith, director of internal services.

Miami city commissioners are supporting a move to increase penalties for parking violators, particularly those vehicles that block the flow of traffic.

Commissioners last week approved a resolution urging changes in state law to allow increased penalties for parking violations and urging the county to raise its parking fines.

Requesting the higher penalties is the Off-Street Parking Board, which oversees the Miami Parking Authority.

Miami-Dade collects, processes and adjudicates parking violations countywide and approves the rates. Florida statutes limit the fine amounts that counties may impose.

It’s been more than 20 years since the county commission raised fines.

Authority CEO Art Noriega told city commissioners the parking agency has been working toward boosting penalties for quite some time.

“We have been working with the county for approximately two years, in conjunction with some other municipalities, to urge them to increase the fine structure at the county. It hasn’t been amended since 1996,” he said.

Mr. Noriega said Miami-Dade has one of the state’s lowest fine schedules.

The resolution says the county code currently provides parking penalties ranging from $18 to $33, “which do not adequately reflect the gravity of these illegal parking offenses, and are not in keeping with the current parking rates or the increasing costs of enforcement.”

Mr. Noriega said, “It’s gotten to the point where it’s no longer a deterrent… We need the increase in order to create sufficient enough deterrent and to compel compliance.”

In order to alleviate parking abuses such as parking on prohibited streets and willful obstruction of streets, as well as other parking violations that create hazards or impede traffic and cut into legal parking sites, the city urges the county to amend its parking fines and the state to allow increased penalties, the resolution says.

“It is needed,” said Commissioner Ken Russell.

His district includes Coconut Grove and the downtown business district, and he said those areas attract a lot of deliveries and see delivery trucks stopped and blocking the streets.

“This could be someone servicing a restaurant, a grocery store, it could be a FedEx truck making a delivery, but they feel with the fines available, currently at $33… they’ll gladly take that fine and leave the truck,” said Mr. Russell.

“One of our biggest problems is congestion in the City of Miami and anything we can do to keep the roads flowing is very important. I think these violators need to feel that if they violate its going to cost,” he said.

A proposal to raise the penalty for blocking a lane of traffic would increase it from the current $33 to $47, noted Mr. Russell, who said he wants to see the fine at $120.

Mr. Noriega said he would pass along Mr. Russell’s suggestion to

‘We have been working with the county for approximately two years, in conjunction with some other municipalities, to urge them to increase the fine structure...’

Art Noriega county officials.

The resolution included language to increase fines for the more routine violators: car owners who overstay time in a paid parking space. Currently the fine is $18.

Commission Chairman Keon Hardemon said he worried about residents who need to use the metered spaces but who have limited incomes, and how increasing the fine would impact folks already struggling to get by.

“It’s a reasonable concern,” said Mr. Noriega, “but let me speak to that, because the demographic you’re talking about, typically they won’t take that risk because the difference between $18 and paying $2 to park is a significant spread, right.

So they’re typically compliant.”

Mr. Noriega said the real problem is meager fines for more serious parking violations that deal with traffic mobility, issues like blocking a lane of traffic, parking in front of a fire hydrant or in a disabled parking space.

“Right now we’re providing almost zero disincentive for them to do it… those violators, which are commercial vehicles typically, are you know, just kind of running roughshod over it – there’s not enough of a disincentive there,” he said.

Mr. Hardemon was successful in amending the resolution to remove requested changes in the fines for routine overtime parking in metered spaces.

“I offer that as a friendly amendment,” said Mr. Hardemon. “Our everyday people, parked overtime, they’re trying to do the right thing.

I don’t want to hurt or further exacerbate someone’s financial woes because of that.”

In speaking to the Off-Street Parking Board earlier, Mr. Noriega had said the challenge will be to convince county elected officials to approve higher rates, noting the political risk.

He said politicians tend to be leery of fee increases.

But stiffer penalties, he said, should lead to people being “more compliant.”

A check of other Florida cities shows Tampa parking tickets range from $24 to $39, and Fort Lauderdale $32 to $57.

MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

13

Commercial Real Estate & Office Space American Dream mega-mall expects October OK on plans

By Catherine Lackner

The backers of the American Dream Miami mega-mall in Northwest Miami-Dade County predict that the County Commission will approve their concept in October, said Robert Gorlow, an attorney for the complex.

He and Edgar Jones, a development consultant for the entertainment and shopping mall, spoke at Friday’s meeting of the Realtors Commercial Alliance, part of the Miami Association of Realtors.

“The county thinks we’re going too fast, but they’re okay with it,” Mr. Gorlow said. “We want to move fast, because plans get stale otherwise.”

Though some individuals have concerns, the county commission and several neighborhood groups have given it their preliminary approvals, he said.

