Only one of three all-star development teams is bidding on the opportunity to build a $10 billion mixed-use complex in partnership with Miami-Dade County, The Real Deal has learned.
This month, a joint venture between Related Urban, 13th Floor Investments and Merrimac Ventures submitted its proposal to develop MetroCenter. It’s an ambitious reimagining of government-owned buildings and lots spanning 17 acres into a new district consisting of a new cultural complex, a new transit depot, a public park and a hotel, along with a handful of office, apartment and condo towers.
Related Urban, led by Alberto Milo, is a subsidiary of Coconut Grove-based Related Group, which is led by Jorge, Jon Paul and Nicholas Pérez. Arnaud Karsenti leads 13th Floor, which is also based in Coconut Grove. Fort Lauderdale-based Merrimac is led by Nitin and Dev Motwani.
In a statement, the joint venture said MetroCenter, designed by Coconut Grove-based Arquitectonica, will deliver “thousands of units of critically needed mixed-income housing” and “unleash billions in economic impact” in downtown Miami.
“Our team has been building this plan since February of 2023, and we are eager to start working,” the statement said.
Two other teams — a partnership between Coconut Grove-based Terra, Bay Harbor Islands-based Atlantic Pacific Companies and Chicago-based Sterling Bay, and a joint venture between Miami-based Florida Value Partners, Hollywood-based Cornerstone Group and Chicago-based John Buck Company — did not submit bids by the county’s May 7 deadline.
Related Urban, 13th Floor and Merrimac’s team declined to share a copy of the proposal, citing a Miami-Dade rule that prohibits dissemination of its bid until the county publicly releases it next month. In an email, Rita Silva, division director for the Miami-Dade County Strategic Procurement Department, confirmed the joint venture was the only bidder.
The joint venture and the two other all-star teams qualified to bid on MetroCenter in December, after submitting presentations detailing their experience developing transit-oriented and affordable housing projects, as well as showing their ability to secure private financing for the project’s construction.
The county is seeking a partner that would redevelop a hodgepodge of government sites surrounding the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, a 28-story county office building at 111 Northwest First Street in Miami. The plan entails demolishing and building a new county commission chamber, as well as tearing down other Miami-Dade-owned facilities, including a complex that’s home to HistoryMiami museum and the county’s main library.
The county’s bid specifications required developers to propose a new Downtown Intermodal Terminal that would connect to the Metrorail and Metromover stations at the Stephen P. Clark building; 6,000 to 8,500 new apartments and condominiums; a new cultural arts campus, a 45,000-square-foot recreation, wellness and conservation center; and 60,000 square feet of new office space for Miami-Dade’s Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department.