Miami Today: Week of Thursday, January 25, 2018

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

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GROVE PLAYHOUSE SCRIPT X’ED OUT AS X. SUAREZ ALTERS HIS LONG-STANDING PLOT, PG. 3 FIFA BID SUBMITTED: On Tuesday, Miami-Dade commissioners supported the county’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup Soccer matches and events. Commissioner Rebeca Sosa thanked Mayor Carlos Giménez for negotiating the contract to protect county assets: “You said come to Miami-Dade County because you are going to have the best hotels, restaurants and weather, but you also made sure to protect our airport and everything else.” Mr. Giménez thanked county attorneys “for putting in countless hours on this very interesting proposal dealing with Swiss law” and for putting in all of the needed protections.

“It’s a qualified bid because the requirements were absolutely untenable.”

The Achiever

By Gabi Maspons

OLE OLE FOR MIAMI: While Carlos Giménez, county mayor, has expressed skepticism about the legal aspects of the deal, several members of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority favor Miami’s bid for the 2026 World Cup. “The World Cup will place us on a different level,” said Alan Ojeda, authority board member and president of the Rilea Development Group. “We should dig into this.” More than 400,000 people are expected to attend, and millions will watch the games electronically. “The Convention & Visitors Bureau is very much interested,” said Alvin West, authority treasurer and visitors bureau senior vice president and chief financial officer.

“We’re working on it and doing everything we can.”

MANA MYSTERY: The first section of the downtown Flagler Street renovation is complete, but the next section is temporarily on hold pending submission of ideas from Moishe Mana, a prominent developer who has invested heavily in Wynwood and on Flagler Street. “There is a proposal from Moishe Mana to redesign the street as fully pedestrian,” said downtown authority Vice Chair Neisen Kasdin, office-managing partner of Akerman LLP. He co-chairs the authority’s Flagler Street Task Force along with Brian Alonso, real estate investor and former principal of La Epoca Department Store. “We want to see the resulting design and the cost before we make a decision,” Mr. Kasdin said. The Mana team is expected to appear before a Jan. 29 task force meeting, said Patrice Gillespie Smith, authority senior manager of Planning, Design & Transportation. Mr. Mana is known to be reticent about sharing details of his plans.

SIGN OF THE TIMES: After years of delays, bids for fabricating signs for a downtown wayfinding program “are in and under verification,” said Alyce Robertson, authority executive director. The project aims to the reduce visual clutter downtown over more than 2,000 signs in the central business district and replace it with a unified wayfinding system that will identify areas of interest, places to park and other key details of getting around downtown.

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

Raul Moas

To lead Knight effort to help start-ups grow and scale The profile is on Page 4

Affordable housing may dismiss school classes

By Gabi Maspons

To build affordable housing options, MiamiDade commissioners are looking to collaborate with the county school board to buy old school properties as sites for new housing.

While approving demolition of the Medvin Apartments, an old public housing site that has been inactive since 2014, commissioners at the Housing and Social Services Committee last week debated how to maximize unused school properties and prioritize housing needs.

Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava suggested reaching out to the school board for a partnership.

“We all know the crisis we have in affordable housing,” she said. “The school board is interested in building a school and it’s worthwhile to see if there is a property they have that could be used for workforce housing so that we are staying apace.”

Commissioner Audrey Edmonson agreed, saying nearby schools countywide could absorb students from underutilized schools to clear space for future affordable housing.

“The school board has two schools that are

A new tax for transit is brewing

undercapacity and others can hold them,” Ms. Edmonson said.

Commissioner Barbara Jordan said she is “glad” Ms. Levine Cava suggested talking with the school board, as it might want to sell well-located schools to other buyers.

Ms. Jordan said she’s concerned about what will happen to schools that aren’t meeting with the county to discuss housing. “As we all know, there are entities out there that are very much interested in school properties,” she said. “Anything close to downtown is at risk and we need more housing units.”

Ms. Jordan asked about creating a policy with the school board to first offer sites for affordable housing to the county when schools close.

“Affordable and workforce housing should be the first priority for consideration with both entities so the properties aren’t flipped into more gainful housing that would be more profitable to them,” Ms. Jordan said.

Ms. Edmonson echoed Ms. Jordan, asking for a school board representative to attend the next committee meeting to discuss a possible agreement and present options.

Ms. Jordan asked county attorneys what

legislation commissioners could propose: “Because our housing markets are so depleted, what policy can we explore on school properties that are underserved in communities that may want to go up for sale in the future to entities that won’t be interested in workforce or affordable housing?”

County attorneys reminded commissioners that they don’t govern the school board, so the only legal action the commission could take would be to urge the schools to consider affordable housing when selling.

The full committee is to sponsor legislation to urge the school board to prioritize county affordable and low-income housing when selling underutilized sites, with commissioners Edmonson, Xavier Suarez, Levine Cava, Jordan and Joe Martinez agreeing to co-sponsor.

Michael Liu, county Public Housing and Community Development director, said he could bring a school board representative to the next Housing and Social Services Committee meeting to talk about next steps.

Mr. Liu said his department is “looking to collaborate with Miami-Dade Public Schools wherever there is land available.”

Another half-penny transportation tax may be on the November ballot as Miami-Dade scrambles to add transit.

At last week’s Chairman’s Policy Council, Commissioner Jean Monestime said he’ll ask attorneys to draft legislation to add the surtax, 15 years after voters approved the People’s Transportation Plan [PTP] half-penny surtax.

“Time is running out for our board and our legacy and I think it’s time that we stop being afraid to fail,” he said. “If I’m going to fail, I’m going to fail big.”

Voters OK’d the PTP in 2002 for key projects, but most money has funded operations. Of $251.6 million collected in 2015-16, only $75.8 million went to capital work.

Mr. Monestime suggested a new surtax may be larger than the first: “We need to put it in [voters’] hands, not ours, when determining whether we should move forward with another half-penny, if not more.”

Dennis Moss said he couldn’t support an extra surtax when residents have been promised solutions they haven’t seen. “I’m just telling you straight up: South Dade is not going to support it.”

He said commissioners should first start SMART plan building to show progress. “Then we can go back out there, because people are not going to fall for the promises.”

Audrey Edmonson supported rapid action, saying three commissioners leading transit talks – Bruno Barreiro, Mr. Moss and Esteban Bovo Jr. – will be gone in 2020.

Mr. Monestime said impending term limits and an outcry from millennials are driving him to put the tax on the ballot quickly. “Our millennials are screaming and crying for this,” he said. The first half-penny passed before millennials were eligible to vote, he said, making them too young to feel betrayed. “Maybe this issue can mobilize them.”

“This isn’t something I can do by myself without the support of the board,” Mr. Monestime said.

“But we need to have a longer conversation about giving the voters the option.”

FIRST STATE SERVICES-ONLY TRADE TRIP TARGETS BRAZIL ...

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DOWNTOWN FUNDS CAMPAIGN TO FILL ITS HOTELS’ ROOMS ...

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COMMISSION ASKS, WHERE DID TRANSPORTATION TAX GO? ...

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DEVELOPER PLANS RESTAURANT BESIDE 1897 GROVE HOME ...

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VIEWPOINT: REVOLUTIONARY EFFORT ON FAMILIAR ROUTE...

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PASS-THROUGH COMPANIES EXPECTING TAX LAW BOOSTS ...

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RIVER CAN DOUBLE CURRENT CARGO LOAD, STATE LEARNS ...

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1.5 MILLION SQUARE FEET OF INDUSTRIAL SPACE COMING ...

