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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOMNI CRA 2011-07-28 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Meeting Minutes Thursday, July 28, 2011 12:00 PM or thereafter CITY HALL 3500 PAN AMERICAN DRIVE MIAMI, FL. OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Marc David Sarnoff, Chairman Francis Suarez, Vice -Chairman Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner Frank Carollo, Commissioner Richard P. Dunn II, Commissioner CRA OFFICE ADDRESS: 49 NW 5th ST, SUITE 100, Miami, FL 33128 Phone: (305) 679-6800, Fax: (305) 679-6835 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 FINANCIALS 1. 11-00673 RESOLUTIONS 2. 11-00674 Present: Commissioner Gort, Commissioner Dunn II, Chair Sarnoff, Vice Chair Suarez and Commissioner Carollo On the 28th day of July 2011, the Board of Commissioners of the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Miami met in regular session at Historic Miami City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida. The meeting was called to order by Chair Sarnoff at 12: 29 p.m., recessed at 1: 41 p.m., reconvened at 11:15 p.m., and was adjourned at 11: 20 p.m. ALSO PRESENT: Pieter Bockweg, Executive Director, CRA H. Bert Gonzalez, Assistant Executive Director, CRA Veronica Xiques, Assistant General Counsel, CRA Todd Hannon, Assistant Clerk of the Board CRA REPORT FINANCIAL SUMMARY FOR PERIOD ENDING JUNE 30, 2011. File # 11-00673 07-28-2011 Financial Summary.pdf NO ACTION TAKEN CRA RESOLUTION A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE OMNI REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("CRA") AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO ALLOCATE FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,087,268.00 FROM THE SALE TO FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OF A PORTION OF THE CRA OWNED MIAMI ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX ("MEC") PROPERTY, LOCATED AT 29 NORTHWEST 13TH STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, FOR THE PLANNING, DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE MEC STUDIO. File # 11-00674 07-28-2011 Cover Memo.pdf File # 11-00674 07-28-2011 Financial Form.pdf File # 11-00674 07-28-2011 Backup.pdf File # 11-00674 07-28-2011 Legislation.pdf File # 11-00674 - 07-28-2011 Signed Legislation.pdf Motion by Board Member Dunn II, seconded by Board Member Gort, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: Commissioner Gort, Commissioner Dunn II, Chair Sarnoff, Commissioner Carollo and Vice Chair Suarez CRA-R-11-0043 Chair Sarnoff I'd like to open up the July 28, Omni Board of Commissioners meeting, the Omni City of Miami Page 2 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency). I'd like to go directly to item number 4, and I'd ask the CRA director to present. Pieter Bockweg (Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Thank you, Mr. Chair. The item number 2 before your agenda we'll be introducing to you momentarily. What I'd like to take this opportunity is kind of give you a brief PowerPoint presentation related to the Miami Entertainment Complex, which is of course a building which we purchased from the School Board this previous -- this year. Just to give everybody some history, the Miami Entertainment Complex was purchased from Miami -Dade School Board for $3.1 million by the CRA, which came out to about $25 per square foot. As part of those negotiations, FDOT (Florida Department of Transportation) was also interested in that piece of property. And what we had negotiated with FDOT is to sell them the back portion of that lot, making sure that that piece of property isn't torn down and used as a staging site for a possible 395 alignment in the future. With the Board approval, we did sell that back portion of the lot, which came out to about $26 a square foot and a million dollar -- a million, eighty-seven thousand, two hundred and sixty-eight dollars. In that negotiations we also agreed that the CRA will be -- have access to that back portion and will be leasing that back portion of the property for a dollar per year. And just to orient everybody, this piece of property is located on 14th Street, directly across from the Ice Palace, which is directly in the middle of the Miami Entertainment District. And you will see in the future we have some -- in the future of the presentation that we have some serious plans for that area as a whole. This year and the year before, the Florida Legislature had significant incentives in place to attract the movie industry down to South Florida. They had a total of $242 million in incentives for that movie industry to come in, as well as a separate $3 million available for job creation. With that vision in mind, the CRA Board approved a film and entertainment job creation program for the CRA, which is in direct correlation with that of the state. The basis of that program is, of course, job creation. The limit is $50, 000 for a minimum of 15 jobs. And these incentives have really played a huge role in attracting film industry down to South Florida. Currently, as you will see, the Burn Notice, Charlie's Angels, Rock of Ages, of course, which has totally redone 14th Street and Miami Avenue for -- as a movie set, Magic City, and The Glades are currently filming within South Florida and I should even say Dade County, with the exception of Rock of Ages. They do do some shooting in Broward County. Step Up 4 is expected to be -- start shooting in South Florida, actually in the Ice Palace, later this year. And again, these are perfect examples of how the state incentives and their foresight, along with the Chairman's and the CRA to really attract this industry down to South Florida and the significance it will have for the community as a whole. This year, to show the commitment of the Legislature, they have allocated an extra $30 million in incentives for the movie industry on top of that 242 which was previously approved. Now once we start looking into this vision of the MEC (Miami Entertainment Complex), the first thing we did 'cause, of course, the CRA does not have that type of expertise to really kind of see how to move along and move the process forward -- the first thing the CRA did was create a SMAK (Skills Media Arts Kimplex) panel. Now that SMAK panel is made up of various people from various industries in the media and entertainment industry, as well as some areas of -- as well as the union as far as the carpentry union, who, of course, will play a big role in any movie industry. To go down the list very quickly, Mr. Winick, from the Miami Beach Film Entertainment -- Film and Events Production for Miami Beach; Jeff Peel, who is the previous director of the Miami -Dade County Film Office; CAMACOL (Latin Chamber of Commerce) was on there; Eugene Rodriguez, who, of course, owns Big Time Productions and the Ice Palace, where a significant number of movies have been shot in the past, including Fast and the Furious, Miami Vice, et cetera; M.E.D.A, of course, 'cause we are in the Entertainment District. They are a significant stakeholder. Terry Darling, who is the carpenters' representative for the carpenters union; Ted Lucas, the record executive; Gustavo, who is an events promoter and is also in connection with G Force; Greg Hauptner, who has been a huge participant and help to us, who is the president and founder of G-Star. And I'd like to point this out specifically because we really relied heavily on Mr. Hauptner and his expertise because as of today, the G-Star Studios, which is in West Palm Beach, will be the closest resemblance to what we're hoping to become in the future at the Miami Entertainment City of Miami Page 3 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 Complex. We had Ken Harris, the chief operating officer of the PAC (Performing Arts Center), the Arsht Center, of course; James Stamatis, who's the vice president of operations for Telemundo Studios; Luis Choter, who is the -- from MPA (Miami Parking Authority). Parking, of course, is always significant when attracting movie industry and people. Principle of -- Michael [sic] de Bokay, and I apologize ifI mispronounced that name. And of course, a representative from your office, Mr. Chairman, along with your vision. We met with the SMAKpanel regularly for about six months, if not longer. And the recommendations that they came before us are as follows. First is raise the roof to at least 50 feet. Currently, the roof is not 50 feet, but that is necessary to make sure that we provide that space to shoot the movies, hopefully. To provide flex office space. Currently, we are -- there is 12,000 square feet of office space in the facility itself. We have the possibility of even extending that to -- double it to 24,000 square feet. The third recommendation was to build two fully operational sound stages of approximately 10,000 or 12,000 square feet. This is important because movies like we all know, like Avatar, Jurassic Park III, Ironman, and many, many other blockbusters all shot their feature films in sound stages of that size, so we're right along the industry standard as far as the size of the sound stage. Other things that the SMAKpanel recommended which has been lacking within South Florida and there's no place like this is, of course, a motion capture stage. We would obviously need to, you know, revamp the facility with electrical, plumbing, lighting, grid and soundproofing, et cetera. Another thing that was recommended by that panel was to outsource the overall management of the operation, and we are looking into that now. We don't have the expertise in the CRA, and we know that part of that business is making sure we attract and you know the people to talk to and you know how to attract them to that location. And of course, a partnership with higher education. This is an important one because a lot of the complaints that we get was that the people that are being educated in Miami, whether it be University of Miami, Miami Dade College, or the Miami School of Art and Design, who specialize in this industry all leave Miami and they all go to New York. They go to L.A. (Los Angeles) and they go -- a lot have gone to North Carolina when they started shooting a lot of movies there. We believe this is an important aspect of this overall partnership because we want to make sure we give those students a reason to stay. And if they stay, they spend their money locally and they live locally. It'll