Miami cuts county land from marina redevelopment plan, upsetting bidder

City of Miami officials threw an 11th-hour wrench into its request for proposals (RFP) to redevelop the Virginia Key Marina along the Rickenbacker Causeway after removing county-owned land from the site plan.

The changes caused the company that currently leases and operates most of the marina to fire off a letter to county staff requesting more time to submit a bid in response to the significant changes.

If the Virginia Key Marina is redeveloped, the project cost would likely be in the tens of millions of dollars.

On May 5, city project manager Jacqueline Lorenzo issued an addendum to the RFP that, among other things, removed about 2 acres of city-owned land from the site, which previously had 10 acres of upland and another eight acres of submerged land for marine operations. The bid deadline was extended to May 24 from May 18.

On May 10, attorney Richard A. Perez, representing marina operator Biscayne Marine Partners, sent a letter to Lorenzo and CBRE broker Lee Ann Korst, who was hired to market the RFP for the city, requesting that the submission deadline be extended due to the significant changes. Perez also requested a meeting to allow potential bidders to discuss alternative parking plans given the changes to the site.

“Our client’s proposal has been placed at a significant competitive disadvantage because of the number of last-minute changes that will need to be made, as the amendment as altered the total investment amount, the development approach, and the entire design of the project,” Perez wrote. “Essentially, the entire economics of the proposal have changed, and the city must provide reasonable time to make adjustments to proposals based on the city’s amendment to the RFP."

Lorenzo said she could not respond to questions because the RFP is currently in a “cone of silence.”

The city has been trying for years to redevelop the Virginia Key Marina, near the old Miami Marine Stadium and the Rusty Pelican restaurant. Three bidders submitted proposals in 2016, but the city commission voted in June 2016 to reject the selection process and start over. RCI Marina Group, operator of the Miami Beach Marina, was the top-ranked bidder at that time.

Officials at RCI couldn’t immediately be reached for comment about whether the company would bid again.

Currently, Biscayne Marine Partners has a ground lease to operate about 200 wet slips, 300 dry slips, a parking lot and the Whiskey Joe’s restaurant. That ground lease has expired, although the company has been allowed to stay on the property until the city completes the RFP process.

There is also a city-operated dry stack of about 265 slips there that is included in the RFP.

The city’s RFP requires that at least 220 spaces on the site be made available to the Rusty Pelican restaurant. The city’s requested base rent is $2.15 million, plus an unspecified percentage of gross revenue from any commercial operations on the site.

Aabad Melwani, head of Biscayne Marine Partners, said he would like at least 30 days to revise his bid due to the subtraction of the county-owned site.

“This is a very material change that requires significant adjustment to our architectural plans and our financial modeling,” Melwani said. “In order for the city to derive the greatest benefit from this project, in terms of design and functionality of the site as well as the rent payments, they need to give all proposers a reasonable amount of time to adjust for this change."

In his letter, Perez said the RFP has “ambiguities” regarding the specific development plan that the city would like to see. The RFP does not list a minimum amount of boat slips or retail/restaurant space to include in the bids.

Melwani said his proposal would aim to enhance the wet and dry slip marinas into first class facilities and improve the public access to the waterfront. He would also plant mangroves along the shoreline and create civic programming, such as ecotours.

“We want to create a park setting,” Melwani said. “We don’t want to over-commercialize the site. We want to showcase this is a public amenity open to everybody, not just boaters or people willing to spend money at a restaurant."

Original content The Real Deal