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MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

TODAY’S NEWS

The Insider POWERLESS DAIS: While debating the safety of Miami-Dade’s parks and libraries at the Parks and Cultural Affairs Committee last week, Commissioner Javier Souto took the opportunity to put comments on the record about the power of commissioners. “We are the ones that get the calls, so we are the ones to get the blame,” he said. “But it’s not the commissioners who control the buttons to change things, but the directors of the departments and the administration, which isn’t clear to 90% of Miami-Dade County.” Though commissioners try to enact change, he Javier Souto said, sometimes it takes “years” to have an impact. “We are like people with big muscles that can’t even move a finger because our muscles are too big,” he said before urging department heads to take quick and decisive actions on issues of public safety to make sure Miami-Dade is not attracting “mafia people and drug dealers.”

BURNING MILLIONS: Commissioner Sally Heyman brought unused fire department bunker gear to the Public Safety and Health Committee meeting last week to show commissioners the pristine shape the uniforms are in when they must be discarded. She said standards set by manufacturers and sellers require the gear to be destroyed or shipped to a third-world country after a certain amount of time. “Our warehouse is filled with surplus gear in case of an emergency and we are losing millions that can go toward fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and other necessities from the fire department’s budget,” she said. “The brand new equipment is all ready and packed to go to a third-world country because of liability, and that is shameful to our taxpayers.”

FORTUNE FOR PANORAMA: Developer Tibor Hollo’s Florida East Coast Realty has named Fortune Development Sales to lease the 85-story, 821-unit Panorama Tower apartments at 1101 Brickell Ave., with move-ins set to begin in March. Developers say they’ve just started taking reservations and 30% of units are reserved with deposits. The target demographic is young professionals and families. “We brought Fortune on board to tap into its extensive network in order to reach new prospects and carry out the remaining leases,” said Executive Vice Jerome Hollo President Jerome Hollo.

FIRST STEP OF MANY: Miami-Dade commissioners voted without comment Tuesday to amend code language on overnight camping to account for the homeless population of sexual predators and offenders. Code previously required police officers to offer homeless persons available spaces in a shelter if they are found in violation of the overnight camping laws, but the county prohibits sexual predators and offenders from residing within 2,500 feet of a school, and no homeless shelters in the county comply. Police Director Juan Perez said at a committee meeting last month that though the legislation “cleans up the language,” the county can still do more to provide a place for homeless sexual predators and offenders. “We go in and enforce and it just displaces them to another neighborhood,” he said. Sponsoring commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz said last month he would be working with commissioners soon to discuss more solutions.

GREEN TRANSPORTATION: Thirty-five rental bikes will be found at seven points on the Miami Shores campus of Barry University starting this week. The university launched the service with LimeBikes to offer students easier transportation and an added mode of exercise. App-based LimeBike uses a GPS service in which bikes can be left at their final destination rather than being returned to their starting point. Those with a barry.edu email address get a discount of 50 cents for every 30 minutes of use.

HOTELS STRONGER: Hotels in the Miami area increased their daily room rate 11% in the week ended Jan. 13, hitting $233.92. STR tracking service said it was the only double-digit gain in average daily rates in the nation for the week. The gains pushed revenue per available room up 17.5%, to $186.55.

TURKEY CARGO LINK: Turkish Cargo, the freight operation of Turkish Airlines, began service to Miami International Airport last week with a Boeing 777-200F aircraft that the service acquired in December. Turkish Cargo says it will connecting Miami to 120 nations through more than 300 destinations with its Istanbul-Madrid-Miami arriving flights and Miami-Houston-Istanbul departing flights. The service had already been flying weekly to Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and New York, making Miami its fifth US destination.

Flights arrive in Miami Sundays, with departing flights on Mondays.

READY FOR A CRISIS: Miami-based rbb Communications has added a division to deal with crises. Reputation & Risk Advisors, its crisis and issues management division, will be led by Executive Vice President Laura Guitar. “We have seen a significant increase in the number of organizations seeking high-level counsel around issues that represent a reputational threat,” said rbb CEO Christine Barney.

The division focuses on crisis preparedness planning, issue-oriented advocacy campaigns, litigation communications and programs to mitigate risk and reputational Christine Barney impact.

UM IMAGE UPGRADE: As part of an effort to raise its business education profile and reputation, the University of Miami has officially changed the name of the University of Miami School of Business Administration to the University of Miami Business School, also to be called just the Miami Business School. “The prior name was in need of change in this new era of social media,” said John Quelch, brought in from Harvard last June as dean of the school. “It was time to do away with outdated terms like administration.”

John Quelch

CORRECTION: An article last week on Miami International Airport’s foreign currency concessions incorrectly identified the acronym “ICE.” The acronym stands for International Currency Exchange.

CORRECTION: The initialism DFI in our report last week about the status of lending to small business owners stands for the Division of Financial Institutions.

State’s first services-only trade trip targets Brazil’s vast services sector

By Sara Marino

State economic development agency Enterprise Florida will for the first time field a trade mission exclusively for service providers when it travels June 23-27 to São Paulo, Brazil.

“The reason we’re doing this is because we are among the top four states in exporting services,” said Manny Mencia, Coral Gablesbased senior vice president of international trade and development for Enterprise Florida.

Florida has one of the largest concentrations of knowledge-based service providers, he said.

Some of the main service providers that Enterprise Florida will encourage to join the mission are telecommunications services, marketing and advertising, insurance, environmental services, financial services, logistics, transportation services and several other sectors, Mr. Mencia said.

“We chose to go to São Paulo since the Brazilian economy has a huge services sector,” he said. “It’s the largest sector in the country, which isn’t surprising.”

While spots in the mission are still

‘The reason we’re doing this is because we are among the top four states in exporting services.’

Manny Mencia available, the deadline for companies to register is the end of April.

“If you’re a service company, this is a great opportunity,” Mr. Mencia said. “We’re shooting for 25 companies” to take part in the mission.

To join the mission, a company must first submit information about its services to Enterprise Florida.

Enterprise Florida will send the information to the U.S. Commer-

cial Services Brazil office, where it will be decided whether the company’s services are a good fit for the market.

Enterprise Florida is still in the process of reviewing companies to be part of the mission.

Carlos Guerra, manager of international trade and development for Enterprise Florida, said that in 2016 Brazil and Florida totaled $18.2 billion in bilateral trade, so the mission “constitutes a great opportunity for local service companies.”

The service sector in Brazil accounts for 67.5% of gross domestic product and employs around 66% of the country’s workforce, Mr. Guerra wrote.

“Florida companies are wellpositioned to benefit from this opportunity and the export sales mission will provide [companies] with an excellent chance to enter or expand local businesses in Brazil,” he wrote.

Prior to the São Paulo mission, the state agency will spearhead a few other missions, including a health mission from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 to Dubai and an export sales mission to San Jose, Costa Rica, from Feb. 26 to March 1.

1% of some county contracts to aid affordable housing but none in sight

By Gabi Maspons

Miami-Dade County’sAffordable Housing Trust is to receive a new, permanent source of funding after commissioners on Tuesday voted to send 1% of eligible construction and leasing contract costs to the trust to address the affordable housing crisis in the county.

“Affordable housing is not affordable anymore and the 1% will help us develop more affordable housing,” said Commissioner Barbara Jordan, who sponsored the legislation.

TheAffordable Housing trust was created in 2015 in part to “establish a permanent, renewable source of revenue to meet the housing needs” of the county, the legislation says.

Monies in the Trust Fund are used to “construct, acquire, rehabilitate or subsidize affordable housing and/or to assist other governmental entities, private organizations or individuals” in the same efforts.