ultimately help and benefit the local economy, so that is an important aspect we feel of this overall project. Now coincidentally, in 1994, KP -- Miami -Dade County commissioned KPMG (Klynveld, Peat, Marwick, Goerdeler) to do a study related to the film industry. And the recommendations of the SMAKpanel, as you will see in the slide before you, are right along the lines of that study done by KPMG in 1994. Now true, it is a little bit outdated, but I can tell you that with the incentives in place today and the will of that industry to want to come to Miami and the surrounding area because of its attractiveness, the same principles that were explained in this report still apply and that has been confirmed through our SMAK panel and other people that we have spoken to. And as you can see in that rec -- in that study, they recommended four to eight sound stages, office space within the duplex [sic]. The MEC has that. The capacity for post production, film lab, dubbing facilities, et cetera. That will be part of the overall part of our office space within the Miami Entertainment Complex. Now obviously, like I said, the study also found, which we all know, Miami is the ideal place to shoot. The biggest compliment that we got was Miami has the perfect light, which I was not aware of of course, but apparently we have the perfect light. And it's a lot easier when you have a product to sell to the actors, to the movie industry where people want to spend their time and shoot a movie instead of going somewhere where it's cold, rainy and they're indoors 24 hours a day. So that was a big component as far as from the study at KPMG. It has a huge positive local impact, which I will get into in a moment. And the recommendation was also of course to continue to study that feasibility of the entertainment complex and to proceed with the planning of that, which we are doing now with the Miami Entertainment Complex. The CRA's mission, as I'm sure everybody is aware, are various things, and then I want to touch upon a couple where we believe that this Miami Entertainment Complex will affect the CRA's overall mission. Job creation, of course, is a huge component. Our studies have shown that at least 100 jobs per film -- and that is jobs directly related to the shooting of the film. That does not include the actors, the directors and executive staff of the movie. But these are just people that are working on the film set themselves. City of Miami Page 4 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 Obviously, we will have two sound stages, which is a potential of 200 jobs. The average salary which we have found in the film industry is $75, 000 for those jobs, plus the benefits, it will come to about $85,500. There is a multiplier that we have come up with that -- well, we have not come up with -- that the industry uses, and we have calculated that the overall impact of the MEC will be about $17 million directly into the local economy with the Miami Entertainment Complex being fully occupied. In the business plan, which has been provided to the Board a few weeks ago, there is a list of jobs that will be affected by the entertainment complex. Now, I'm not going to bore you with naming every single job because the list is very extensive and I know the gentleman who helped do this for us when talking with him will speak this afternoon, if so allowed, to kind of go through those jobs. But they -- just to keep you an idea, they range anything from accountants to tuxedo rentals, talent agencies, taxicabs. I mean, it runs the gamut, how a movie industry affects the local economy within Miami. Anywhere from golf courses, golf carts. I mean, you name it, the list is extensive, and I'll show it up to you, Commissioners, but that is all part of the business plan that was provided to you. The other mission of the CRA is, of course, eliminating slum and blight. Along with our commitment to redeveloping and reconstructing the Miami Skills Center, we want to make sure that we create a synergy and a catalyst for that entire area. The CRA has started and had to stop the construction streetscape project for 14th Street, wider sidewalks, pavers, curb and gutter, et cetera, and the only reason we had to stop was because of the Rock of Ages shooting. But this is one example how the CRA is committed to provide in that area. We've also started with the redevelopment of the firehouse number 2, which is on the corner of 14th Street and Miami Avenue. That is a piece of property that the CRA owns. It has been dilapidated for many, many years, and overall, we are moving forward with the construction of that facility and possibly in the future moving the CRA offices to that facility. And of course, in conjunction with that is the MEC development. And again, we want to make sure we create a synergy from Biscayne all the way down 14th Street to the Ice Palace and the MEC to really bring that area to life in the Miami Entertainment District. Something that I'm very excited about is -- you know, one of the goals of the CRA is to create additional revenue. And this is the first time that the CRA has an opportunity to create additional general fund revenue that is not money that is put into our budget as far as from TIF (Tax Increment Fund). This is actual money that we are generating froin business ventures that the CRA does. This, of course, is, I believe, a huge step in the right direction because it allows the CRA and the Board to allocate those funds into even more projects within the Omni CRA to be completed and to move to projects such as reimburse -- not reimbursing, but reintegrating that into the MEC for operations. It will cover -- we will be able to recoup our construction costs for that building, as well as over the years have money to obviously help with the construction and maintenance of Museum Park. I touched upon it before a little bit, the private part -- private -- public private partnership. That, of course, is related with the higher education, schools, creating that synergy with them. A lot of them have internships or jobs or some sort of classroom activity or learning space within the complex itself. Again, allowing those students to give them a reason to stay here, live locally and work locally. These are our projections that we have calculated for the Miami Entertainment Complex per the occupancy. These are the gross numbers. But as you can see, even at a 25 percent occupancy rate, we are still in the black for $743,000. We have estimated the operations cost as well as we could and even with the operations cost associated, we will still be significantly in the black. But this would give you an idea of what kind of a revenue we hope to generate with the Miami Entertainment Complex. Lastly, the item on the agenda is to allocate $1, 084, 000 [sic] to the Miami Entertainment Complex. This money -- this number is the exact amount that the Board approved and we sold the back portion of the facility to FDOT, so that portion of the money will be allocated back into the Miami Entertainment Complex and these funds will be used to start the planning process, the design, and the permitting and of course the construction. Now by no means will this complete the construction of the facility, but this will definitely get the ball rolling in the direction to ultimately come up with a plan -- the planning, design and permitting and those costs will be covered. We estimate the overall cost of the project to be about $10.5 million. We believe we can do that. It's a goal that I think we can make. I don't foresee spending any more than that because the numbers that we've run and the information that we've gotten is that City of Miami Page 5 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 could be done with that amount. In your package, you will see -- and I apologize for taking a little longer, Mr. Chair -- letters in support for this overall facility from the Arsht Center, CAMACOL, G-Star Studios, Rock of Ages, Burn Notice, Charlie's Angels, the Ice Palace, the Miami World Cinema Center, Gary Nader, Jeffrey Kluger, Espacio, and Crown Media Group. It's important to know, just to give you an idea of how the impact happens, Rock of Ages as well as Charlie's Angels right now are occupying office space within the Omni CRA district for the shooting of their movies which, of course, just goes to show that the facilities in the area within the CRA will be getting used and be taken advantage of. What you see before you is ultimately a rendering, if you will. This is not something that I can tell you will -- it will look like, but that will give you an idea of how the facility can change and attract the film industry to come. And this kind of gives you an idea of what the facility will look like. I'd like to ask Bert to go ahead and introduce the item, Mr. Chair, and then answer any questions you may have. H. Bert Gonzalez (Assistant Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Good afternoon, Board and Commissioners. I bring before you for your resolution and approval, the Board of Commissioners of the Omni Redevelopment District Community Redevelopment Agency to authorize the executive director to allocate funds in the amount of $1, 087,268 from the sale to Florida Department of Transportation of a portion of the CRA-owned Miami Entertainment Complex property located at 29 Northwest 13th Street, Miami, Florida, for the planning, design and construction and development of the MEC studio. Chair Sarnoff All right. Is there a motion for --? Commissioner Dunn: Mr. Chair. Chair Sarnoff Yes, sir. Commissioner Dunn: I'll move it for discussion. Chair Sarnoff All right. We have a motion. Is there a second? Commissioner Gort: Second. Chair Sarnoff Second by the Chair. Why don't we do this, why don't we open up a public hearing and then we'll bring it back to the Board? So anybody wishing to speak on this, please, if you would, line up, and let's get started as quickly as we can. You're recognized for the record, sir. Terry Darling: Terry Darling, with the Florida Carpenters. First, I'd like to begin by saying happy birthday to the great City of Miami, 115 years young today. I believe that's a substantial event. My organization, Florida Carpenters and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters of America was actually born in 1881, and I believe that we were actually here at Miami's inception. On behalf of the Florida Carpenters, our members, our families and our friends in the