Miami-Dade may help designer relocate from NY

Designer Naeem Kahn
Designer Naeem Kahn

Women’s fashion designer Naeem Khan applied for a $1.5 million grant from Miami-Dade County to help fund a relocation of his business from New York to Miami, and the county is set to review his request.

Khan’s company NKMIA LLC last year leased property from the county at 1175 Northwest South River Drive, part of his plan to relocate the company’s headquarters and manufacturing operations along with 50 jobs with salaries averaging $50,000.

The county commission’s Economic Prosperity Committee will meet Thursday and consider the request for a $1.5 million award to pay for infrastructure upgrades.

The county would raise the money through its Building Better Communities General Obligation Bond Program, a voter-approved program funded by property taxes.

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However, the county already has pending allocations of all of the program’s funds to 10 other applicants for assistance.

So, Khan’s company will get support under the bond program only if one of the 10 earlier applicants fails to qualify for funding or fails to negotiate a final agreement with the county.

A county staff memo dated Sept. 3 said four of the 10 applicants appear on track for funding, three face additional negotiations with the county, and three face substantial negotiations for funding and need approval of a lease with the county. [South Florida Business Journal] — Mike Seemuth