The fund currently has $4.1 million. The legislation says the current funds “are insufficient to assist in a significant way in increasing the supply of affordable housing in Miami-Dade County.”

The legislation will require that the county deposit “not less than 1% of the construction costs associated with the construction of new county governmental buildings or facilities” into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

The county will also deposit 1% from all leases and contracts for privately funded construction on county-owned land.

Commissioner Rebeca Sosa asked county attorneys at the county commission meeting Tuesday to clarify where the money will be coming from: “Is this a new fee we are increasing? So if we do a construction of

a county building, then it will cost taxpayers more?” Ms. Sosa asked.

County attorneys said it is an additional cost, but it won’t be hitting taxpayers directly.

“Whatever the construction cost is, 1% will be deposited into the trust, so it will hit the developer and the county.”

Ms. Sosa said the burden is always absorbed by taxpayers, as “the developer never pays and passes the burden on us.”

Ms. Jordan said the developers will be incurring the costs, as the county “is not taxing the taxpayers.”

“The developers will pay,” Ms. Jordan said, “and how they pass that on, I can’t control.”

The financial impact to the county and amount allocated to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund may be minimal as very few projects are eligible, the legislation says.

The requirement will not apply when the construction value is $200,000 or less.

The county is also exempt from depositing the 1% for construction contracts that develop affordable housing or are restricted by federal or state laws or grants or agreements.

In a memo to the commissioners, Deputy Mayor Maurice Kemp said the county could not evaluate the fiscal impact because “there are no planned projects for which this fee would be applicable.” The projects “deemed eligible are contingent” on the terms of the agreement between the county and the private entity, and “no such leases or contracts currently exist,” Mr. Kemp said.

Commissioner Bruno Barreiro was concerned the legislation doesn’t do enough to add resources to the affordable housing trust fund, arguing that the list of exceptions is excessive.

“I support the item, but I’m not

sure why we are exempting the last few items,” Mr. Barreiro said.

“There are going to be many projects in these categories that will generate revenue and I would like to keep those in.”

Ms. Jordan said she was open to an amendment to include those items in the requirement, but was respecting requests from staff who drafted the legislation.

“We aren’t treating everybody equally,” Mr. Barreiro said, “and it’s going to impact the residents.”

“I know it’s not your intent to leave people out, but it is happening and it’s unfortunate,” Mr. Barreiro said before the final vote was taken.

Despite criticisms, commissioners voted to pass the item, allocating 1% of eligible construction and leasing contract costs to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund beginning June 1.

A Singular Voice in an Evolving City

Phone: (305) 358-2663 Staff Writers:

Gabi Maspons gmaspons@miamitodaynews.com John Charles Robbins jrobbins@miamitodaynews.com Katya Maruri kmaruri@miamitodaynews.com Sara Marino smarino@miamitodaynews.com People Column people@miamitodaynews.com Michael Lewis mlewis@miamitodaynews.com

TODAY’S NEWS

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

MIAMI TODAY

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Commissioners ask, Where did transportation taxes go?

By Gabi Maspons

After deferring a People’s Transportation Plan project to improve drainage and sidewalks, Miami-Dade commissioners voted Tuesday to have Mayor Carlos Giménez’s office report to them on the history and use of the plan’s money countywide.

“I would like to understand it better and I think it would benefit the public as well,” said Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava in requesting the report.

Chairman Esteban Bovo Jr. pulled the legislation so he could put on record that he would be voting against the improvements using the special tax money that the People’s Transportation Plan (PTP) collects.

The legislation before would have used about $338,421 in PTP funds to hire American Builders Masters Corp. to improve drainage and sidewalks in Commissioner Xavier Suarez’s district between Southwest 95th and 97th avenues from Southwest 112th Street to 109th Terrace.

The legislation says the improvements “qualify under the allowable work categories included in the PTP Neighborhood Improvement Section,” allowing the work

to be paid for using PTP money.

The People’s Transportation Plan is a half-penny transportation surtax that voters approved in 2002 with the promise to add major transportation links. Over the years, that money has been consistently used for projects outside of the scope of its intent.

The most recent report online from 20152016 states that only 30% of PTP funds that year were directed toward capital reserve projects.

Commissioner Rebeca Sosa asked the administration if the voters approved using funds for drainage and sidewalk improvements when they voted for the half-penny.

County attorneys said a list of categories was provided by the commissioners and drainage and sidewalk improvements would fall under the “public works” category that voters approved.

“They voted for buses, infrastructure and transportation,” Ms. Sosa said. “Many promises are made and unincorporated Miami-Dade County was left without the assistance of the half penny, so I don’t vote for anything that uses the half-penny for what the public did not vote for.”

Though Commissioner Joe Martinez

said he opposed the project, he asked Mr. Bovo why he chose to oppose this particular PTP project when many others have been approved under his leadership.

“We’ve approved hundreds of projects for drainage, so why this and why now? It’s been done,” Mr. Martinez said.

Mr. Bovo said that he originally campaigned against the half-penny, but quickly became addicted to using the PTP money to fund projects and is trying to make right on promises to the voters.

“Since I’ve been on the board, I’ve slowly and grudgingly been weaning myself off of the addiction of using PTP for all of these projects,” Mr. Bovo said.

Mr. Bovo said he wouldn’t approve PTP projects until the original promise made to the voters for transportation expansion has been fulfilled.

“Until that point, save the money and invest it in someplace else,” he said.

Mr. Martinez then looked to Mr. Suarez for a possible solution, “seeing as it’s in [his] district.”

Mr. Suarez said he had no intention of voting for the item, though the project would benefit residents in his district.

“I’m hoping that we stop tearing streets up unless it’s an emergency, and this doesn’t look like an emergency so I’m voting against it,” Mr. Suarez said.

Mayor Carlos Giménez responded to the commissioners’comments, saying there was never a possibility of fulfilling the promise of Metrorail expansion through the PTP and the least the county could do is keep up the roads most residents use to get around.

“We could never keep the other part of our promise, and that was already made clear to us in 2005,” Mr. Giménez said. “But now you’re not going to do improvements to the sidewalk and drainage that 97% of the driving residents need? I would hope that we could keep at least some of our promises.”

Ms. Levine Cava suggested the administration report on how much PTP funding is being used for infrastructure so commissioners could better understand.

Mr. Bovo agreed, saying people want to see “the promise of the PTP complied with.”

Commissioners deferred the contract to improve drainage and sidewalk and Mr. Bovo suggested the administration report to commissioners so they could discuss the next steps and how to use future PTP money.

Looks of a slice of massive Miami Worldcenter debated

By John Charles Robbins

The vast components of the sweeping Miami Worldcenter project are coming together as residential towers rise and plans for a 330,000-plus-square-foot shopping venue are being finalized.

A team representing developers Miami Worldcenter Associates LLC met with the city’s Urban Development Review Board recently with proposed façade changes to a large parking structure and the selection of a key artist who will add his signature painting to the mixeduse project.

The board makes recommendations to the planning director.

A motion to recommend denial of the changes to what’s labeled as Miami Worldcenter Block D East died on a tie vote of 2-2.

A motion to recommend approval of the changes, with conditions, passed on a vote of 3-1, with acting chairman Dean Lewis voting no.

Willy Bermello, Gerald Marston and Ignacio Permuy voted yes.

The two conditions require the developer to meet with the planning director and show elevations for the garage before and after changes were made to make the structure appear less top heavy, and to explain why the design has been simplified.

Also, the specific artwork to be displayed as part of this portion of the development next to the Metromover station must come back to the board for review.

“We’re happy to do that,” said attorney Ryan Bailine, representing the developers.