community, we stand in support of this endeavor. I know you all heard the Miami Entertainment Complex business plan, so I will not bore you with the redundant numbers. I began this endeavor as a construction consultant, I guess, a subject matter expert for the CRA and I was very honored to participate in that role. I began researching the film industry and what it's done for different areas of the country, and I wanted to kind of know what we had in store if we moved forward with this event or this complex. Just briefly, I'd like to share with you the results of my personal research. I looked at three different states and the results of their attempts to bring the film industry to their states, namely, New Mexico, Michigan, and Louisiana. The similar trends by these states is that all three states actually got involved and offered tax credits and incentives to bring the industry to their states. This is something I think that we need to approach as a collective group later. As a result of my research, and I think everybody in this room knows this, this film industry is a very substantial economic engine. It creates jobs. It creates wealth. It just City of Miami Page 6 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 goes on and on. It just gives back. In the state of Louisiana, they report that there was a direct impact to the economy of $1.48 billion in 2008 as direct and indirect growth. Jobs have grown 23 percent per year since 2002, and over 2,500 jobs right now are being performed by local residents. Two hundred million dollars is in wages earned by Louisiana residents. Eighty-seven percent of the film budgets are now performed in the state of Louisiana, so it's a significant growth up from 33 percent back in 2005. And currently -- well, in 2008, they reported there was over 65, almost 70 projects being performed and they see that growth as the years progressed. In New Mexico, film production activities in New Mexico created 2,200 direct jobs in '07. And then from the spinoff for the ancillary businesses, it created another 1,700 jobs in other industries, resulting in a total employment impact of about just shy of 4, 000 jobs. Remarkable. You move that over a year or two later, and I think it's up over 5,300 jobs that have been created. The film industry spending rose from 29 million to 253 million from 2003 to 2007; pretty remarkable growth. In Michigan, the first nine months since the passage of the film production credit, the industry generated $70 million. In 2007, 25 million of this was spent on wages and 40 million was spent on Michigan goods and services. In '08, there was 1,100 jobs created, year-round equivalent jobs were created, 53 million in wages and $28 million in goods and services for a total of 94 million. They are predicting by the year 2012 they'll be at over $187 million per year and over 300 more jobs created. All three states have seen a rise in their tourism industry as a result of the film industry presence. I truly believe that coupled with our state being rated as one of the highest tourist destinations, that I think these two industries can complement each other. And the MEC is a great complement to the industry which we already have existing here in South Florida. I think it goes hand in hand. I think it'll stand to give us a good anchor for the potential growth. Our commitment as an organization and my personal commitment is to join forces with any coalition by the City, by the County of Miami -Dade and the industry to lobby the great state of Florida to pass competitive incentives to bring our fair share of the film industry to Florida, and more importantly, to Miami. We will also work with Miami Works or any other entities to provide training for the citizens in and around the neighborhoods in an effort to provide a skilled workforce to support these newly created job opportunities. I just believe that, in closing, that as far as a birthday present to this great City of Miami, I don't think you can give one better than what you have here today. Thank you. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Dr. Montoya. Rolando Montoya: Yes. Good afternoon. I'm Rolando Montoya, the provost of Miami Dade College. I'm here to support this complex. There are at least four important units at the college that will have a strong connection with this complex. Let us start with New World School of the Arts that is training local talent as actors. And unfortunately, many of them have to emigrate out of our city, going to New York, going to California. I think that we believe that if we have this filming facility here in Miami, many of them are going to remain here contributing to our economy and to the prestige of our city. In addition, you know that Miami Dade College manages Miami International Film Festival, and during the last few years, we have been screening the premieres of many films produced here in Miami. This is an opportunity again for more local talent having the opportunity to film and produce in a local facility that we would be glad to highlight in our annual festival. Then we have the School of Entertainment Technology located at our north campus. We train videographers, cameraographers, producers, and this would be a tremendous opportunity for them to have internships while they study, and of course, jobs after they graduate. And I don't know if you have read in the media that the Wolfson family recently donated to the college the Lynn and Luis II Florida Moving Image archive. That's the film history of this state. It's of incredible value, and the operations of this archive is sustained by basically the royalties or the licenses that we charge to filmmaking companies, to producers, and we believe that if we have additional filming here in Miami, this would be an opportunity for many of those films being ventilated and allowing for the sustainability of this historic archive that is under the custody of the college. I think that this would be a tremendous enhancement for the cultural life of our city, and of course, a tremendous economic opportunity for everybody, for our students, for our graduates. Thank you for your consideration. I hope that you vote yes. City of Miami Page 7 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 Chair Sarnoff. Thank you, Dr. Montoya. Yes, sir. Felix Pike: Good afternoon. My name is Felix Pike, production manager with Media Stage. We are a local audiovisual staging and production firm. I work very closely with the concert, corporate event, special event and film and TV (Television) production industries locally. Since moving here from Los Angeles in 2005, I've seen the film -- the local industry -- event industry, production industry do nothing but grow whilst unfortunately we've seen a great deal of downturn in many other industries locally. There's no doubt production companies come here not due to tax incentives. They like the light. It's a beautiful location. They're going to come no matter what. The MEC, as far as I'm concerned, is nothing but a good thing for this city in terms of we've heard about the ripple out effect that a production has when it arrives locally. We're not just talking about technical support. We're talking about foliage, food and beverage, taxis, a number of things Mr. Bockweg mentioned before. Nonetheless, that point seems to be driven fairly well home already. Another item -- as I'm someone who serves on the board of the Greater Miami Chamber's Creating Industries Committee, one thing we're very concerned about and work on and discuss and create -- try to create awareness of at networking events and the like is brain drain. We have a number of phenomenal local institutions, educational institutions that are turning out and I've worked with several of these young graphic artists, designers, animators, filmmakers, who spend the time getting educated and creating knowledge here at an institution like AI (Art Institutes) or DASH (Design Architecture Senior High), and finding out there's not a lot of options for them after they graduate. I think the MEC is going to form a hub and an opportunity for several of these young people, talented people coming out of their educational cycle to go straight into an opportunity with a local film company or people like myself and others who are no doubt many here today will also commit their expertise and experience to this project, which I will be happy to do. I think it's -- on those two levels, particularly in terms of the ripple effect that film and event industries create here and the opportunity now to give these great talented young people in this town the opportunity and a reason to stay here and contribute further to the creative industry economy is only a good thing. Thank you. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Yes, sir. Todd Hannon (Assistant Clerk of the Board): Excuse me, Chair. IfI may remind the speakers that after stating their name, if you haven't filled out a speaker record, to please come and see me. Thank you. Greg Hauptner: Okay. Thank you. Hi. My name is Greg Hauptner. I'm the founder and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the G-Star Studios in West Palm Beach. I'd like to thank the Vice Chairman for changing his appointment today. It was very kind of you to stay because it is something very important for the City of Miami and for all of you here. I'd like to just say that Miami is the mecca for film. From New York south, Miami is it. When people come here to shoot major feature films, they want Miami. So why isn't Miami the film center of -- or one of the major film centers of the world? Many of you know about CSI: Miami, probably the most obvious. They come here, they shoot exteriors, and then they go out to Los Angeles and they shoot. There's been many films here and there's a whole bunch of them now. You'll hear a lot about the incentive program, which is great. Florida now has the second best incentive program in the entire nation. That's wonderful. However, the problem has been Miami has no bricks and mortar movie studios. That's really the issue. And Miami is the center. Miami is poised to become one of the world's great motion picture industry not destinations, but the industry itself. And it takes a facility like this in order to bring it in. This will not be the last one that will be built. This will be the first one. And from here, it will spread out because they will know that this city has made a commitment to the film industry. They