Miami-Dade is forcing a developer to sell property to make sure PortMiami continues to operate smoothly, the county’s mayor said Friday.
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Mayor Daniela Levine Cava announced the county is proceeding with an eminent domain action to acquire the fuel facility on Fisher Island, after negotiations with the property’s owner “concluded without an acceptable agreement.”
Eminent domain is used when private property is needed for public use, forcing a sale at a fair market price.
“We pursued negotiations in good faith and carefully considered the proposal,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “The deal included clear benefits, including County ownership of the facility and a structure that would allow the acquisition to pay for itself over time without spending taxpayer dollars. But in the end, the price was simply too high. Even when taxpayer dollars are not directly involved, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of public funds and protect the public interest. We remain committed to ensuring PortMiami has the reliable fuel supply it needs to continue its operations, support jobs for our community, and remain one of Miami-Dade County’s most important economic engines.”
The facility is critical to Port Miami’s success, as barges haul fuel from the tank farm to ships.
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In recent years, the county missed opportunities to buy the land, even after holding a special meeting last September to discuss the purchase.
Chicago-based developer HRP bought the bunker for $180 million, with a promise to replace tanks with high rise condos, but that never happened.
HRP is now offering the property to Miami-Dade for $400 million.
In a statement, HRP said the ordeal “is a direct result of the county’s incompetence after years and frankly decades of failure to plan for PortMiami infrastructure. Seizing private property is not the solution for public failure.”
The matter has swelled to such a controversy that it resulted in some high ranking county officials being removed from their posts, including Jimmy Morales, the top administrator running the county’s government operations, who abruptly retired on Wednesday, along with the director of PortMiami.
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