The
Link at Douglas is a go.
County
commissioners on Tuesday approved a deal paving the way for 13th Floor
Investments and the Adler Group to build their 7-acre development at the
Douglas Road Metrorail Station.
The
deal boils down to a ground lease for Adler and 13th
Floor to
redevelop county-owned land at the Metrorail station, which is currently
occupied by a parking lot and the county’s Water & Sewer Department
headquarters.
Under
the approved deal, Adler and 13th Floor have a lease on the land for 30 years,
plus two options to extend the term for another 30 years each.
The two
partners now have the green light to move forward with their massive mixed-use
development, complete with 970 residences, a 150-key hotel, 70,000 square feet of
retail space and a public plaza.
According
to a news release from the developers, Link at Douglas will be built in four
phases. The first will include a residential tower, the hotel and a portion of
the retail section that will include a “premium supermarket.” Driftwood
Hospitality Management, which primarily owns and operates hotels under brands
like Marriott and Hilton, will be a partner in the project’s hotel portion.
Attorneys
Ryan Bailine and Nancy Lash of Greenberg Traurig represented the developers,
helping negotiate both the ground lease and development agreement. Also acting
as co-council for the developers were Diana Mendez and Alexander Heckler
of the firm Llorente & Heckler, P.A.
The
deal appears to be a fruitful one for the county: Link at Douglas is
expected to create 1,400 jobs during its development, according to the county,
along with a minimum of 223 permanent positions once it’s completed. Along the
way, $464 million in revenue is projected to flow during the first 30 years to
the county’s Department of Transportation and Public Works, which will be the
only public entity to see proceeds from the project.
Meanwhile,
13th Floor and Adler will still have to submit their designs and construction
plans for approval to the department before each phase begins.
The
deal came with other county-mandated stipulations: 13th Floor and Adler will
have to reserve at least 12.5 percent of its 970 residential units for
workforce housing, spend $14 million on improving the Metrorail station and
make a $600,000 contribution to the Underline Project.
The two previously
made a $25,000 donation to the Underline, which is a planned 10-mile
linear park that would run underneath the elevated Metrorail lines.
13th
Floor and Adler had been competing with the Related Group for the project,
which came about from a “request for proposals” issued two years ago by
Miami-Dade. Besides the economic windfall, the county’s goal for the project is
to promote “maximum patronage of the transit system” that links the nearby
neighborhoods Coral Gables and Coconut Grove to downtown Miami.
Adler
and 13th Floor pulled
ahead in June 2015 when
their proposal received top marks from the county’s selection committee based
on cost, square footage and phasing.
“Transit-oriented
development is the wave of the future and Miami-Dade County has proven itself
to be a pioneer in helping to redefine the way we think about – and experience
– urban living,” 13th Floor’s Managing Principal Arnaud Karsenti said in a statement.
“By building around, and investing in, our mass transit, we can reduce
congestion on our roadways and connect neighborhoods in our community for
greater quality of life.”
Original content The Real Deal
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