will know that there are top-notch facilities in the world here. Our studios up in West Palm Beach, we are now the largest motion picture studio in the state of Florida. We're actually larger than Universal. We just don't have City of Miami Page 8 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 the rides, so we're working on that. But this one is going to be equal in size to ours, actually larger. And our sound stage that we just built in West Palm is the most technologically advanced sound stage in the world and these here will surpass that. This is a wonderful opportunity at a moment in time for Miami to seize this ability to bring the film industry here. We all know this is about jobs. We know it's about tourism, heads in beds, but it does go so much further. We have on our back lot the largest high school in the world for film, digital media, media production and acting. We have 1,150 students and we are growing as we go. The educational component, as the gentleman just a moment ago from Miami Dade College, is so important because the ability for the colleges here and the high schools to turn out the infrastructure, the people who will work in it is important because they really do turn out wonderful kids and then they all have to go to L.A. and they have to go to New York to do something in order to remain in this industry. You've seen the actual financial projections. They are really good. And you've seen the fact that there are so many support businesses that will actually grow up around it. I do know that the CRA's mission is to take certain areas that are not doing very well, putting in something there and building a structure that will attract more business. If you put a restaurant in, it's nice. They may employ 100 people, but it doesn't attract other businesses. A motion picture studio does. It attracts support businesses of all kinds, and I'd refer you back to that list that you could look for. I want to compliment the CRA on its choice of locations. This is right in the middle of downtown and it has tremendous access. And this building, it was a stroke of genius for this building, andl think that was -- and that's when nobody wanted the building. And if you look today, of course, you do have Rock of Ages in this building that is dilapidated. I mean, it needs to be built out and they're still shooting there because they found it that advantageous. And for the CRA to recognize this, come to this point now for a project like this is, to me, it's just pure genius. I admire them for what they've done. And lastly, I'd like to say that the film industry in Florida is building, but it doesn't depend on the Florida incentive. It really depends upon what the world perceives as the finest place to shoot. Everything here is ready to go. As you heard earlier, in 1994, there was an attempt to do this; it failed. I'm not sure why, but we'd hate to wait another 15 years for somebody, the right elements to come together to perhaps try again. And right now, this is the opportunity of a lifetime for the city and 115 years, as I heard today, this is the thing -- one of the things that will continue to make Miami great and will make it a center for film industry. So I thank you very much. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Patty Arias: Good afternoon. My name is Patty Arias, and I'm from the Latin Chamber of Commerce, and I come here to support the CRA project. CAMACOL, since 2008, has had a film and entertainment program and my colleague here is a difficult act to follow. But briefly, from a chamber point of view, the industry this would support lighting equipment, sound equipment, video, parking facilities, car storage facilities. I mean, the economic impact of this facility would be tremendous, and I urge -- and I'm going to be very brief -- you to support this project. It has been an honor to serve on this board. Thank you. Chair Sarnoff Thanks, Patty. Yes, ma'am. Stephanie Marie Scotto: Hello. My name is Stephanie Scotto. I am with Innova and in specifically this case, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) organization. We own one of the biggest media conglomerates in Latin America, and I have been recently meeting with Bert in reference to how we can play a part in Miami becoming this gateway to the Americas that it's always been and more specifically in this case in reference to production. In Columbia, we host and are the owners of basically all the novellas that are on Hispanic TV right now as well as the owners of Ugly Betty that ABC (American Broadcasting Company) picked up. We have a tremendous impact in Latin America and are looking forward to becoming a part of this movement in the United States, specifically in Miami as a gateway to the Americas. As my colleagues have said, I also urge you to support this project. City of Miami Page 9 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 Chair Sarnoff. Thank you. Yes, sir. Patrick de Bokay: Hello. My name is Patrick de Bokay. I'm the founder and director of the Miami World Cinema Center. Thank you very much. I'm here to support. And yes, first, I want to say thank you to the CRA and the team of the CRA to preparing and working on the project and giving us some really strong information. I just wanted to highlight not about all what we hear, all those jobs that are going to be created because they're going to be created and they're created everyday around the planet. But I wanted to focus on two things. First thing is that this film and media and entertainment industry is becoming the number one industry in the planet. It's $11 billion of tax surplus export in the USA (United States of America), and we don't have a chunk here in Miami. Miami is the hub for it. Most of this industry is driven by young creative talents. That's how this industry function. Orson Wells was 24 years old when he created and released Citizen Kane. We have in Miami -Dade County more than 450,000 students. We have schools -- thank you, Dr. Montoya -- like the Miami Dade College. We have high schools. We have universities that are in the forefront and working hard in training those people to become yet tomorrow the players of this industry. We need to give them the means and the tools. It's really the role of a city to drive that. New York City, ten years ago when it saw its industry, film industry going down, decided to help, help with the permit, help with the spaces and the organization of it. And today, New York is back on the track and millions of dollars are there. So it's really about having a place where we can initiate it. At the Miami World Cinema Center, in the last three years, basically that's what we're doing in our community. We've created up to 60 jobs for young people. We've created links between universities and professional work, creating workshops and plans and activities for them all day long. So I just wanted again -- it is crucial to build this industry here. This industry is a direct green industry. It's immediate impact in job creation. It's linked with the tourism industry of a place. It's linked with the financial industry of a place. It's linked with the real estate industry of a place, so it's the ideal, I would say, endeavor for our city today. Thank you. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Kim. Kim Stone: Good afternoon. And thank you again, Commissioner, for staying. I'm Kim Stone. I'm executive vice president and general manager at American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami. We were fortunate enough this week to host Rock of Ages for one of their filming sessions. And I just -- everybody spoke about all the good things, but I'm here to tell you that we ended up cutting checks for a lot of the local citizens in our community because we had to hire event staff to be there. I would also say that seeing firsthand as has been said about the industry itself the number of jobs, the number of people it takes to even film one minute of it is amazing, so the jobs and the numbers you have seen here are not hyperbole. We've seen them firsthand. And I would encourage you, if you haven't been to a set, to perhaps go just to understand even more. Second, as a member of the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) Board, we have vetted this. You'll hear much more from Alyce. We support it very strongly. In my industry, we call it a game changer. It can be. And finally, as a resident of what they call South Beach now for 20 years, I had the honor of watching what the modeling industry did in being a game changer for what is now South Beach and before what all the industries that come and be part of it, and this can definitely be a game changer. It's in our heart of our city and it can make a big difference, and I think it's a visionary building and something that can help us in this very tough economic times. So I appreciate your time and look forward to your vote. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Mr. Chi. Joe Chi: Hello, Commissioners. I'd like to say that here -- I'm Joe Chi. I'm here representing CAMACOL, the Latin Chamber of Commerce, as secretary and also the China Latin American Trade Center as the president. We'd like to say that we support this project very much. I'd like to add something to what Patricia was saying about CAMACOL. CAMACOL this year was able to do their hemispheric congress and they also bought in a big Indian delegation from the movie City of Miami Page 10 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 industries and also from the Far East. I also put CAMACOL and Patricia in contact with the government of Hong Kong, and they're also very interested in participating next year with our film industry. Hong Kong film industry is the largest film industry in East Asia, and hopefully, for the grand opening, we can have Jackie Chan present. Thank you. Alyce Robertson: Hi. Alyce Robertson, executive director of the Miami Downtown Development Authority. As Kim said earlier, the DDA considered this item and voted unanimously in favor at its July 11 meeting. This is in an area of the DDA that is definitely underdeveloped and has a lot of potential. And this kind of a use for there is really -- fits in very nicely with the downtown master plan that was passed. It will attract and grow businesses and be a catalytic project. It also will further support the major arts, as stated by earlier speakers, and increase the opportunities for professional training and collegiate studies and enhance the neighborhood that it's in. So, with that, I enter into -- I believe you have a copy of the DDA resolution as part of your package. Thank you. