Fisher Island Association, Club Sue Over Fuel Depot Deal

Fisher Island residents are suing the developer that purchased the only remaining development site on the ritzy island, alleging the firm negotiated a secret deal with Miami-Dade County valued at $400 million, leaving the residents stuck with what they say is a crumbling fuel depot.

The Fisher Island Community Association and the Fisher Island Club sued HRP on Thursday, looking to force HRP to honor its original deal with island residents. HRP paid $180 million for the 9.6-acre property in October, simultaneously signing two deals with Fisher Island: a development agreement that stated that HRP would demolish the fuel bunk, remediate the land and develop luxury condos on the site, and an option agreement requiring HRP convey 4 acres to the Fisher Island Community Association (FICA).

The lawsuit alleges that the agreement bans HRP from selling or giving that land away to anyone without FICA’s consent. The complaint brings four counts against HRP, including anticipatory breach of the option agreement, declaratory judgment and injunctive relief.

But HRP has been in talks with Miami-Dade over the course of seven months to sell the entire property to the county for $200 million at closing, plus another $200 million over 20 years. That deal, according to the complaint, could leave the families of Fisher Island and surrounding areas like Key Biscayne and Miami Beach, in “perpetual danger.”

HRP did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The latest suit was filed months after both organizations sued the county seeking to halt the county’s plan to seize the property via eminent domain. The county’s interest is to ensure continued fuel supply for cruise ships at PortMiami. The lease is set to expire in 2027.

FICA, led by President Roberto Sosa and its board members, who include attorney Jim Ferraro and developer Heinrich von Hanau, and the Fisher Island Club laid out the reasons they want the fuel depot gone in their latest complaint. FICA represents the more than 800 property owners on Fisher Island.

The 28 million gallons of combustible fuel is stored in tanks that are “a century old, violate current fire safety codes, and occupy a hurricane flood zone,” the opening line of the complaint states. “Family homes sit 700 feet away. An elementary and middle school serving more than 160 children sits 2,000 feet away. The island has no road access. Every resident, every schoolchild, and every emergency responder depends on boats or ferries for evacuation. This is the Fuel Bunker that has loomed over Fisher Island for generations.”

The site marks the sole remaining large development site on the island, which has become one of the most expensive ZIP codes in the country, home to a number of centimillionaires and billionaires. Less than a handful of single-family home sites are left.

The latest suit raises many of the same claims brought against the county earlier this year, accusing Miami-Dade of failing to show any interest in buying the site for years.

Even though the site is the primary fuel source for cruise and cargo ships at PortMiami, the county never flagged the 2027 lease expiration date. And after the former owner, TransMontaigne, listed the site in 2024 with an asking price of $200 million, the firm rejected a county purchase offer. Jimmy Morales, the county’s chief operating officer, publicly acknowledged that Miami-Dade officials did nothing to find alternative sites, both lawsuits allege.

At a September meeting, County Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez said that he didn’t like the deal.

“I don’t like that it’s rushed … I don’t like that it’s being brought to us in the ninth inning,” he said. “There’s a lot that I don’t like.”

Commissioners Raquel Regalado and Danielle Cohen Higgins noted that the county could have made an offer when the site was publicly listed for sale.

And Commissioner Oliver Gilbert called the situation “really, really bad.”

“Like we’ve done some bad things before,” Gilbert said, “but this isn’t, like, the favorite position that I want. I don’t really want us in this position.”