Malaysia-based conglomerate Genting Group won preliminary approval of its proposal to build a 300-room hotel on the site of a county bus terminal in Miami’s Omni district.
The transportation committee of the Miami-Dade County Commission unanimously agreed to lease the public property to Genting for 90 years. The full county commission will decide whether to approve the 90-year lease in April.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in a memo that the pending deal with Genting would produce nearly $55 million in revenue for the county.
The Malaysian company submitted the sole bid in response to a county request for proposals to redevelop the bus terminal and upgrade a Metromover station next to the terminal.
Genting not only would redevelop the bus terminal and renovate the Metromover station but also would build its proposed hotel over the ground-level terminal.
The company would be able to develop a residential building instead of a hotel if market conditions favored such a switch.
A block-long street, Northeast 14 Terrace, would be permanently closed as part of the proposed Genting project.
Efforts by Genting to build a casino resort in the Omni district on the Miami Herald’s old property along Biscayne Bay have been stymied for years. The company has lobbied unsuccessfully for a state a law that would allow the casino development.
Now the company is working on a plan to build a marina on the bay-front property, which it acquired in 2011 for $236 million. [Miami Herald] – Mike Seemuth