The Miami Skills Center which presently sits at 29 NW 13th Street

One month after selecting a design consultant to help it move forward with a film studio, the City of Miami has sold a part of the site slated for the Miami Entertainment Center.

According to Miami Today, Miami’s Omni Community Redevelopment Agency sold part of the parcel to the state’s Department of Transportation for slightly more than $1 million. And the agency is exploring the sale of the rest of the site. New York investor Moishe Mana, for one, is interested in developing the site. [more]

From left: Commissioners Marc Sarnoff and Frank Carollo

As Miami begins to emerge from the real estate bust, the city is turning its attention to abandoned foreclosed properties that have become magnets for crime, drugs and filth. The Miami Herald reported that two city commissioners have proposed ordinances that would tackle the problem.

Commissioner Frank Carollo wants the city to fill open excavations that have been abandoned for more than three months, while Comissioner Marc Sarnoff has proposed a bill requiring the city to clear rubble after demolition of unsafe structures and to create green spaces instead. [more]

Genting, which purchased the Miami Herald’s headquarters, along with another nearby tract, has obtained one of two bank notes on the downtown Omni property. The principal balance on the note, whose acquisition was confirmed by a company spokesperson, is $45 million. The other note on the Omni was acquired by a group of investors including Related’s Jorge Perez. “I think their vision is pretty big,” said Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff. “They’re here to stay and they’re here to build.” [Miami Herald]
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The City of Miami Omni Community Redevelopment Agency Board has approved a $1 million allocation for planning, designing, permitting and initial retrofitting of the Miami Entertainment Complex, GlobeSt.com reported. The project will see an 82,000-square-foot building transformed into a state-of-the-art mixed-use film production facility.
“Downtown Miami is in a unique position to nurture a strong and vibrant film industry,” said Marc Sarnoff, City of Miami commissioner. “We have all seen the powerful effect that the city’s exposure in film and TV shows has on tourism and the local economy. Beyond that, there are also many local aspiring filmmakers, budding writers, directors, producers and actors who would thrive in a facility that offered a place to create, collaborate and hone their craft.” [more]

Miami city officials broke ground this morning on the new 1814 Brickell Avenue Park, which is now slated for completion in five months. The 35,500-square-foot parcel will cost upwards of $1 million to develop, and funding is coming from the Homeland Defense Bond Series 3. On the to-do list of the park’s developers: a children’s play area, an elevated landscaped court, shrubs and trees, benches, picket fencing, lighting and irrigation. “When it is completed this fall, the 1814 Park will take its place among the most beautiful parks in all of South Florida, which is what the citizens of Brickell and in the City of Miami deserve,” Miami District 2 Commissioner Marc Sarnoff said at today’s ceremony. [Miami Herald] 

Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff has approved funding for the appraisal of a parcel of waterfront land the city would purchase for conversion into the proposed Manatee Bay Park. The appraisal will pave the way for talks between the city and the current landowner Skip Van Cel, who has said in the past that he would sell the plot, along the Little River near NE 79th Street, to the city for $635,000. But one deal already fell through last year, and the city has yet to come forward with an offer since then. While Van Cel said he wants to see the land used as a public park, he has other back-up plans on the table, including a building project that would give rise to eight new cottages on the parcel. Sarnoff’s office said the park plan is “still a high priority for our office” and that state and grant funding would still be available should the city follow through with a purchase this year. [Miami Herald] 

Developer Mark Siffin’s plans will be the subject of a forum tomorrow concerning a potential project next to Miami’s performing arts center downtown. Marc Sarnoff, Miami City Commission chairman, set the meeting to discuss the City Square project, which would be an eight-story parking garage and retail site with two 200-foot-tall media towers. The site is part of a bigger plan that comprises land around the site of the Miami Herald building. According to Sarnoff’s staff, the towers could generate between $1.5 million and $1.7 million per year. [SFBJ] [more]

Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff is taking ideas from the public for the future use of Coconut Grove’s Glass House, the Peacock Park building named for its floor-to-ceiling windows. The property at 2820 MacFarlane Road was once a community center and now serves as the home of the Neighborhood Enhancement Team, the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce and the non-profit organization that runs the skate park in its backyard. The neighborhood group may leave, and funding is not available to repair the building, Ron Nelson, Sarnoff’s chief of staff said at a Coconut Grove Village Council meeting last week, urging community members to e-mail him their ideas. Potential uses include a restaurant, community center or offices. [Miami Herald]

The woeful state of city finances has Miami in crisis mode, commission chairman Marc Sarnoff said, and the projected $45 million shortfall in this year’s budget could force it to sell off assets, including real estate. Mayor Tomas Regalado, who has already had to scramble to resolve a $118 million budget shortfall from 2009, is working with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well in its probe into whether previous administrations committed fraud in the course of budget adjustments for its bond ratings. Current estimates show the city could have financial reserves of less that $10 million by September, said Larry Spring, Miami’s CFO. Regalado and other officials have declined to specify which property assets may be put up for sale, and have not weighed in on projects such as the Port of Miami tunnel and some large-scale affordable housing projects. [NBC]

Flagstone Development Group’s Mehmet Bayraktar, who is clinging to the rights to develop the long-delayed, $600 million Island Gardens marina and hotel project, has finally managed to pay his $500,000 in overdue rent to the city of Miami. Miami Commissioners had been scheduled to vote earlier this month on whether to cut ties with Bayraktar altogether and find another use for the land after months of waiting for the back rent. Last week, they granted the developer five additional weeks to make the payment after a former Flagstone employee claiming to be owed $675,000 tried to garnish funds held in an escrow account. The employee has since agreed to allow the funds to be released to the city. The payment will buy Bayraktar some more time to get financing together for the project, which has thus far proved no easy task. Miami Commission chairman Marc Sarnoff and Mayor Tomas Regalado said the payment is a necessary step in getting the project to move forward. [SFBJ]