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Yes, sir. Talmadge Frazier: Good afternoon, Commissioners. Talmadge Frazier. I live in Overtown. I also have a business in Overtown. This is the greatest thing I've heard for a long time. The only thing I'm going to ask is that some of the money be set aside to offer scholarships to children in Overtown, Little Havana that can go into these other jobs that they need, the carpentry. All the jobs that are related to these sets, let's put some scholarship money aside. Let's get a campaign to get our children the knowledge, understanding that these jobs are coming. I thought about this 20 years ago when I was a counselor at Douglass. You got in front of the camera, behind the -- outside the camera. Let's get our kids some jobs. Let's get the workforce trained. It's okay to bring it here, but let the young people of Miami now come together and be the workforce that we need. Thank you. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Yes, sir. Javier Salman: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, members of the Board. My name is Javier Salmon. I'm a local architect and planner, and I'm also a property owner in the Overtown area, and I'm here to speak in support of this item for three reasons. I promise to be very brief. Number one, it's a perfect project for the location. It defines a location for the film industry here in South Florida. Number two, it's the perfect project because it shows the CRA's mission to commit to the redevelopment of that area. And number three, it's the perfect project because it's here in Miami and it's something that we need to inspire the growth of industry and the redevelopment of that area. Thank you. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. Anyone else from the public wishing to speak? All right. I'm going to be brief gentlemen. I'm not going to keep you long. This is a game changer. This is the difference between handing out fish and giving a fishing rod to people. This is about a new industry in Miami. Miami is a one -legged stool. At one time it was a leg and a half, and occasionally, it became a two -legged stool when construction was booming. This could be a leg of a stool of Miami. This is base industry. Every one of you should go back, economics 101. They showed you the factory. They showed you the natural resource. This is a base industry. The potential impact in Miami could be a brand-new cottage industry. It is probably the most labor-intensive industry you can imagine. Three days ago, I filmed a commercial for my first campaign. I think I had eight or nine people hovering around me for one, what, 10- or 15-second spot. I happen to know somebody else on the dais that probably used the same crew. It's just amazing to see the number of people that take to make a very small spot. The multiplier effect, $272 million. It's not hard to figure that this is going to be a billion dollar industry. Let me just say one thing very clearly to this Board. It is a leap of faith. This has been brought up and dropped and brought up and dropped time and time again. I could give you a thousand reasons not to do this. I could tell you, play it safe. I could tell you, sit here and do nothing; City of Miami Page 11 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 you'll be okay. You want to pin this on me, pin it on me. I'm the one that came up with the idea. I'm the one that suggested the whole thing. I brought Commissioner Gort on so that he could bring everyone he thought he could bring on to help do it. This is a game changer for Miami. I -- the best words I've ever heard on this actually came from Commissioner Dunn when he told us about Walt Disney coming down here meeting with the City fathers and they said, nah, we really don't want you. So he created a little town up north of us called Orlando. I say this to you -- it's a leap of faith. It is because this could fail. I kid you not. But if it does succeed, if we get behind this and Miami does something unusual for itself -- we all support each other. This is an unusual Commission. I've been on other Commissions. I've been on Commissions where we fought with each other. I've been on Commissions where somebody sitting there and I couldn't have a civil conversation. This Commission supports each other. I don't say to do it out of faith or blindness for me. I say to do it for Miami. Do it for her birthday. Do it so that she can at least have a plan for the future. Because from the time I got to this dais, all I wanted to do was talk about jobs. I know I'm not the affordable housing guy. I've never quite understood that concept. If you give a man a job, you give him a reason to get up in the morning. You give a woman a job, you give her a reason to get up in the morning. Everything flows from there. Everything in their life, their sense of worth, their sense of value, their sense of pride, the ability to like and love themselves. Applause. Chair Sarnoff Everything flows from there. So -- and this is not -- this is just how I feel. The ability to love another person only comes from your ability to get up in the morning and like yourself. And far too often in Miami with a 14 percent unemployment rate, I would rather create one industry with a fishing hook than hand out fish for the rest of the time I'm on this Commission. So I'm going to hand the gavel over to Commissioner Suarez. You're the Vice Chair? Vice Chair Suarez: Yes, I am. But I think you already motioned and seconded it. Commissioner Dunn: Already made a motion. Chair Sarnoff. Was there a motion and a second? Commissioner Dunn: Yeah. Vice Chair Suarez: Wasn't it? Commissioner Dunn: Yeah. I made the motion. Mr. Hannon: Excuse me, Chair. Yes, sir. I have the mover as Commissioner Dunn and I have the seconder as -- Vice Chair Suarez: You could pass me the gavel, if you like. Commissioner Dunn: Yeah. Vice Chair Suarez: No, I'm just kidding. Chair Sarnoff That's all right. And I'm -- I just ask each one of you to support me and I'll -- back to the Chair -- back to the Board. Commissioner Dunn: You're the Chair, though. Chair Sarnoff Yeah, I am. Anybody wishing to speak. City of Miami Page 12 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 Commissioner Dunn: I wanted to say -- Mr. Chair. Chair Sarnoff Go ahead. Commissioner Dunn: I got to tell you, this is perhaps one of the potentially most exciting pieces of legislation that I've seen. And I have to compliment you, commend you publicly, Commissioner Sarnoff. The operative word that I will use is vision, period, and I don't want to get into all of the definitions of it, but we know what vision is. It is being able to see what doesn't exist. We have a biblical term saying speaking into existence what does not exist. IfI can coin the phrase of my colleague, Vice Chairman Carollo, and I've been -- this thing has been on my mind ever since you said it. Miami is a sexy city. It's true. I mean, if you want to talk about the vision of Joe Robbie in 1966, the Miami Dolphins. I turned on the television this morning and for crying out loud, we might get Reggie Bush. It might be official by now, I don't know, in a quarterback. And I look at the Miami Heat. The Marlins are on the move. They got McCean back and they're winning again and the stadium in my colleague, Vice Chairman's district. I know it's been a lot of -- but it's some great things that are happening, and I tell you, it is our 115th birthday. As much as struggle that we have in the City of Miami and we've been through a lot. Frederick Douglass once said, where there is no struggle, there is no progress. And I love Miami. I really do. I'm proud to be a citizen and to serve as a Commissioner for the City of Miami. The only issue that I would like to see and commitment, and I did kind of see it today, is that there is diversity in the fruits that fall from the trees. That's my only issue. And I see that today, diversity that -- in diversity, there is strength. It is important that every citizen feels that they have at least a fair opportunity to benefit from the fruits that will be coming our way. I mean, wow. I mean, this is -- not only is it about being a game changer; this is a legacy -making item. It's about legacy, putting in place something that will benefit this city and generations to come after we are gone from here. And as I get older, those are one of the things that I -- my prayer is that some kind of way that when I have left this place, there will be some type of legacy, positive, that we were, I was, you were able to make that -- somewhere the record will reflect that, you know what, by these five guys and the Mayor and whoever having been here, they made a difference. The only thing I want to ask is that -- I know there's a -- Mr. Bockweg will -- in the process of working on a skills portal in the CRA, I would just like to see that incorporated in this item and hopefully we can incorporate that skills portal that would hopefully reach out to neighboring communities so that they can feel a part of -- but I am really, truly excited about this item. And I don't mind following your lead on this 'cause it -- we do need jobs. I mean, at the end of the day, we do need jobs. Say what you want about the stadium, the port tunnel. At the end of the day, if it can translate into jobs -- but not just jobs. Look at the publicity, positive, that this city is getting, which translates into dollars and cents. Vice Chair Suarez: Mr. Chairman. Chair Sarnoff Commissioner Suarez. Vice Chair Suarez: Thank you. I'm not going to ask you how much you paid in production for that. Chair Sarnoff I heard I underbid. No. Vice Chair Suarez: I think you said a lot of things that caught my attention, one of them being that Miami needs to expand its base industries. Clearly, our base industry right now is hospitality, tourism, and we, as a CRA Board, have supported institutes that train people to actually fill that need, to fill that turnover in that industry which is an industry that has a lot of turnover. And so -- and it's not a poorly paying industry. It's a decent paying industry. And I think one of the things that you have always impressed upon this Board is we need to connect the dots in terms of -- and I think this is what we're starting to do here and I have some suggestions City