The stalled American Dream Miami mega-mall could get a break on county tax subsidies
A proposal by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez would water down a subsidy ban that was imposed seven years ago when the county approved plans for the retail theme park near Hialeah.
Construction never began, and the development process is so stalled that developer Triple Five is now in court with both a once-allied developer and the county itself over delays. Bermudez's resolution mentions the county litigation but notes that relaxing the 2018 subsidy ban could 'provide greater flexibility related to the development' of American Dream.
Bermudez was not immediately available for comment Monday. He first proposed the legislation last summer but pulled it before fellow commissioners had a chance to vote on it.
The legislation wasn't listed on Tuesday's agenda when it became public last week. Now, Bermudez's item is on the part of the agenda reserved for legislation that's filed too late for the required public notice of four business days. Under County Commission rules, any commissioner could on Tuesday request a delay of the vote to the board's next meeting on July 15.
Bermudez's proposed legislation would allow Miami-Dade to divert property taxes to cover about $60 million in local road construction and other infrastructure costs that otherwise would be the developers' responsibility. The legislation wouldn't directly authorize any subsidies for the project, but it would lift the restrictions that currently prevent American Dream from getting county dollars. Those restrictions were secured by rival malls when commissioners approved the development plan in 2018.
Earlier this year, Miami-Dade sued Triple Five to collect a $5 million penalty because the project did not open on time this year and did not secure the needed building permits by 2020, as required under an original agreement in which the county sold some public land to the developers in a no-bid deal. The project sits near Hialeah, where Florida's Turnpike meets Interstate 75.
Triple Five is also in court with the Graham Companies, the Miami Lakes developer that agreed to sell most of the land needed for the American Dream project.
Triple Five owns Minnesota's Mall of America and had planned an even larger combination of shopping and entertainment in the Miami area. While the two developers were allied in winning approval of the project and an adjoining development by Graham, the alliance split after Triple Five delayed building in the area.
Triple Five never finalized the purchase of the Graham land and now is suing to keep the potential land deal alive. Graham maintains that Triple Five no longer has a right to purchase the property.
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