Worldcenter is a collaboration of Miami Worldcenter Associates and a team of development, design and engineering firms.

The entire development promises a mix of residential towers, hotels, retail stores, restaurants, entertainment venues and a convention center to an area hugged

by AmericanAirlines Arena and All Aboard Florida’s MiamiCen-

Urban Development Review Board nearly rejected changes to look of Miami Worldcenter Block D East.

tral train station.

Miami Worldcenter is billed as a $2 billion project out to transform 27 acres of Miami’s urban core in the Park West neighborhood.

A major component of the long-awaited project is its proposed shopping center, initially designed as a massive indoor mall, stretching from the FEC railroad tracks northward to Northeast Tenth Street.

The new retail plan, being called “high street retail,” is a shadow of its former self.

The original plan called for 1,090,771 square feet of commercial space. The new plan sets aside less than one-third as much, about 338,036 square feet.

Block D East is the southeastern portion of the block bounded

by Northeast Second Avenue on the east, Northeast Eighth Street on the south, Northeast First Avenue on the west and Northeast 10th Street on the north.

The reasons to appear before the review board were changes to a façade on a parking garage and the selection of an artist and the location for murals as part of Block D East.

In a letter to a planning official,

Mr. Bailine said the planning and zoning department approved a warrant authorizing the development of the project’s initial phases on Dec. 30, 2016.

“As we discussed with you and your team over the past several months, MWC has been reviewing proposals from several world-renowned artists to partner with on signature art pieces of various mediums to be featured within the Project,” he wrote. “We are pleased to submit this letter detailing the selection of an initial artist, Franz Ackermann, together with details on the art installation, as well as details on further façade refinements.”

Mr. Ackermann is a German painter and installation artist.

His work has been featured worldwide, including at the Tate Museum of Liverpool, the Venice Biennale, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, said Mr. Bailine.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Mr. Ackermann’s unique and cutting-edge work to be displayed prominently in the City of Miami, for all to experience.

His works are regarded as ‘riveting’ abstraction, and include

a wide array of colors, shapes, and textures,” wrote Mr. Bailine.

Mr. Ackermann’s work will have a prominent location within the project, on the block referred to as D East. The artwork will be displayed on the east façade, chosen for its location along the Metromover line. More specifically, the artwork is designed to capture the attention of Metromover riders as they interact with the Park West Station.

The board was provided with updated plans for D East, detailing the location of the artwork on the façade, and a statement regarding the long-term maintenance of the artwork.

The colorful renderings presented showed examples of where the painted artwork will be displayed, but not the actual images, representatives of the developer pointed out.

In addition to the artwork on the east, the developer proposes further refinements to the D East façade program, said Mr. Bailine.

On the south and east, the developer plans an integrated projected panel system, with a three-dimensional, rotating appearance that wraps the corner

from the east to the south.

On the north, the artistic metal fin system that originally spanned only the upper levels was extended to meet the ground level.

The west façade remains largely unchanged from the original concept, but integrates the vertical metal fin system proposed on the north façade.

Further, a perforated metal panel system was introduced as a visual barrier on the west façade, to prevent light from escaping through the vertical metal fin system, explained Mr. Bailine.

The team also presented the city with its art maintenance plan, which calls for Mr. Ackermann to personally maintain the installation for a minimum of five years.

“Original paint will be stored on-site for easy access. Standard, ready-available paint colors will be utilized for ground-level portions of the Installation; i.e., areas more susceptible to general wear and tear,” the memo says.

“The upper portions of the Installation may utilize specialty paints … the Installation will be formed from an inter-locking panel system, with each panel having a unique identification number … All paint shall be certified for external use, with special consideration given to UV, rain, and salt exposure.”

Some board members voiced concerns about the lasting power of the artwork, which is basically paint on panels. Some preferred an art structure vs. a painted wall.

Mr. Lewis voiced a preference for a more permanent art installation; that has the integration of architecture with color. He cited the example of garages built on the south end of the Design District with artistic façades.

“He went for an architectural solution,” Mr. Lewis said of the designer of the multi-level garages.

Mr. Bailine stressed the importance of the upkeep of the artwork. “It would be a disincentive and irrational not to maintain it,” he said.

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MIAMI TODAY

VIEWPOINT

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

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

Revolutionary end to Miami’s gridlock takes familiar route Watching a 16-week competition to solve Miami’s mobility crisis we expected the revolutionary: overhead gondolas, waterborne transit, auton omous vehicles or a technology we’d never even heard of.

So when the Fastrack Institute unveiled results of its $500,000 two-team battle last week we were at first underwhelmed that their answer to Miami’s traffic turmoil is just what we’ve been saying for years: carpool, ride mass transit and take bikes.

Not earthshaking. On the other hand, these three methods may be the easiest and least costly route to removing cars from roadways.

The twist coming from the winning Fastrack team, Citi.moov, is an umbrella app to link users and offer incentives and rewards for drivers to leave no-passenger autos for multi-rider trips or mass transit.

Linkage and incentives can spell success.

None of this is revolutionary. It’s all common sense.

Citi.moov says it can create the app and do the whole job for another $500,000, which would put total cost of finding and enacting a solution at $1 million – a tiny fraction of the county transit department’s $540 million annual budget, though that probably is not where the money would come from.

As we noted back in September, you can find vital clues to good mobility policy in a 2016 US Census study that details how Miamians move around. The study found that nearly 96% of us had access to a personal vehicle and that 85.3% of us go to work each day in a car, truck or van, yet 76.2% of all workers commute alone by vehicle, only 5.3% via public transit and only a half percent by bicycle.

Bicycles are a piece of the winning Fastrack Institute plan to break up Miami’s gridlock.

Our conclusion was that if we could get 5.3% of all commuters out of drive-alone cars and into carpools of workers, we’d be clearing the roads of as many people as now take mass transit – about 141,000 each weekday as of October.

Citi.moov is less ambitious than we were, targeting the removal of 40,000 cars from roads within two years. That’s about 3% of the county’s 1,357,768 workers over age 16.

So the trick is to get one of every 33 workers out of a drive-alone car daily to instead ride with others via mass transit or in a multi-rider car, or onto a bike.

The bike piece of the puzzle, while picturesque, will be a very small slice of commuters in a county spread as widely as is Miami-Dade.

That leaves increasing use of mass transit and carpools.

Mass transit ridership depends not on new apps but on how well and reliably we can serve riders. That rests largely on a cluster of efforts that Miami-Dade is already undertaking, ranging from the

L etters Use expressways income for Homestead, Aventura

to the

Don’t take circulator bus in Skylake out of service

Why is not MDX money used to supIn August our normal H Skylake Bus port this needed Tri-Rail expansion? was discontinued. We had no bus service Alberto Ochoa at all for one week!

After many letters to the mayor and commissioners, calls to transit, etc., they put in a 210 Skylake Circulator.

This bus travels around Northeast 191st That union negotiator repping the Street Circle and down Northeast 14th county probably was in bed with the and 18th avenues to Walmart only. For transit union. Even so, the county com- those traveling to Bal Harbour from missions should never have voted for Skylake, they either need to walk or the contract. That said, why not consider get a ride to Miami Gardens Drive and swapping union-run mass transit with a from Aventura Mall Terminal get 120 privately-run company?

Max or “S” to South Beach.

We keep the hardware, the new company Previously, and for many, many years, manages the system and people for profit. H Skylake went to South Beach. A few For that company to be successful it, of years ago they changed it to go to 76th course, has to make customer service its Street and Collins Avenue only. Now top priority. they have taken away everything.