of Miami Page 13 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 and some things that I'd like to suggest in terms of connecting the dots from, you know, really creating redevelopment and really creating jobs in the CRA. But there's something else that you said that really, really caught my attention, which is that there are always ways that you can criticize something that's positive. And there are -- you know, and I like that you said, you know, put it on me, you know. This is my idea. Put it on me, you know. If it fails, it's my failure. And that is leadership. That's true leadership. True leadership is trying to advance something positive and knowing that you're going to encounter dculties and naysayers but saying, you know what, I'm -- I am willing to take that risk and I'm asking you all to take it with me. So I really appreciated that. And I think I just want to -- I can support this. I'm going to support this for a variety of reasons. One, we're using the money that we actually got in the acquisition of this to start this investment process. But what I would like to see as we -- as this process continues -- it's kind of a little bit of a different spin on what Commissioner Dunn said, which is -- and it's not in the business plan, which is why I asked for a copy of the business plan. I would like to have -- like we have with the Hospitality Institute, you know, a media training institute or a training institute so that we can bring people from the CRA, train them to fill these jobs. And I think we should also have some sort of a component for the tenants that are going to be using this facility, that they have to hire people from the CRA, and that's something that we talked a little bit about in our last CRA meeting that we should have -- you know, maybe versus hiring two attorneys, maybe we should have an auditor or someone who actually checks to make sure that in all the agreements that we put into place, those hiring requirements are being met. And I think we should strive to go away from aspirations and create actual requirements because that's where you're tying the whole thing together from making an investment in a core industry. I do believe that this is a core industry that the City of Miami is going to only grow at. I think another one that may be further down the pipe is technology. I think the City of Miami is perfectly positioned to be a technology hub like Silicon Valley, but a Silicon Valley for this area. So, yes, I support your idea to do something positive and the only thing that I would add is that when this comes back to us for further funding requests, that there be a plan in place to train people from the CRA and to put them in those jobs because that's where I think we tie the whole thing together. Chair Sarnoff Commissioner Gort. Commissioner Gort: Mr. Chairman, a lot of people might not know this, but the -- I was a professional photographer from 1964 to about 1980, and everything that I have today and my family, the Gort family, came out of the photography business. I mean, we were in the production business a long time ago and right now the Gort family has the second and third generation in the business and they're doing very well, thank God. It's an industry that it creates a lot of jobs. It's an industry you can train people and give them the ability to work with it. It's a great industry. I mean, I was able to travel the whole world because of that, the job. It's the -- we need different industry. You know, people talked about the -- we don't have factories. We don't need factories. I mean, things are changing. Film industry is something that is going to continue to be there. Entertainment is something that we all look at. I mean, we don't look at a $32 billion business because we sit there and watch the TV or go to the theater and we don't -- we get entertained but we don't know what's behind all that, all the benefits. So I'm all in favor of it, but at the same time, I agree with the training of the local people. I don't want to see industry that come here and all of a sudden, they bring all their talent from other states and other cities. I want to make sure we have our own talent, we use our own talent and our own people because there is a great future in that. At the same time, I know you put a business plan together. I'm in support of this, but I'd like to see it going even beyond that. I want to be kept up to date on all your projections coming up, but I'm all in favor of it. Matter of fact, we had a -- the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) congress, we had this year the film and entertainment meeting for the first time and it was very successful. We had people from Latin America and from India. They're willing to come and use Miami as a place to do the filming. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. City of Miami Page 14 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 Commissioner Gort: I'm all for it. Chair Sarnoff Vice Chair. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I'd like to start off by saying that I take my job and my work very seriously and that's why I stayed here. And I just had a previous engagement with elected officials and various people that I was hosting an event and I had to cancel because, in all fairness, I wasn't expecting this to happen at this time. IfI would have known, I would have, you know, made arrangements and so forth because I don't think anyone questions my work ethic. And actually, if you ask anyone who has worked with me, they will tell you, Frank can go days and days without even eating lunch and he will work 24 hours and 48 hours and never see him sleeping, just keep working and so forth. But I wasn't expecting this to take place at this time and I had a previous engagement, but again, like I say, I take my work very seriously and that's why I chose to stay and stand numerous people up. With that said, this is something that does take some vision, and I think you all have seen that I am not short-sighted, so I think it could be something that I could definitely support. As a matter of fact, even from many months back, we took a leap of faith and, you know, we moved forward, so there's really no reason for me to now back away. However, you know, I still have to do my due diligence. There was a couple of things that were mentioned that I do want to ask, one being that the total cost of $10.5 million. This is only $1 million towards this project, so I have to do my due diligence and ask where's the other money going to come from? Is there any plans because this million dollars -- and I know it's a million eighty-seven and so forth, but this million dollars is for planning, designing, construction, and development, so I don't want to see it start being constructed and then all of a sudden -- so it -- Mr. Executive Director, if you could shed some light on that, please. Mr. Bockweg: Commissioner, the -- like Commissioner Suarez said, the first million dollars is from the sale of the back portion of the lot. The other money will be coming from different projects that have been completed but because in the past the monies that were allocated for those projects had a lot of fat on them, so to speak. They were overbudgeted by a lot, so we had found some revenues from different projects -- and I'll give you a good example. The North Bayshore Drive, by Margaret Pace Park, that had allocated $5 million and there's still at least, you know, a little over $2 million left in that project and it's completed. Commissioner Carollo: I actually am quite aware of it. I've been going through the numbers for Mr. Bockweg: So -- Commissioner Carollo: -- in preparation of our budget. Mr. Bockweg: -- that's -- those monies will be coming from projects that have been completed and/or scaling down other projects to -- with the Board approval, of course, ultimate Board approval, but a lot of the projects did have fat on them that we will have the money available to complete the project. Commissioner Carollo: And that's something that I mentioned in the last CRA meeting and I'm mentioning now. Twenty-five million carryover, 30 million carryover. Just not good. Have you identified the 10 point -- I'm sorry, the 9.5, the remainder that you need? I know there's 2 million, but have you identified them? And listen, I'm just doing my due diligence 'cause what I don't want is put x"amount of money and then all of a sudden, you know, have something that cannot be completed and it goes nowhere and all these great plans are just standing still. Mr. Bockweg: In answer to your question, Commissioner, the answer is yes. We have identified City of Miami Page 15 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 the remainder of the money, but I don't personally right now feel it's prudent to allocate all that money just as of yet because we are still in the preliminary stages of creating the planning and the permitting and the such, which ultimately it has to come before the Board for the approval for that money to be allocated. So the budget that is before you, which I'm assuming we'll be discussing later on this evening, does not have monies allocated towards this project because all -- right now we do not have the plans or the permits in place to actually start the construction of it. The million dollars that's before you now will be used for that planning and -- the planning and design stage of the facility. Commissioner Carollo: Right. It also mentions construction. But go ahead. I'll yield to my colleague. Commissioner Gort: My understanding is your $10 million is a projection. You don't know for sure how much that's going to cost you until you do the analysis, the study and so on. Mr. Bockweg: That's correct. Commissioner Gort: So it could be less, it could be more. Mr. Bockweg: Absolutely. Commissioner Gort: At the same time, the Omni -- the funds that we have coming in every year, how much of it is -- what percentage is committed already to the bond issues and to --? Mr. Bockweg: Well, a significant amount, Mr. Chair -- Commissioner Gort. A significant amount is already committed not only to the upcoming bond issuance for the port tunnel -- and again, we don't have those specifics yet so -- the specifics as far as what that amount is, which I'll be finding out actually tomorrow when I meet with the City's finance and the bond counsel. But also on top of that obligation, we do have the PAC obligation, the Performing Arts, which is $1.4 million