The yet to be completed downtown development known as the “Miami Springs Town Center” that’s located at One Curtiss Parkway is now available for sale.  No.  We’re not talking about individual units for sale.  Those units are only available for rent.  The entire building is available for sale.  As many had speculated, the builders appear not to have a long term interest in Miami Springs.  Now, they are interested in flipping the property for $41 Million.

One Curtiss Parkway Development for Sale for $41,000,000
One Curtiss Parkway Development for Sale for $41,000,000

Let’s take a look back at how all this happened.  The Old Circle Theater Property and the Parkway Shops was owned by the widow of Carlos Santana.  The story goes that the Santana family was struggling in selling the property because of the inability of buyers to develop the property with greater density.  Somehow, that became a problem for everyone in Miami Springs.

TIMELINE:  Miami Springs Town Center 2018

The year the controversial Gateway Overlay District was created.  Many believe it was created for the sole purpose of allowing this specific project to move forward.

  • JUNE 2018 – GATEWAY OVERLAY DISTRICT PASSES
    • That’s when the former City Attorney, Dan Espino, drafted the Gateway Overlay District which provided incentives for developers to build and add more density in downtown Miami Springs.  The Gateway Overlay District was unanimously passed and adopted by Bob Best, Maria Mitchell, Jaime Petralanda, Mara Zapata, and Billy Bain on June 25, 2018.
  • JUNE 2018 – PROPERTY LISTED FOR SALE
    • Interestingly, the Gateway Overlay District had yet to pass the second reading, but we reported that the “Circle Theater” Property was listed for sale for $2.9 Million on June 12, 2018.
  • OCTOBER 2018 – PROPERTY SOLD
    • Public records show, the “Circle Theater” officially changed hands on October 15, 2018 or just over three months after the passing of the Gateway Overlay District.
    • Oh…and the property sold for $4,650,000 or $1.75 Million over the original asking price. 
  • NOVEMBER 2018 – PLANS REVEALED
  • SUSPICIOUSLY QUICK PLANS
    • The official line was that the Gateway Overlay District was created without any outside input from developers.  The skeptics will say BS.  No way would a developer have created plans to build the 3 story development to comply with the newly created Gateway Overlay District within a month of closing on the sale.  The most skeptical will say that the Gateway Overlay District was carefully crafted in conjunction with the developer.
    • We’ll let you be the judge on that one.
  • DECEMBER 2018 – RESIDENTS SHARE OPPOSITION
    • The December 10, 2018 City Council Meeting was by far the most attended meeting with standing room only and overflow crowd in the hallways.  The reason for the big crowd was that residents wanted to share their views on the plans to redevelop downtown including the Gateway Overlay District and a Proposed Ordinance that would lower the square footage requirements for apartments, impact setbacks, and eliminate the mixed use ratio.
    • The Miami Springs City Council voted (4 to 1) to lower the minimum apartment size allowed within the Gateway Overlay District from 900 square feet to 800 square feet so long as the minimum average size is 900 square feet.  That’s higher than what was originally proposed as a 700 square foot minimum and minimum average of 800 square feet.  The lone dissenting vote was from Maria Mitchell who appeared to want to keep the minimum apartment size at 900 square feet.

TIMELINE:  Miami Springs Town Center 2019

The year the City Council approved the Town Center Project at One Curtiss Parkway.

  • JANUARY 2019 – MIX RATIO ELIMINATED
    • During the January 14, 2019 City Council Meeting Maria Mitchell moved to increase the minimum square foot requirement back to 900 square feet.  She argued that Miami Springs has plenty of small apartments.  It needs more larger apartments.  Her motion died as no other councilperson seconded her motion.
    • Next was a vote on the elimination of the 2:1 mix ratio.  Maria Mitchell made the argument that eliminating the mix use ratio would allow more apartments and less commercial.  The City Planner agreed, but did not have specific numbers.
    • Jaime Petralanda argued that keeping the 2:1 ratio would keep the City of Miami Springs in the driver’s seat.  He argued that issues that come up could be addressed with a variance.  But ultimately, keeping the 2:1 ratio would put the city in control of the amount of residential in each property.
    • 2:1 MIX RATIO ELIMINATED
      • When the mayor called for the vote to eliminate the 2:1 mix ratio, Billy Bain, Bob Best, and Mara Zapata voted FOR the elimination of the ratio thus allowing more residential.  Maria Mitchell and Jaime Petralanda held their ground and voted NO.
  • MARCH 2019 – FIRST RENDERINGS OF PROJECT
  • APRIL 2019 – COUNCIL APPROVES PROJECT 4 to 1
    • The Miami Springs City Council approved the project in April of 2019 in a 4 to 1 vote with Maria Mitchell being the sole dissenting vote.
      • Bob Best YES
      • Maria Mitchell NO
      • Billy Bain YES
      • Mara Zapata YES
      • Jaime Petralanda YES
  • APRIL 2019 – PARKING PROBLEMS
    • We highlight the parking shortage that only promises to get get worse with the approval of the Downtown Development at One Curtiss Parkway.
  • DECEMBER 2019 – DEMOLITION BEGINS

TIMELINE:  Miami Springs Town Center 2020

The year COVID-19 hit and the world came to a screeching halt.

TIMELINE:  Miami Springs Town Center 2021

Delays continued into 2021, but finally started moving again.