Otherwise, it will lose money, service Skylake is mostly seniors. They canwill slack off and the county will step in not board a trolley with carts, canes, to find another company to replace it. This wheel chairs and walkers. Many cannot seems easier than continuing to work with an even afford STS Service. Now there entrenched union that puts its workers first. is talk of removing the 210 Circulator DC Copeland completely.

Let private enterprise manage transit system

long-term aim of six new mass transit legs to the do-it-now effort to get the transit we already have to run more reliably, more comfortably and more often.

The primary problem won’t be the equipment: new CNG buses are coming, as are new Metrorail cars. But how often and how reliably will they run?

As the Census Bureau study showed, the morning rush hour that many of us dread involves fewer than half of Miami’s commuting workers. Surprisingly, one-fifth of all Miamians arrive at jobs between midnight and 7 a.m., and much of the county’s mass transit shuts down overnight.

If it isn’t running when we go to work, there’s no way to get us aboard.

As we said years ago, to forsake cars we must believe that that transit will be reliable when we need it, not just when it’s convenient – or affordable – for government. The county must find a way to keep more vehicles rolling more often.

That means stamping out excessive driver absenteeism.

The other piece of the pie, carpooling, offers great possibilities that we’ve barely tapped, though there have been experiments.

To get cars off the 826/836 interchange when it was being rebuilt, the Florida Department of Transportation in 2012 paid incentives to get people to carpool and ease construction traffic.

At first the state paid each person in a two-person carpool $25 a month, each in a three-person carpool $50 and each in a four-person carpool $75. To build users, the state later doubled those payouts.

Results were thin, with only 850 monthly participants, reaching a singlemonth high of 944.

But bear in mind those incentives were only for drivers going through a single high-traffic point with a lot of red tape to qualify. What if the program had been countywide, with no restrictions on where the cars were headed, and operated more like Uber than like a state agency?

Moreover, what if it had been a wellpromoted and sexy new app created by a high-tech mobility team rather than have the staid transportation department run things? We’d bet this could be a winning strategy and that 40,000 monthly users could be achieved in two years.

The Fastrack winner’s strategy is lots of partnerships. That’s good. The more modes of transit, agencies, users and methods we can stitch together, the more likely is success. Whether it takes cash prizes or toll reimbursements or whatever, getting Miamians to stop driving alone as much as possible is better for us all.

We wish Citi.moov well. We’ve long believed in this low-cost way to clear roads. The Achilles’ heel will not be raising $500,000 but getting mass transit to live up to expectations. That means clean, quick, convenient, frequent and popular service.

City.moov’s app can help, but to hype a service that riders now are fleeing in droves will require a strong county hall push.

Like passengers, government has to get aboard. Making sure drivers show up and that service is reliable and frequent would be a darn good start.

E ditor

People in Skylake have jobs on Collins Avenue and go beyond Walmart. Currently, one needs to get 210 to Walmart and then H Haulover Beach Bus; go to Haulover Beach, wait for 120 or S, just to go three or four blocks into Bal Harbour. Or, get to Aventura Mall in the opposite direction to get to Bal Harbour.

Does this make sense? Even the drivers we speak to cannot explain it.

Letters to Alice Bravo, Commissioner Sally Heyman and the mayor of MiamiDade proved fruitless.

Miami Today has a big article about Miami-Dade drivers not even showing up for work. What is going on here?

Add Your Views

We need to get this matter cleared up.

Please, do not take the “H” Circulator out of service and replace it with a trolley.

A driver told me they are getting hundreds of phone calls about this at transit.

Mary Ann Mori

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TODAY’S NEWS

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MIAMI TODAY

7

River could double its current cargo load, state study finds

By John Charles Robbins

An ongoing state-led study, part of the Miami River Freight Improvement Plan, concludes the river has the capacity to handle double the cargo now on the waterway.

“There’s a lot of reserve capacity on the river,” said Jack Schnettler, vice president and senior transportation engineer with Atkins North America Inc., a consulting firm working with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) on the freight study for the river.

Mr. Schnettler delivered a PowerPoint presentation on the freight improvement plan to the Miami River Commission at its January meeting.

The Miami River is now in FDOT’s Strategic Intermodal System or SIS plan, and now eligible for SIS funding, starting with $300,000 to create the Miami River Freight Improvement Plan, which will make a business case to get further SIS funding to implement the plan of improvements to the Port of Miami River.

The river commission learned this also makes the river eligible for federal improvement funds.

This is great news for river commission officials looking for ways to literally shore up river facilities to make the waterway’s

Photo by John Charles Robbins

River freight plan will look at strategies to transport shipping containers by barge to rail freight lines.

marine-industrial uses more successful.

One example of a need is to rebuild a collapsed seawall on land on the upper river owned by Miami-Dade County and leased to a shipping company. The company is not getting its full use of

the valuable site because of the nearly destroyed seawall and associated erosion, according to river commission officials.

The new potential stream of improvement funds could go to rebuilding that shoreline and seawall, they say.

The Port of Miami River was first included in the Southeast Florida Regional Freight Plan, part of FDOT’s Strategic Intermodal System, in 2015.

Since 2011, the state transportation department has spent more than $850 million on sea ports

in Florida.

The river freight plan will develop and implement strategies to improve freight mobility and viable options to improve intermodal freight movement and potential of Short Sea Shipping along the Port of Miami River. That involves the transport of shipping containers by barge that connect with rail freight lines.

The ongoing study of the river includes: Conducting agency, partner and stakeholder engagement. Reviewing existing plans, data and policies. Inventorying existing freight infrastructure. Evaluating existing and future conditions and needs. Assessing market opportunities including short sea shipping. Developing proposed improvement actions. Prioritizing recommended improvements.

As part of the study, the data noted 82% of bridge openings at the Brickell Bridge are for recreational vessels and only 18% are for international shipping vessels.

Currently there are 80 to 120 cargo shipping vessel movements per month on Port Miami River’s designated federal navigable channel, or 960 to 1,440 per year.

County poised to give funding boost to Baynanza cleanup

By Gabi Maspons

To promote activities on Biscayne Bay and support an environmental cleanup day later this year, Miami-Dade County commissioners at the Economic Development and Tourism Committee this month recommended the full commission authorize spending $98,000 to celebrate Biscayne Bay at the county’s 36th annual Baynanza.

Baynanza is a two-monthlong celebration of Biscayne Bay that includes over 35 events throughout March and April like kayaking tours and nature walks. The main event April 21 is a shoreline cleanup at 23 sites along Biscayne Bay, where over 6,000 volunteers are expected.

The county began efforts to save Biscayne Bay from pollution and promote the declining marine environment in the early 1980s, the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources says online. Baynanza was created as part of a larger effort to save the bay.

The $98,000 the county is to approve to support Baynanza comes from the $4.8 million Biscayne Bay Trust Environmental Enhancement Trust Fund. The fund gets its money from four sources: all money collected from persons who have environmentally damaged or degraded Biscayne Bay; money from environmental mitigation assessments; federal and state grants; and private

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grants and donations.

The county has an agreement with the Florida Inland Navigation District, which is to provide an additional $10,000 for T-shirts for the volunteers.

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‘This one is Commissioner Moss’s legacy and it is a wonderful item.’

additional funds and in-kind services through sponsorships from local organizations, the legislation says.

At the Economic Development and Tourism Committee meeting, committee chairwoman Rebeca Sosa asked Commissioner Dennis Moss to move the item, saying “this one is Commissioner Moss’s legacy and it is a wonderful item.”

The committee unanimously voted to recommend the full commission authorize the $98,000.