and 35 percent of the TIF. That $1.4 million, we do not have that obligation anymore after the year 2012, but I can tell you that the projects that are in the budget now -- and I can give you a couple of examples. For example, the North Bayshore Drive, the waterline project, which is a grandiose project that I think has $6 million allocated to it, that is money that we can then reallocate because maybe, you know, the Board ultimately decides not to build the entire thing and spread it out over a year so that we can allocate some of those funds into the MEC. I can tell you that the $10.5 million or in this case, $9.5 million, will -- we have the money available in a budget if we deallocate some projects that are, like I said, complete or can be completed and will -- other TIF revenue, reoccurring revenue will not be associated -- with the possibility it will not be associated with this construction of the MEC. But again, we have not done that math as far as in the budget this year because that's something that I need to bring in front of the Board once the planning and design and we have a better idea of exactly what ultimately will be constructed in that facility. Commissioner Carollo: Mr. Chairman. Commissioner Gort: Yes, sir. Commissioner Carollo: Thank you. And just to continue -- and I don't want to commingle both too much because I want to make sure that I stay on point. But this is something that I discussed in the Overtown CRA meeting, what, a few days ago or so forth, where, yeah, you have budgeted and the expenses, but the expenses aren't really the expenses. And in all fairness, they -- you know, they're just showing that, yeah, we're going to allocate this money for this project, but the truth of the matter is that they're just showing the money there but the project doesn't get built or so forth. But anyhow, I don't want to commingle the two. I want to stay in point. Any my point is pretty simple. I just want to make sure that -- and I understand it's an estimate. It could be less than 10.5, but if we're going to construct something and we are behind something, I just City of Miami Page 16 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 want to make sure that we don't have something that just begins -- the construction just stays there and never gets done or never gets finished or we're not sure what to do. So that's why I bring that issue. And there's another issue that I would like to discuss, something that I heard the executive director say was that this would generate revenues. I think it sounds great. I think, yeah, you know what, in the future it could be potentially revenue generating. But do you have any pro forma? Do you have a break even schedule? How do you --? You know, when you say something like that, I want you to be able to substantiate that. Mr. Bockweg: Well, Commissioner, as part of the business plan, which was provided to your office a few weeks back, you can see that we have a pro forma based on 25 percent occupancy with projected operating costs, 50 percent occupancy, 75 percent, and 80 percent -- I'm sorry, 100 percent occupancy. That pro forma, it shows you gross numbers as far as -- as well as net numbers. Now, again, and in all scenarios, we are in the black. At 25 percent occupancy with our projections to operate that facility, we are still in the black I think in the neighborhood of $40,000, just a little under $40,000. And I think it's important to note that even with those projections, we are calculating responsibilities of operations and maintenance, which in most cases can be negotiated for the film people who are operating the facility to take care of because those contracts obviously have not been negotiated yet. It is the norm from the industry, from my understanding -- and Bert can expand on this -- when somebody comes into a facility and rents it out, they pay for water, they pay for electrical, they pay for the maintenance of it. They rebuild the facility the way it was when they came in and sometimes better. Those costs are also in our projections, and we still show a minimum 39,000 and change in profits, and that was part of the business plan that was provided. Commissioner Carollo: I did not see the business plan. I will have to ask staff if, you know, that came to my office or so forth. I'm going by the backup material and I don't see it here. I don't see -- in the backup material, I don't see a business plan. I don't see projections. And again, it caught my ear when you said that this was potentially a revenue generator or you're saying this will generate revenues. And again, I just wanted to see, you know, how do you come up with those numbers or how do you substantiate that. Once again, I'm not sure if you dropped it off or not or what. I can tell you this. I have not seen it and I will ask staff and it's not in the backup material. Mr. Bockweg: I can assure you, Commissioner, a business plan has been provided to each and every one of you, but I will make sure that another one is provided to you in case you do not have one. But I can assure you it was dropped off. And the reason why I did not put it as part of the backup information for this item is because this item specifically refers to the planning, design, and permitting costs -- anticipated costs for the facility. The overall -- when we start allocating monies into the facility for the ultimate construction as part of the pro forma and also the projected costs, which is also in the business plan, then I will -- if you'd like, I can be -- I can -- we'll put the business plan as part of the backup. But I will -- we will provide you -- we have an extra copy here, and we'll provide it for you. Commissioner Carollo: Well, I'm reading now the resolution. The resolution, in Section 2, in the second page clearly indicates the executive director is authorized to allocate funds in the amount of 1.87268 for the planning, design, construction and development of the MEC Studio. So it clearly stipulates construction and development, so again, I think that should have been included in the backup. And you used it as part of your argument, so if you used it as part of your argument, then I would think that, yes, it's important enough to have it as part of the backup so not only the Commissioners or the Board members can see it, so that everyone can see it. Mr. Bockweg: The business plan has been provided to the SMAK committee and anyone else that has asked for it. It is a public record. We have distributed -- Bert, maybe you can let me know how many we distributed. But I think it's close to 25 or so business plans. We are posting it on our Web site for review. It is not any secret or a secret document. The construction part of City of Miami Page 17 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 3. this, Commissioner, the only reason why the word construction is even in the reso -- and if the Board prefer that we take out the word construction, it really is not significant and the reason why is because we're not anticipating the million dollars to -- the planning and the design and permitting to cost a million dollars. We're only reflecting the exact amount that we purchased the back portion of the lot into committing that into the MEC. And that money that we received from FDOT when we purchased that money [sic], we wanted to make sure we reflected the entire amount into the MEC because ultimately we believe that's where it should go. So the construction part of it, it's just -- I mean, if you want (UNINTELLIGIBLE) construction, we're anticipating from that million dollars to maybe construct -- you know, maybe it will be a half a million left over or something like that, but at least it's money that's already allocated that show -- reflects the exact amount that we sold the back portion of the lot for. Commissioner Carollo: Listen, I've put my concerns on the record. I think that ultimately it's something that I could support. I do have some reservations for the reasons that I stated. Again, out of good faith, I would follow the will of this Board, but you know, like I said, I've stated my concerns on the record. Chair Sarnoff All right. Anybody else wishing to be heard? All right, then all in favor, please say Eye." The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. Chair Sarnoff. Anybody wishing to register a no? Okay. Thank you all very much for -- Mr. Hannon: Excuse me, Chair. Chair Sarnoff Yes, sir. Mr. Hannon: And just -- Chair Sarnoff Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Before the vote, just so you know, I misstated. It was not item number 4. It was item number 2. Is that adequate for you? Mr. Hannon: Yes, sir. And we are going to recess the meeting until what time, sir? Chair Sarnoff As soon as the City Commission meeting gets done. Commissioner Carollo: By the way -- Mr. Bockweg: Mr. Chair, the others are advertised for 6 o'clock or thereafter. Commissioner Carollo: -- just for the record, staff just text me we have never received a business plan for this MEC. Mr. Bockweg: Well, then I will contact my staff and I will see if I can have -- find the receipt that shows that we did but I will contact my staff, Commissioner. Commissioner Carollo: And for future references, it should be part of the backup so anyone could relate the item in question with the backup material. If you feel that it's important for Commissioners to see, I think it's important for everyone to be able to see. Thank you. Chair Sarnoff Thank you all for coming. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Applause. RESOLUTION City of Miami Page 18 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 cra-r-08-0008 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE OMNI REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENTAGENCY ("CRA") RATIFYING THE EXERCISE OF THE SECOND ONE (1) YEAR OPTION TERM UNDER THE AGREEMENT WITH SANSON, KLINE, JACOMINO & COMPANY, LLP TO PROVIDE EXTERNAL AUDITING SERVICES TO THE CRA, AT COST NOT TO EXCEED $11,000, ALLOCATING FUNDING FROM OMNI TAX INCREMENT FUND, "ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING," ACCOUNT CODE NO. 10040.920101.532000.0000.00000. File # 11-00675 07-28-2011 Cover Memo.pdf File # 11-00675 07-28-2011 Financial Form.pdf File # 11-00675 07-28-2011 Legislation.pdf File # 11-00675 07-28-2011 - Signed Legislation.pdf Motion by Board Member Gort, seconded by Board Member Dunn II, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: Commissioner Gort, Commissioner Dunn II, Chair Sarnoff, Commissioner Carollo and Vice Chair Suarez CRA-R-11-0044 Chair Sarnoff Now we're going to present an item number 3. Can we just parallel that we have an auditor, the same as we have with Southeast Overtown/Park West, Mr. Director? Pieter Bockweg (Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): That's correct. Commissioner Gort: Move it. Chair Sarnoff Is there a motion? Vice Chair Suarez: Second. Chair Sarnoff We have a motion by Commissioner Gort -- Commissioner Dunn: Second. Chair Sarnoff -- second by Commissioner Dunn. Any discussion, gentlemen? Hearing no discussion -- Commissioner Carollo: That's for the auditor. Vice Chair Suarez: Yes. Chair Sarnoff That's the auditor. All in favor, say aye." The Commissioners (Collectively): Aye. 4. CRA RESOLUTION 11-00677 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE OMNI REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENTAGENCY ("CRA") AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO EXERCISE THE City of Miami Page 19 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 CRA'S OPTION TO RENEW ITS LEASE WITH CITADEL ARENA CORPORATION FOR THE CRA'S OFFICE SPACE AT 49 N.W. 5TH STREET, MIAMI, FLORIDA, FORA PERIOD OF ONE YEAR, COMMENCING SEPTEMBER 1, 2011, AT THE RATE OF $6,250.00 PER MONTH PLUS THE FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT UTILITY BILL FOR THE SPACE OCCUPIED BY THE CRA, OR AN ANNUAL AMOUNT OF $75,000.00 ($7.50 PER SQUARE FOOT) PLUS ELECTRICITY, INCLUDING TAXES, ALL OTHER UTILITIES, AND 16 PARKING SPACES; FUNDS TO BE ALLOCATED FROM OMNI GENERAL OPERATING FUND, "RENTALS AND LEASES, "ACCOUNT CODE NO. 10030.920101.544000.0000.00000. File # 11-00677 07-28-2011 Cover Memo.pdf File # 11-00677 07-28-2011 Financial Form.pdf File # 11-00677 07-28-2011 Legislation.pdf File # 11-00677 07-28-2011 Signed Legislation.pdf Motion by Board Member Dunn II, seconded by Board Member Gort, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: Commissioner Gort, Commissioner Dunn II, Chair Sarnoff and Vice Chair Suarez Noes: Commissioner Carollo CRA-R-11-0045 Chair Sarnoff. Number 4, Mr. Director, is the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) lease. You'd say the same thing as you said at Southeast Overtown/Park West? Pieter Bockweg (Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Identical. Chair Sarnoff All right. Is there a motion? Commissioner Dunn: So move. Vice Chair Suarez: Second. Chair Sarnoff Motion by Commissioner Dunn. Vice Chair Suarez: Second. Chair Sarnoff Second by Commissioner Gort. Any discussion, gentlemen? Hearing no discussion, all in favor, please say Bye." Vice Chair Suarez: Aye. Commissioner Dunn: Aye. Commissioner Gort: Aye. Commissioner Carollo: No. Register a no. 5. CRA RESOLUTION 11-00678 A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE OMNI REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY ("CRA"), WITH ATTACHMENT(S), APPROVING AND ADOPTING THE CRA'S PROPOSED GENERAL OPERATING BUDGET AND TAX INCREMENT FUND City of Miami Page 20 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING OCTOBER 1, 2011 AND ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012; DIRECTING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO TRANSMITA COPY OF EACH BUDGET TO THE CITY OF MIAMI AND MIAMI-DADE COUNTY. File # 11-00678 07-28-2011 Cover Memo.pdf File # 11-00678 07-28-2011 Backup.pdf File #11-00678 07-28-2011 Legislation.pdf File # 11-00678 07-28-2011 Signed Legislation.pdf Motion by Board Member Dunn II, seconded by Board Member Gort, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: Commissioner Gort, Commissioner Dunn II, Chair Sarnoff and Vice Chair Suarez Noes: Commissioner Carollo CRA-R-11 -0046 Chair Sarnoff. CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) 5 is the budget. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Chair Sarnoff Just to put on the record so that you guys understand the amount of money Omni has. Omni can do three things. Omni can do the skills center or, if you prefer, the MEC (Miami Entertainment Complex). Omni can build the park that it's legally obligated to build, better known as Bicentennial, if you prefer, Museum Park, in an extremely scaled down version, not the Cooper Robertson plan. Commissioner Carollo: Have you seen the contract, though? It stipulates that we could scale down if we're in a financial struggling situation. However, once we are out of that financially struggling situation, we need to continue and build it that grandiose -- Vice Chair Suarez: I think we're still in a financially struggling situation. Commissioner Carollo: Right, but in a year -- Chair Sarnoff I'm not -- I haven't seen that. Commissioner Carollo: -- or two, we may have to go back -- and that's how I -- now it's been quite a few months since I read those contracts, but yeah. Chair Sarnoff I just read the contracts and I'm not finding -- the obligation we have, so that you understand what Bicentennial Park -- we have to build a promenade. Promenade is a million dollars. It's the roadway that gets us to the respective places. We're matching some money with obviously the FIND (Florida Inland Navigation District) money with the bay front -- for the bay. Commissioner Carollo: Yeah. Chair Sarnoff The part that I thought you would like, it is not a complicated park any longer. It'll have a lot of meeting space. It will be able to be used for events. It is an extremely -- I call it the dumb down plan. That dumb down plan will probably cost about $10 million. Unfortunately -- and I don't remember the num -- what's the underground -- the part we don't see is a huge number. Pieter Bockweg (Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): It's close to $5 million, Commissioner. City of Miami Page 21 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 Chair Sarnoff. Five million dollars of the ten million, believe it or not, is the plumbing, the electrical, the things you don't see. So five of ten million that you're going to say, where'd they spend the money. Mr. Bockweg: It's the water and sewer lines and stuff like that. Chair Sarnoff Right. So I want to give you a heads up where Omni's headed for that. You know that Omni has agreed, as it should have, as it justifiably will pay the money for the tunnel. Pretty much after that, that is the Omni CRA. Remember, we're paying the PAC (Performing Arts Center) payment. There's not much left. And the way I saw Omni, so you understand it, it was going to get three major things done, although I think he likes to say four because I think he'd like to say the office building, and I almost defunded him on that, but I get his point. It will build the MEC. It will do Bicentennial Park, and it will pay for the tunnel. And when you defund all these other projects and when you cut through all the chaff, that is what Omni is capable of doing. So is there a motion for -- Commissioner Dunn: So move. Chair Sarnoff There's a motion by Commissioner Dunn. Commissioner Gort: Second. Chair Sarnoff Second by Commissioner Gort. Any discussion, gentlemen? Hearing no discussion, all in favor, please say aye." Vice Chair Suarez: Aye. Commissioner Gort: Aye. Commissioner Dunn: Aye. Chair Sarnoff Aye. Commissioner Carollo: No. [Later...] Todd Hannon (Assistant Clerk of the Board): Excuse me, Chair. Chair, before you -- Chair Sarnoff Yes, sir. Mr. Hannon: -- adjourn, for item number 5, that is not modified? Chair Sarnoff I guess we modified as done by the Southeast Overtown/Park West. Mr. Hannon: So it pretty much carries over? Chair Sarnoff As modified. Mr. Hannon: Okay. Chair Sarnoff As modified. All right, gentlemen, motion to adjourn? Commissioner Carollo: So move. City of Miami Page 22 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 DISCUSSION ITEMS 6. 11-00680 Mr. Bockweg: One more, gentlemen. Chair Sarnoff. More CRA. Mr. Bockweg: Midtown. Vice Chair Suarez: Can I -- just on the modification, what you were saying, was that -- that was split in the two CRAB, right? Mr. Bockweg: Yes. Commissioner Dunn: Right. Vice Chair Suarez: Okay. I just want to make sure that it's not going to be now -- Mr. Bockweg: I'm not getting a thousand dollar car allowance. Vice Chair Suarez: -- $400 -- Commissioner Carollo: Midtown CRA. Chair Sarnoff. Is that like the City Manager APM (Administrative Policy Manual)? Vice Chair Suarez: I gave in on that one, though, by the way. I just wanted you to know that. Commissioner Gort: What's the Midtown CRA? There's nothing there. Chair Sarnoff I think he's got to approve something, though, right? Mr. Bockweg: Commissioners -- Chair Sarnoff. We got to approve something on Midtown. Vice Chair Suarez: Yes, yes. Mr. Bockweg: Commissioners, I apologize. The Midtown -- Vice Chair Suarez: Yes. Mr. Bockweg: -- budget real quick. Vice Chair Suarez: I'm confident that Commissioner Carollo is going to vote yes on this budget. Chair Sarnoff I don't know. Vice Chair Suarez: I probably shouldn't be but -- CRA DISCUSSION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S PRESENTATION. File # 11-00680 07-28-2011 Cover Memo.pdf City of Miami Page 23 Printed on 8/29/2011 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes July 28, 2011 7. 11-00681 ADJOURNMENT NO ACTION TAKEN CRA DISCUSSION DISCUSSION ON FEC SLIP File # 11-00681 07-28-2011 Cover Memo.pdf DISCUSSED Pieter Bockweg (Executive Director, Community Redevelopment Agency): Mr. Chair, I apologize. I do have -- at the last meeting, you had requested I provide you a brief presentation on the FEC (Florida East Coast) slip and the numbers, and I have a reso available if you want to move forward with that, but -- Chair Sarnoff. See, the City's already -- the City has already gone to the County and given us a res -- given a reso. I think that plan is dead. I don't think they're bringing it back. I never saw the City Attorneys opinion as to whether the bay bottom is ours. I suspect -- Commissioner Gort: It is ours. Chair Sarnoff Yeah. I suspect it is. Mr. Bockweg: And I've also written a letter to Commissioner Moss expressing our -- asking him to reconsider. Chair Sarnoff If you feel it necessary, Mr. Director, you bring it up at the next Omni meeting. Mr. Bockweg: Okay. Chair Sarnoff I don't have any problem getting it through, but at this late date -- Mr. Bockweg: Okay. Chair Sarnoff -- I don't think anybody has to sit through a presentation or another resolution. Motion to adjourn, gentlemen? The meeting was adjourned at 11:20 p.m. City of Miami Page 24 Printed on 8/29/2011