WEEK OF THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018
A Singular Voice in an Evolving City
WWW.MIAMITODAYNEWS.COM $4.00
78 HOTELS PLANNED FOR MIAMI-DADE WOULD ADD 14,139 ROOMS FOR VISITORS, pg. 13 YOUTH BASEBALL IN DUGOUT: A youth baseball academy in the country’s northwestern region may be a priority for Major League Baseball (MLB), but no progress has been made since MLB Youth Programs Senior Vice President Tony Reagins told Miami Today in late June that there was “strong interest” in establishing such a program. MLB spokesperson Steve Arocho recently wrote that the “status is unchanged” for a program in South Florida, whose residents for more than a decade have requested an MLB Urban Youth Academy to be built. In 2007 a location for the academy was chosen in Hialeah, which was once a candidate site for Marlins Park as part of the deal to build the baseball stadium. Two years later, a memorandum of understanding between the city and MLB stipulated a youth baseball academy would rise within city limits, with the league financing up to $3.2 million of its construction. But the academy was not part of the final agreement for the ballpark, which was ultimately built in Little Havana.
The Achiever
By John Charles Robbins
CONSTRUCTION GAINS SLIP: Although the value of construction starts in South Florida remains in positive territory for the year to date compared with the same period of 2017, those values took a 38% plunge in July, as residential construction values fell 17% and nonresidential construction values dropped 55%, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Total starts for the year in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties total almost $7.07 billion, Dodge reported, with nonresidential values slightly ahead of residential construction work, just under $3.76 billion nonresidential to just over $3.4 billion for residential. For the year to date, total construction start values in the tri-county area are up 13% over the same period of 2017, with residential construction up 32% and nonresidential down 5%. PELICAN HARBOR IMPROVEMENTS: County parks personnel and contracted engineers and landscapers will begin construction to improve parking lot features at Pelican Harbor Marina this month, according to a release from parks spokesperson Laura Phillips. The project at the 18acre marina, estimated to cost $2.6 million and take about a year, includes parking space changes, new signs, new walkways, improved drainage, added landscaping, improved lighting, new fire hydrants, installation of an empty conduit system for future closed-circuit TV security, and roadway improvement, reconstruction and alteration to reduce traffic. “Every effort will be made to minimize the noise, dust and traffic disruptions that may result from construction activities,” she wrote. “The boat ramp will remain open at all times with about 40 parking spaces available throughout the construction.”
Little Haiti innovations plan on tap
Joan Phillips
Photo by Cristina Sullivan
Barry University business dean targets hottest majors The profile is on Page 4
Bus Rapid Transit to South Dade not done deal By Jesse Scheckner
Rail supporters call cost ‘scare tactic,’ pg. 2 things become tenuous, said Javier Betancourt,
A Transportation Planning Organization choice of bus rapid transit (BRT) for the South Dade Transitway last week all but dashed the hopes of many residents of Metrorail expansion along the county’s southernmost corridor. The 15-7 vote was a significant step toward “Gold Standard” BRT on the 20-mile right-ofway along US 1 championed by many, including Mayor Carlos Giménez. But it’s not a done deal, said Sean McCrackine, chief of policy and planning for the county’s eighth district, as county commissioners must still approve local funds. “The project doesn’t go forward without a local commitment for funding the construction and long-term operation of whatever the proposed system is,” he wrote. Transportation Director Alice Bravo confirmed that but said she hoped the chosen solution would be supported: “At this point, the project has been defined.” Local funds for BRT from Kendall to Florida City would come from the People’s Transportation Plan (PTP) half-cent sales surtax approved by voters in 2002 to expand transit.
The project needs about $100 million in PTP funds, the same amount the planning organization’s board OK’d last week in amendments to the long-range transportation plan and 2018-19 Transportation Improvement Program. “That was done to strengthen our [federal funding] application,” Ms. Bravo said. “Part of the project rating is based on [local] financial commitment to the project.” Local funding matches are vital to get state and federal aid, including “Small Starts” grants from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), said Chris Ferreira, an aide to Commission Chair Esteban Bovo Jr. “The local money is always needed,” he said. “It’s a contingency if you’re going to receive money from [the] Florida Department of Transportation and FTA.” Eight of 13 commissioners voted for BRT. Audrey Edmonson, Barbara Jordan, Daniella Levine Cava, Dennis Moss and Xavier Suarez voted no. Those numbers put the administration in a confident position for BRT. But if just two commissioners shift sides before the funding vote
A property that for decades was home to a trailer park is to be reborn as a major mixed-use development bringing thousands of residential units, hotel rooms, nearly 350,000 square feet of commercial-retail uses and more than 1.9 million square feet of offices to the City of Miami. If that’s not ambitious enough, the developers of Magic City Innovation District hope to attract a railroad station too as passenger rail grows in the region. The project is on its way to the Miami City Commission for review and final approval, with a first reading tentatively set for Sept. 27. Magic City Innovation District is planned for 6001 NE Second Ave., and the development team promises major investment and new employment opportunities for Little Haiti and vicinity. The project would rise in phases as part of a Special Area Plan (SAP) under the city’s zoning code. Attorney Neisen Kasdin represents the developers, MCD Miami LLC and its affiliate co-applicants. In paperwork submitted to the city, Mr. Kasdin said the proposed Magic City Innovation District SAP consists of 37 abutting parcels in Little Haiti totaling about 17.75 acres. Mr. Kasdin boasts that the project will be “a unique and unparalleled mixed-use campus focused on local entrepreneurship and innovation in technology, the arts and entertainment, sustainability and resiliency and health and wellness.” The Magic City SAP includes a development program to create an integrated urban campus of residential, commercial, office, research and entertainment uses built around a pedestrian promenade civic space, he said. Plans show the highest building at about 25 stories in the site’s center, with shorter buildings extending outward. The city’s Urban Development Review Board and the Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board recommended the project for approval with conditions.
executive director of the Citizens’ Independent Transportation Trust, which oversees the PTP. “One of two things would happen. Either [the county] finds another local source of funding – general revenue or potentially other sources – or they don’t submit the application,” he said. “Presumably they would need some of those commissioners – both theoretical commissioners – to then vote for that other source.” An amendment to the BRT item stipulated the transitway would shift to Metrorail once weekday riders hit 35,000, a benchmark Ms. Jordan said can’t be reached. “Show me one rail that’s been built across the country that they had ridership up to 35,000 people,” she said. “You won’t be able to… because the ridership was already up.” That requirement could be further reduced, Mr. Bovo said last week, if a private company proposed a better solution. “We need to look at this as an initial downpayment to move forward to get the rail we all want,” he said. “Let’s show the residents… there’s seriousness in this issue to get things done. It’s not the end of the journey. We need Plan ties in historic site, pg. 14 to keep our eye on the ball.”
1,000 AMAZON HIRES WILL LABOR ALONGSIDE ROBOTS ...
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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MISSION TO FOLLOW NEW ENVOY ...
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SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON BEACH MINIMUM WAGE ...
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DISNEY TO BASE TWO FUTURE CRUISE SHIPS AT SEAPORT ...
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VIEWPOINT: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CIVIL DISCOURSE? ...
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MIAMI HEARINGS TO EYE $23 MILLION ADDED SPENDING ...
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38 FIRMS LOOK AT $280 MILLION COURTHOUSE PROJECT ...
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PITTING CONCERN FOR RIGHTS VS. HISTORIC PROPERTIES ...
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