The county commission is to vote on authorizing the spending Feb. 6.

Cornelius Shiver, Executive Director Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Agency

Ross Report Real Estate by Audrey Ross

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must be the primary residence of Rental Penalties the property owner, and not used If the property, or any portion It’s the beginning of the year thereof, is rented, owners must as a rental. and financial planning is on notify the Miami-Dade County everyone’s minds. In Florida, Property Appraiser. Failure to do Deadlines property owners are eligible so may subject you to 50 percent The eligibility for homestead for discounts on their property penalty and 15 percent interest exemption is established on taxes based on their homestead per year up to 10 years.

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MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

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MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

11

Pass-through companies looking for boost from tax law

By Rebecca San Juan

Tax experts and individual business owners welcome the income tax reduction on pass-through companies that’s starting this year. Despite its complexities, the change is expected to help area business owners in 2018.

Miguel Farra, chairman of tax and accounting at accounting and advisory firm MBAF, warns business owners that the new law’s income reduction is not automatic.

“You have to qualify for it,” Mr. Farra said. “There’s a small calculation that you have to do, which is a 20% reduction. However, the reduction is one of two things – either 50% of wages or 25% of wages plus 2½% of your property and equipment.”

The new deduction reducing the tax burden on pass-through companies allows people with pass-through income to deduct 20% of that income from their taxes.

But each company is its own unique case and the deduction rests on the organization’s characteristics, such as whether, for example, it pays wages, Mr. Farra said. The law also looks at each couple’s income. As a general rule, all pass-through entities and s-corporations will benefit from the new tax deduction.

Some industries will benefit more than others. Operating businesses, including real estate owners, should see some benefits. On the other hand, Mr. Farra said, service industries remain exempt.

Accountants, doctors and lawyers, for example, do not qualify for the deduction.

Local businesses and foreign companies continue to express their interest in expanding their establishments in South Florida. Mr. Farra said of his clients, “Some of them are very much in favor of it.

The tax reduction theoretically can be used to expand businesses, more working capital, growth and employment.”

One particular client of his based in South America plans to expand existing operations in

Photo by Cristina Sullivan

The tax cut is a silver lining for the owners of fruit marketplace and Irma-battered groves Robert Is Here.

‘That 20% reduction or exclusion is a real benefit.’

Nick Jovanovich Miami-Dade County, Mr. Farra said.

More business might mean a more fruitful economy. Mr. Farra expects the local economy to strengthen.

“The lower corporate tax rate is creating a better environment for companies to migrate into South Florida and the United States,”

Mr. Farra said. “It could also produce additional revenues for the state, because most pass-through entities in the system we have now do not pay a Florida income tax. If you have a c-corporation that’s paying the 21% tax, those companies will also pay a Florida income tax because the income tax that we have in the State of Florida only applies to c-corporations, not pass-through entities.”

Said Florida International University economics Professor Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, “Generally, the impact is going to be generally positive. All indications are positive in terms of commercial activity, investment, industry, tourism, trade.”

He expects companies and individuals based in the North to flock to cities in Florida, especially Miami. Professor Salazar-Carrillo thinks that the low tax rate in Florida will attract businesses seeking an even larger discount.

Nick Jovanovich, a partner at law firm Berger Singerman, admits the flaws and strengths of the new policy. He said that although this remains one of the

‘I think across the board most people are going to benefit.’

Miguel Farra most complex tax policies he’s seen, he believes the 20% deduction for pass-through entities will benefit many businesses.

“That 20% deduction or exclusion is a real benefit,” Mr. Jovanovich said. “It’s a benefit that we didn’t have before. So you have an s-corporation, you have partnerships, you have pass-through

incomes and in the old days that income was taxed at your ordinary rate, which results at 39.6%.

“Now, your rate’s gone down to 37% and you can potentially exclude 20%. That brings your maximum effective rate down to 29.6%. That is a wonderful deal.”

While the benefits may help local business owners now, Mr. Jovanovich noted that this tax revision only lasts until 2025, when the changes regarding reductions will dissolve.

Some business owners already have in mind where they plan to invest their income tax savings.

The owners of the fruit marketplace Robert Is Here said that the few thousands will help their business get back on its feet after Hurricane Irma.

Robert and Tracey Moehling said that the natural disaster destroyed the majority of their groves, which stand within a mile of their location at 19200 SW 344th St. “All of my crops are mostly in groves,” Mr. Moehling said.

“They got stripped to their sole.

The ones that came out of the ground we had to cut them off about 8 feet and replant them.

Hopefully, they’ll grow again roots at three to five years.”

Each grove spans 6 to 8 acres and already required the couple to invest over $100,000 on reparations.

Mrs. Moehling sees the tax reduction as a silver lining.

“We will be able to help ourselves get out of a horrible situation that was caused by Mother Nature,” she said. “Some businesses may be able to turn it around and maybe pay their employees a little bit more or expand or update equipment.”

The tax change is expected to provide benefits to the majority of business owners. Mr. Farra said, “I think across the board most people are going to benefit,” he said. “Yes, there have been deductions that have eliminated certain sections. But there are other things that they made that I think most people are going to benefit one way or another.”

1.5 million square feet more industrial space due this year

By Katya Maruri

More than 1.5 million square feet of new Miami-Dade industrial space is to be opened in 2018 in areas including Airport West, Medley, Opa-locka, Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens, experts told an industrial market report session of the Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida.

As a result, said Tom Dixon, broker at Dixon Commercial Real Estate, “the South Florida industrial market is changing as the supply of quality class “A” industrial space has created a divided market.”

Now, he said, in most regions there are several classes or types of industrial space to consider in each submarket.

For example, he said, “if a tenant wants to locate in a first-generation class “A” industrial development, they can now choose from Airport West, Medley, Opa-locka, Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens.”

However, he said, “If a tenant is more flexible, they can secure quality space for rates lower than older, class “B” product in Airport West since the competition from developers of the new projects is high.”

Another trend predicted for 2018, Mr. Dixon said, is “e-commerce enabling retail and commercial tenants to reduce their occupancy costs by storing inventory and records in off-site industrial properties as a way to reduce their non-industrial space usage.”

“Nowadays,” he said, “you can walk into a store and ask if they have a particular product and you’ll hear, ‘Oh, we will get it in tomorrow.’”

“This is happening more frequently,” he said, “due to retail and commercial tenants storing their inventory in these off-site industrial properties.”

Another trend to be on the lookout for in coming years, according to Sebastian Juncadella, an advisor and commercial real estate specialist at Fairchild Partners Inc., is the concept of “covered land play.”

“Essentially what a covered land play is,” he said, “is when investors realize that the dirt underneath certain developments has become more valuable than the asset itself.”

As a result, he said, the asset will often end up being demolished to make way for a new product with more square feet.

“Basically,” he said, “you can buy an asset, hold on to it for a couple years and then go to market with a brand-new building.”

As for what developments to be on the lookout for, Mr. Juncadella primarily pointed to 15 new developments in the Doral, Airport West, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens and other submarkets.

“There is a lot to look forward to in regards to new developments in 2018,” he said. “We are very excited to see how the addition of these new projects will affect the different submarkets in the months to come.”

MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

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MIAMI TODAY

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

Foreign student enrollments fall nationally but they rise here

By Rebecca San Juan

Most colleges and universities in Miami-Dade are seeing the enrollment of international undergraduates rising as their numbers decline nationwide.

Florida is an exception, said Florida International University economics Professor Jorge SalazarCarrillo. He credits year-round warm weather, ambiance and the cost of public universities as some incentives.

“The general trend of the cost of education is a tremendous part that has to be considered,” he said.

