Herald lots offer extended

A penalty payment of $6 million to the McClatchy Company, owner of the Miami Herald, will extend the life of an incomplete deal for 10 acres of parking lots surrounding the newspaper’s bayfront headquarters. McClatchy said Wednesday it received the stipulated $6 million from the buyer of the 10 acres, which extends the deadline to close the sale until Jan. 31, 2011. Mark Siffin, who operates Maefield Development in Indianapolis, will then retain the option to buy the land. The original deal, struck in 2005, was made with Miami-Dade developer Pedro Martin in 2005. He was to pay the newspaper $190 million, and later arranged to sell the land to Siffin for $230 million or more, although McClatchy still stands to receive $190 million if the deal closes. [Miami Herald]