TIMELINE:  Miami Springs Town Center 2022

The year the Parking Study used to justify the project was completely debunked.  We question why the City never collected over a million dollars in parking fees. City responds and finally establishes a parking fee, but it’s too little too late.

October 2022:  Town Center Listed for Sale

The development at One Curtiss Parkway is listed on the website MSPGroup.com for sale at $41,000,000.

The property is described as follows:

  • Extremely rare, brand-new construction, mixed-use complex in the Miami Springs submarket of Miami, Florida
  • All concrete construction spanning 146,982 SF, with impact glass throughout and a flat, concrete roof
  • 51 spacious multifamily residences featuring:
    • 100% 2 and 3 bedroom units approximately 900 to 1,464 SF
    • Floor to ceiling windows
    • 9′ ceilings
    • Washer and dryer in every unit
    • One bathroom for every bedroom
    • 1.4 Parking spaces per unit
  • 24-hour, private business and fitness centers
  • Ground floor retail of nearly 24,000 SF with 3.12 parking spaces per 1,000 SF
  • 4-Level dedicated parking garage, majority covered spaces
  • Stellar location, just 0.9 miles from Miami International Airport, Miami-Dade County’s largest economic engine with an annual impact of $32 Billion; responsible for almost 300,000 jobs

Parking is a Joke

As you can see above in the listing’s promotional references, the property claims to have 1.4 parking spaces per apartment.  Normally, you would need 2.25 parking spaces per apartment. There are 51 apartments and only 70 residential parking spaces. Normally you would need 115 parking spaces.  That’s a shortfall of 45 vehicles that will be parking along Canal Street and Curtiss Parkway.

This blatant disregard for basic math by the City Administration has been infuriating. Did the City Administration forget they already have other apartments with parking problems? 

But wait, it gets better.  The promotional material claims to have 3.12 parking spaces per 1,000 SF.  There’s a total of 24,000 SF so that means the developers are pitching 75 dedicated retail parking spaces.  Hold up.  The parking garage only has 28 retail parking spaces.  That means the other 47 parking spaces are on-street public parking spaces.  None of which are dedicated to this development.

Someone’s Making Money

We have never blamed the developer for fleecing our town.  We have always blamed our City Administration and elected politicians for not looking out for our community.  So what’s the result?

The developer wants to turn their $4.65 Million Purchase and total investment of about $16-$18 Million into an estimated $23 Million windfall profit. Here’s the math:

  • $4.65 Million Purchase Price for the land
  • Estimated $13 Million in Construction Costs
  • Total Costs:  Estimated $16 – $18 Million
  • Sale Price:  $41,000,000
  • Take $41,000,000 sale price minus $18,000,000 in estimated costs = $23,000,000
  • Gross Profit:  Estimated at $23,000,000
  • ROI:  Over 200%

The developer wants to flip the property, take their profit, and leave us, the residents, tax payers, and neighboring businesses with the burden of paying to create new parking because the City did not have the foresight or good old fashioned common sense to do basic math and determine that there was not enough parking.  Furthermore, the City has collected zero dollars in parking mitigation fees.  Zip.  Zero.  Nada.

The developer is going to take their profits and run.  And I have no problem with that.  That’s their fiduciary responsibility to their investors.  Again, I can’t stress enough that all the problems with this development are a result of decisions made by members of the City Administration and members of the prior City Council.

What about the trees?

Every new development has to plant trees and landscaping to beautify the area.  But, as you can see there are no new trees on this development.

Drive through the Gables and you’ll see far bigger mixed use projects completely surrounded by beautiful trees.  You would think surrounding this project with beautiful live oak trees would make it look a lot nicer.  Some oak trees would add a beautiful canopy to the side walks.  And for those of us who are not fond of the concrete monstrosity, it would provide a buffer from the eye sore.

Are we getting any new trees lining up around the development at One Curtiss Parkway?

Nope.

Nope.  That didn’t happen.  Instead, the City officials are giving the developer credit for planting trees across the street, along the canal side of Canal Street.  An area that already has beautiful Coconut Palms that have been there for decades.

What a joke.

Miami Springs Deserves This Mess!

Let’s be honest. We deserve this mess.

Who elected the prior City Council?  It wasn’t the residents of Hialeah or V.G.

Who negotiated the parking with the developer?  The City Officials (specifically the City Manager and City Attorney) work at the pleasure of the City Council.

So, if you’re not happy with this, look in the mirror.  The people you voted for allowed this to happen.

 

 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

2 COMMENTS

  1. Predatory developers like should not be let off the hook so easily. They saw a goldmine in Miami Springs and pressed our city officials to give them a sweet deal at taxpayers’ expense while no one was paying attention. They know EXACTLY what they’re doing and how to manipulate the city planning process without meaningfully investing in communities, and as long as we continue to treat this like it’s business as usual, they’ll keep coming.

  2. So will the City Manager along with the rest of the city council and administration be held responsible and pay for the mess they have cost? Can we tax payers of this city be able to start a class action law suit for damages and all the cost we now have to end up paying? And not enough parking space to be able to go and stop by and enjoy any of our eateries along the circle and of course ending up raising our property taxes to pay for their mistakes. Is bad enough with the heavy traffic in the mornings and evenings and yet the building is not filled yet? This is a disgrace and very disrespectful to all of us tax payers here in the City of Miami Springs!

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here