The $4 billion project is set to open in 2022-23, Mr. Jones said. It’s been in the planning stages since 2013 and comprises 7.2 million square feet that are

The $4 billion, 7.2 million-square-foot American Dream Miami is planning to open its doors in 2022-2023.

to include restaurants, stores, 2,000 hotel rooms, a walkthrough aquarium, an indoor ski slope, water park, movie complex and more.

It is a project of Triple Five Worldwide, which also devel-

oped the West Edmonton Mall in Canada and Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. In about 18 months, Triple Five Worldwide will open American Dream Metropolitan New York in the New Jersey Meadowlands, Mr.

Gorlow said.

It’s estimated that American Dream Miami will receive 40 million annual visitors and create 14,500 permanent jobs. The developers have agreed to add two highway interchanges that

will open three years before the mall does, and a major transportation center has been included in the project, Mr. Gorlow said.

“We applied to [the Florida Department of Transportation] two years before we applied to the county,” he added.

The parking garages are designed so that they can be converted to other uses if cars become outmoded. The mammoth project is also designed for sea-level rise, driverless cars and other trends, he said.

“It was hard to put together 80 acres,” Mr. Jones said, some of which was owned by the state, Miami-Dade Public Schools, the Graham family and private owners. He gave Mr. Gorlow credit for pulling the deal together.

Most of the opposition to the project, Mr. Gorlow said, has come from owners of older, more traditional malls who don’t want to compete with American Dream’s entertainment options, which might end up comprising 60% of the project.

Miami to inventory and enforce all development covenants

By John Charles Robbins

Promises, promises.

At the core of every covenant is a promise to do or not do a particular thing or series of things.

As they relate to real estate development in Miami, covenants have developers promising everything from building affordable housing units to restricting use of a parcel to prohibit commercial uses.

Some promise to build fences, others to not exceed a certain height as steel and glass go vertical.

Covenants are designed to tie the promises to the land.

The building boom in the City of Miami has brought with it a proliferation of covenants, and city commissioners want to get a handle on the situation.

It began as a discussion item on the city commission’s April 27 agenda, requested by Francis Suarez.

It ended with a vote directing the city manager’s office to inventory all covenants in the city and determine the best method for enforcement of the documents.

Mr. Suarez asked for a discussion regarding the examination of covenants by the administration to determine how many active covenants exist in the city and whether the active covenants are in compliance.

Mr. Suarez said that among some people the use of covenants by developers to get

A park, Icon Bay Park, which was promised in a covenant for a 43-story tower, is finished and dedicated.

something extra – an exception to zoning rules or standards – has resulted in consternation.

“They don’t have trust in the covenant process,” he said.

As an example, he cited using a covenant to basically upzone the use of a certain parcel. He equated it to putting a square peg into a round hole.

Mr. Suarez said there is a fear among some who are leery of covenants that is two-fold. The concern is that the covenant will be lifted or changed, or that it won’t be complied with and there is no follow-up mechanism in place to enforce it “after the fact.”

Commissioner Ken Russell

said he understood the concerns.

“It doesn’t have the teeth some think it does,” he said.

As for the inventory and check, Mr. Suarez said, “I suspect we’ll find some are not in compliance.”

Commissioner Wifredo “Willy” Gort supported the inventory and enforcement.

“That’s a good idea,” he said, suggesting the Neighborhood Enhancement Team, or NET, offices throughout the city might be called on to play a role in keeping track of development covenants.

The resolution directed the city manager’s office to work with the city attorney’s office

in the covenant inventory and compliance check.

Some recent development covenants on approved or completed projects include: The Related Group submitted a covenant with its mixeduse residential Paraiso Bay project in Edgewater, dedicating 26,186 square feet on Biscayne Bay as a public park. Related promises to improve the park with landscaping trees, an irrigation system, decorative street lighting, decorative sidewalk, and baywalk, pavers and more.

The park at Northeast 32nd Street and Northeast Seventh Avenue will be maintained by the developer. This is similar to

a covenant submitted by Related promising a public waterfront park at its 43-story residential tower Icon Bay, at the end of Northeast 28th Street and south of Paraiso Bay. The Icon Bay Park has been completed and dedicated. The developer building a Sedano’s Supermarket adjacent to a residential neighborhood in Allapattah promises in a covenant to use the eastern parcels closest to the residential area for parking only. The company acquired several connected parcels bounded on the west by Northwest 17th Avenue, on the north by Northwest 26th Street and the south by Northwest 24th Street. The eastern lots will be dedicated for parking for the grocery store only. The covenant reads in part: “… No other commercial establishment, business, office or other property will be allowed to use or access the parking [area] …” Melo Group, through its 14th Plaza Corp., is building a mixed-use project called Square Station abutting the School Board Metromover Station. Twin 34-story towers are rising at the site between Northeast 14th and 15th streets.