While Florida International University, one of the largest in the nation, did not respond to requests for data, several local schools see international applicant pools and enrollment numbers growing.

Georgette Perez, Miami Dade College lead dean for international student services, bears witness to foreign undergraduate enrollment.

The college welcomed 1,653 students from abroad in 2015, 1,655 in 2016, and 1,995 last year.

The college sees students from all over the world, but one place predominates, Ms. Perez said. “It’s definitely Venezuela. We’ve seen that for the past several years. We have students from everywhere, but Venezuela is our most popular country.”

She remains unconcerned with the dip in international transfer students from 224 in 2016 to 155 last year.

The retention rate for foreigners also remains steady at a little over 70% for the past three years, she said.

Nova Southeastern University also continues to welcome more international enrollment, the majority fromAsia, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America, said Associate Dean of International Affairs Anthony DeNapoli.

“We are seeing a steady increase

‘There is a decrease but it is not one that we are entirely concerned about.’

Roxanna Cruz

Edwing Medina and Carmen Brown at St. Thomas University hope to see international numbers rising.

in undergraduate applications from international students,” he said.

“This fall we enrolled 57% more than in the fall of 2016. This represents the highest number of international undergraduate students in the history of NSU.” The number of undergraduate transfers at Nova is also on the rise.

Although international undergraduate and transfer enrollments increase, the graduate programs decreased slightly. The vast majority of international students, 85% to be exact, graduate, Dr. DeNapoli said.

International enrollments are climbing as well at St. Thomas University. Edwing Medina, the director for institutional research & effectiveness, collects the data for applicants, admissions and enrollments in the past few years. His data show that this past fall the school enrolled

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36 international first-year students compared to 23 in 2015. However, the number of foreign graduate students fluctuated in the past three years. The institution enrolled 18 in the fall of 2015, 30 in 2016 and then 22 this past year.

Carmen Brown, St. Thomas vice president of enrollment, student affairs and marketing, hopes to see those numbers rise. “My goal is to increase the application pool and the admit rate so that hopefully they get their visa,” she said. The school admitted 66 foreign students in 2015, then 104 the following year and 198 this past fall.

On the other hand, Ms. Brown recognizes that some things are beyond her control: “We don’t control who gets a visa.”

The University of Miami enrolls more international students each year despite the unsteady number of applicants. John Haller, the vice president of enrollment management, said, “The majority of international students at UM come from China, followed by Latin America.

While the number of international undergraduate applicants fluctuates from year to year, the percent of those admitted is increasing.”

Despite the overall increase in foreign enrollment numbers, Barry University experienced a slight drop in international undergraduate students. There were 39 first-year students enrolled in 2015, it bumped

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‘We have students from everywhere, but Venezuela is our most popular country.’

Georgette Perez

‘We are seeing a steady increase in undergraduate applications from international students.

This fall we enrolled 57% more than in the fall of 2016.’

Anthony DeNapoli up to 42 in 2016, then dipped to 37 in 2017.

Roxanna Cruz, Barry’s associate vice president of recruitment and admission, said, “There is a decrease but it is not one that we are entirely concerned about.” She thinks the difficulty of obtaining a student visa is part of the reason for the drop in enrollment.

Students at St. Thomas University expect the number of foreign applicants to South Florida universities to increase despite growing tensions in foreign affairs. Inal Sibekov plans to return home to Moscow upon graduating. “If I go back with an American diploma,” he said, “I’ll have a job anywhere.”

He said that a degree from a university in the States has double the value of one at home.

Andrea Manzur Wunsch, a native of Cancun, said, “I think it’s going to increase. I see more international students who have the opportunity to come here on a merit or sports scholarship and don’t care about politics.”

Many from Latin American believe Miami is the perfect bridge from home to the States. Carlos Caro, born in Caracas, said he and his mother thought studying in the city would be a good idea: “We thought there wouldn’t be too much of a

culture shock since there are many Venezuelans here.”

But political and economic turmoil abroad may change international applicant and enrollment demographics. Carlos Marquez, a graduate student at St. Thomas University, said he sees a growing divide in his native Venezuela. “The worst is the great difference in currency.” he said. “If it’s difficult forAmericans to pay for a college education, it’s even worse for students in Venezuela, where the economy is bad.”

Ms. Brown sees evidence of a decline in enrollment from Venezuela, one of the countries that supplied most of the school’s foreign students.

“It is a concern,” she said. “It’s started to affect us in the enrollment.” In reference to Venezuelan applicants, she said, “If you look at some of the enrollment from last year to this year, we dropped 32%.”

University administrators are expanding their recruitment strategies to encourage more foreigners to apply and enroll. Schools offer a range of scholarships and work alongside recruitment teams in a variety of countries.

St. Thomas University relies on alumnae, professional recruiters, on-site visits, and direct mail as some of their strategies, Ms. Brown said.

Dr. DeNapoli said NSU goes as far as inviting students and their parents to stay and tour campus programs for two and half days as long as the family covers the airfare costs.

Administrators might not have to try too hard. Professor SalazarCarrillo expects the number of international applicants and enrollments for undergraduate institutions to continue to climb despite the nationwide downward trend.

‘While the number of international applications fluctuates from year to year, the percent of those admitted is increasing.’

John Haller

WEEK OF THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 2018

TODAY’S NEWS

MIAMI TODAY

17

Grove Playhouse script X’ed out as X. Suarez alters the plot

By John Charles Robbins

The script has been rewritten again in the seemingly endless drama over the fate of the closed and dilapidated Coconut Grove Playhouse.

The latest plot twist has a Miami-Dade commissioner rejecting the idea of allowing a third party time to raise enough cash to rebuild a large theater.

The state owns the cavernous and historic playhouse and has leased it to the county and Florida International University.

The county’s approved plan to restore the property includes a new 300-seat theater to be operated and programmed by GableStage Inc. County Commissioner Xavier Suarez sponsored a resolution that would have unraveled the county’s approved plan for the theater, calling for the termination of the operating agreement with GableStage and negotiating a new deal with a non-profit foundation, while advancing a plan with hundreds of additional seats.

After a Nov. 30 town hall meeting on the playhouse, Mr. Suarez made a formal statement backing the efforts of arts supporter and attorney Mike Eidson to raise funds to save the entire structure and build a larger theater, and a resolution giving private-sector philanthropists headed by Mr. Eidson up to 90 days to secure

the needed money.

Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse, the preservationists fighting to save the entire structure – including the 1,100-seat auditorium – were celebrating.

But a mid-December meeting was not held and no vote was taken on that resolution.

A new resolution sponsored by Mr. Suarez was prepared, the one that would have terminated the GableStage operating agreement, and it was scheduled for consideration at a Jan. 18 meeting of the Miami-Dade Parks and Cultural Affairs Committee. But it was withdrawn from the agenda.

Two days before the meeting, Mr. Suarez announced in a press release a new statement on the fate of the playhouse.

Mr. Suarez said he now believes waiting for a third party to raise millions is no longer worth considering.

“Counting on an infusion of substantial private funds, as was done for the Performing Arts Center, is not an option that merits further consideration at this time,” Mr. Suarez said. “The reasons are many, but the main reason is that there is no consensus on the need or feasibility of a much-larger theater, as proposed by Mike Eidson and his group. I thank, in that connection, Chairman Esteban Bovo for his willingness to have two Sunshine meetings in which

Don’t wait for private funds, said Commissioner Xavier L. Suarez.

this possibility was discussed.”

