Miami-Dade County bought a Wynwood property from developer Moishe Mana for $6.5 million, setting the stage for a mixed-use development that will include affordable housing, a Puerto Rican community center and an office for County Commissioner Keon Hardemon.
But Mana is required to give the county the sales proceeds to resolve a previous dispute. The county plans to build the project on the 0.3-acre vacant parcel at 2900 Northwest Fifth Avenue, records and real estate database Vizzda show.
The parcel represented a sliver of Mana’s expansive Wynwood portfolio, which includes 30 contiguous acres where for years he’s floated building a massive arts and tech hub. Yet the project remains in the preliminary design stage. In January, Mana expanded his portfolio after paying $33.5 million for a 1.6-acre Wynwood assemblage.
The sale resolves a dispute between Mana and Miami-Dade over a $6.6 million payment he owed the county tied to a previous land swap deal. Mana was on the hook for that payment after failing to meet development deadlines.
The community center component was requested by Commissioner Hardemon to serve residents displaced by rising rents and redevelopment pressures in nearby Allapattah and Wynwood Norte, county commission meeting minutes show.
The county has not yet issued a timeline for construction, but planning and zoning documents indicate the project will be developed in partnership with a private builder through a request for proposals expected later this year.
In 2015, Mana and Miami-Dade struck a land swap deal in which Mana was to receive a larger, more valuable 1.4-acre property at 270 Northwest 23rd Street. In return, he agreed to transfer a 0.4-acre site at 2153 Northwest Second Avenue to the county and build a community center, as well as offices for the county’s Community Action and Human Services Department, as well as the District 3 commissioner.
Environmental contamination later prompted a 2018 revision that shifted the planned development to the property at 2900 Northwest Fifth Avenue, where Mana was to construct a 43,600-square-foot facility at an estimated cost of $8.4 million.
The county further amended the deal in 2019 and 2020 to extend deadlines and allow for a smaller building, but ultimately moved to overhaul the arrangement altogether in 2022. County commissioners directed staff to rewrite the agreement, removing Mana’s obligation to develop the project and instead required him to make a $6.6 million payment to the county.