In a covenant with the city, the company promises that 96 of the 710 apartments will be workforce housing, which equates to about 14%. The city is deferring development impact fees on the units reserved for workforce housing.

WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

COMMERCIAL & OFFICE SPACE

MIAMI TODAY

17

Even with 9,000 new units, rental apartment demand grows

By Marilyn Bowden

Demand for rental apartments is increasing in South Florida despite the opening of more than 9,000 new units in 2016, according to a first quarter market update from Cushman & Wakefield’s Multifamily Investment South Florida Team – a dynamic that continues to draw investor interest.

Record apartment sales in the region were recorded for the second consecutive year in 2016, the report shows, with the sale of 278 properties valued at an estimated $3.6 billion, and “in contrast to other real estate assets, there is no indication that the current cycle in multifamily has reached its peak in volume.

“We are now entering the eighth year of multifamily expansion in South Florida,” Cushman & Wakefield predicts.

“Fundamentals remain strong and growth will continue, albeit not at the feverish levels witnessed in previous years.”

The high demand for rentals is upheld by a number of factors.

High on that list is population growth. The company’s analysts estimate that over the next five years South Florida’s population will grow by 7.5%, or 503,260 new arrivals – a significant rise over the 333,000 arriving over the previous five. While 30,093 new apartment units hit the market in the past five years – one unit for every 11 new residents – using the same ratio, Cushman & Wakefield projects a need over the next five years for 45,000 new rentals to keep pace.

“There are currently 17,652 units under construction,” the company reports, but due to higher construction and land costs, that new supply is almost exclusively Class A+ product.

Affordable Class B and C supply, the team notes, remains “drastically underserved.”

Contributing to the demand for more rentals is the area’s current home ownership rate of only 62.1%, approaching a 30-year low. While rental rates were at record levels across South Florida in 2016 for the sixth year in a row – increasing 27.4% in Miami-Dade since 2011 – Cushman & Wakefield notes that escalation in the cost of single-family homes is even higher.

In the past five years, the report states, median single-family home prices have increased 83% in Miami-Dade, “making ownership even tougher and rental demand stronger.”

The reported median home value in Miami-Dade is now more than $330,000, “meaning a renter who could afford a 10% down payment on a medianpriced home would have a mortgage around $2,000 – $700 more than the average MiamiDade rental.”

In 2016, the median salary income increased by 3.6% across South Florida, and about 3.2% in Miami-Dade. That’s the second highest increase in a decade, Cushman & Wakefield reports – a trend that, if it continues, “will help South Florida rents become more affordable.”

MIAMI-DADE MULTI FAMILY MARKET SALES YEAR VOLUME # SALES 23 2017 YTD $165,196,100 2016 $1,285,653,900 138 2015 $918,049,900 147 2014 $721,553,000 164 2013 $540,725,900 107 2012 $528,063,000 100

# UNITS 153,442 153,015 149,264 146,208 143,246 141,867

ASKING ASKING RENT NEW RENT PSF GROWTH VACANCY UNITS 4% 468 $1.52 0.40% 4.3% 4,006 $1.51 5.50% 3.5% 3,340 $1.44 6.60% 3.8% 3,568 $1.36 4.00% 3.8% 1,666 $1.32 4.30% 4.3% 1,896 $1.27 4.10%

Source: Cushman & Wakefield

The shadow rental market created by new condos bought as income-producing properties has in the past provided some relief for pent-up rental demand.

The first-quarter ISG World Miami Report from International Sales Group, which details condo construction activity over the past five years, shows that in

most markets across the region absorption of new condos is high.

In the North Miami BeachKey Biscayne-Coconut Grove market, for example, ISG reports that 1,282 units have been absorbed out of 1,467 delivered since mid-2011; in BrickellMiami River, 5,120 units of a total 5,908 have been sold.

Cushman & Wakefield predicts that even though condo units offered for rent will probably be leased in short order, the impact on rents will be negligible, and “any softening in the market is more likely to occur in the condo resale market as investors realize the prospect of renting their condo at a profit

is marginal and decide to sell.”

Investment activity in MiamiDade has resulted in triple-digit sales volumes over the past five years, according to data from the Cushman & Wakefield team, with 138 multifamily properties trading in 2016, generating revenue of more than $1.2 billion as asking rents rose 4.6% to $1.51 a square foot.

However, investor focus is drifting away from new supply, which is Class A and urban.

“With cap rates at or near historic lows,” the team notes, “investors are increasingly focused on cash returns, favoring markets with stronger rental growth outlooks and properties offering immediate cash flow.

This means a near-term investor shift away from the major urban metro areas where multifamily deliveries are peaking.

“Value-add class B and C properties remain in strong demand among investors, and competition for these acquisition opportunities remains fierce.”

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WEEK OF THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2017

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