“And I also thank Mike Eidson for his generosity,” Mr. Suarez said. “If we do indeed accomplish the restoration of the Playhouse to what is the classic size of a ‘regional theater’ (approximately 500 seats) and not merely a minitheater that feeds on commercial, housing and parking revenues for its capital and operating needs, it will be in great part due to his untiring efforts to lead us in that direction.”

In the opening of his Jan. 16 statement, Mr. Suarez said he has shepherded the Coconut Grove Playhouse for six years and is happy that most of the elements of a restoration are agreed upon.

“The site plan designed by the architectural firm, in conjunction with the preservation consultant,

is almost exactly what I am ready to recommend to the commission – except only for a more complete restoration of the middle part of the historical theater (technically the proscenium arch),” his statement reads.

“In that regard, I believe the Heisenbottle design, which seeks to preserve the proscenium arch, is a desirable modification of the Arquitectónica/Jorge Hernandez design,” he added.

Mr. Suarez said he’s recommended to the Miami Parking Authority to reduce the height and mass of the proposed parking facility so it doesn’t overwhelm the theater.

“All of the above can hopefully be achieved with a theater whose capacity is in the range of 450-550 [seats], which [County] Mayor [Carlos] Giménez has endorsed – assuming the capital funds are available,” Mr. Suarez said. “On that issue, we now have a tender offer from City of Miami officials, including Mayor Francis Suarez that would add as much as $10 million to the capital funding.

There are also indications that the Grove’s Business Improvement District (BID), headed by [City] Commissioner Ken Russell, will contribute to the capital funding.”

The Save the Coconut Grove Playhouse group was particularly upset by the latest from Mr. Suarez, calling it “a shameful,

stunning turn of events” on its Facebook page.

The county has $20 million in approved bond funding to revive the theater, which has sat deteriorating since it shut down in 2006 after financial troubles. Mr. Eidson’s plan has an estimated $45 million cost.

On Dec. 14, the Miami City Commission voted 3-2 in favor of a motion from Mr. Russell giving Mr. Eidson 100 days to come up with enough additional cash to build two theaters at the site on Main Highway; a 700-seat venue for major productions and a small companion theater.

The city doesn’t own the theater or the land. City government’s involvement is limited to zoning and land use rules, and historic preservation.

The vote came after city commissioners heard an appeal of the city’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board’s April 4 decision granting a special certificate of appropriateness for the partial demolition of the playhouse.

Mr. Russell included several conditions to the Dec. 14 motion, including that “the owners and agents are to preserve the entire playhouse structure. At a minimum, the exterior shell of the theater, along with the decorative features mentioned, should be preserved for the community, patrons, and for future generations....”

MIA consulting pact amended eighth time, tops $115 million

By Gabi Maspons

Miami-Dade County commissioners Tuesday extended for the eighth time a consulting contract with Miami International Airport for the Terminal Optimization Program. Along with the extension, commissioners gave the mayor’s staff a deadline to negotiate with a new contractor to replace the vendor.

The Terminal Optimization program was created to renovate Concourse E, Concourse E Satellite, the South Terminal and the South/Central Baggage Handling System.

In mid-2016 the county began procurement for a new consulting contract for the Terminal Optimization Program, but it has been delayed while the procurement process for the contract was being investigated. The legislation extends the current contract in the interim, while the procurement for the next contract is under review.

Commissioner Audrey Edmonson asked the Aviation Department if this would be the final amendment to the contract: “I want it on the record,” Ms. Edmonson said.

The department said that this would be the eighth and final amendment.

Commissioner Barbara Jordan echoed Ms. Edmonson’s request, asking the department how eight amendments could come before the board without opening up the contract for more bidders.

“Is there a reason we didn’t go back out?,” Ms. Jordan pressed the department.

The Aviation Department said

it expected the project to be “well completed” but there was a “substantial delay in procurement.”

The first delay came when one firm competing for the project issued a complaint to the Internal Services Department. All allegations were cleared by the county’s Office of the Inspector General in April, but additional complaints were filed on how internal services reports past payments and awards consulting contracts, and there was an allegation of possible disclosure irregularities from the project selection committee.

Though the inspector general’s office again cleared the allegations in June, internal services rescinded the authorization to negotiate, delaying the consulting contract approval.

The legislation says the airport needs “continuity of these construction management and administration support services on these projects until the new contract is in place.”

During the delay, this amendment is to continue to provide the current consulting services “to provide project support services and maintain the current schedule of work and payments to contractors” until the new contract is awarded, the legislation says.

“We’re looking to award a replacement contract by the end of this quarter come March,” the department said at the meeting Tuesday, though the legislation before commissioners proposed extending the contract with Sequeira & Gavarrete Inc. until July for an extra $3 million.

Commissioner Rebeca Sosa said she felt trapped by the legislation and had no choice but to vote

‘This places us in a terrible position to have an eighth amendment in front of us, and all of those years to not have had proper competition at the airport.’

Rebeca Sosa yes, though she did not want to: “This places us in a terrible position to have an eighth amendment in front of us, and all of those years to not have had proper competition at the airport,” Ms. Sosa said, directing her comments to Mayor Carlos Giménez.

“I’m just as disappointed as you,” Mr. Giménez said. “An investigation delayed the RFP of the vendor, but now it is done and up to the Internal Services Department to finish negotiations with the new winner, which will come before you in July,” he said.

Commissioner Joe Martinez was not satisfied with the responses, saying commissioners have been left in the dark.

“We still don’t have all the information,” Mr. Martinez said. “The county is paying over $100 million on consultants and it’s getting out of control. I’m not going to argue against this anymore, I’m tired of it, so I’m just going to vote no.”

Mr. Martinez then responded to Ms. Sosa’s comments, saying commissioners always have a choice to reject legislation: “We have a choice and we can say no.”

Mr. Martinez then asked the aviation department what services the consultants provide that staff can’t do on their own.

The Aviation Department said there are about 43 construction projects and the consultants inspect the work and verify that the construction was done up to the proper standards.

The legislation says the consultants provide professional, technical and administrative support to the airport for the terminal optimization, supporting its staff with the remaining design, construction, and installation and commissioning work.

“Our staff can do it, but we don’t have staff on payroll to do it,” the department said.

Pedro Hernández, assistant director for facilities development at the aviation department, said the county has staff that can perform the same duties, “but not enough of them.”

Mr. Giménez agreed that Mr. Martinez had a “valid point” and his staff would look into the possibility of hiring MiamiDade County employees to do the same work as the outsourced consultants.

“If we’re spending this much money, he’s right and we should

be hiring our own people to do this work” because it may be much cheaper than hiring a contractor, Mr. Giménez said.

The original agreement amount for the project was about $61 million, but it has been adjusted since 2009, now totaling about $114 million before the proposed $3 million addition. The legislation says the consulting project funding would come from the aviation department’s budget.

The contract in place doesn’t have sufficient funding to cover the services until the new contract is awarded and operational, and would extend the existing contract to cover the interim period.

Commissioner Esteban Bovo Jr. asked the aviation department what would happen if commissioners chose not to extend the contract until July.

“We need to stop work on the TOP and central and south terminal baggage system until it’s approved,” the department said.

Mr. Bovo then suggested amending the contract extension until April and reducing the amount of money to the contractor.

“I’m OK with April,” Mr. Giménez said. “I like deadlines.”

The board then amended the item to extend the current contract only until April, not July, and reduced the total from $3 million to $2 million.

“It’s the wish of the board to have this done as soon as possible,” Mr. Bovo told the mayor, his staff and the aviation department.

“I hope that the actions today show that nobody owns the airport, port or anything in this county,” Ms. Sosa said. “It belongs to the residents.”

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