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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOMNI CRA 2014-06-11 MinutesCity of Miami City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com Meeting Minutes Wednesday, June 11, 2014 12:00 PM Miami City Hall OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Marc David Sarnoff, Chair Francis Suarez, Vice Chair Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner Frank Carollo, Commissioner Keon Hardemon, Commissioner OMNI & MIDTOWN CRA OFFICE ADDRESS: 1401 N. Miami Avenue, 2nd Floor, Miami 33136 Phone: (305) 679-6868 www.miamicra.com OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes June 11, 2014 RESOLUTIONS 1. 14-00536 Present: Chair Sarnoff, Vice Chair Suarez and Commissioner Gort Absent: Commissioner Carollo and Commissioner Hardemon On the 11 th day of June 2014, the Board of Commissioners of the OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Miami met in regular session at Miami City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, Miami, Florida. The meeting was called to order by Chair Sarnoff at 12:17 p.m., and was adjourned at 12: 27 p.m. ALSO PRESENT: Pieter A. Bockweg, Executive Director, CRA Barnaby L. Min, Assistant General Counsel, CRA Todd B. Hannon, Clerk of the Board CRA RESOLUTION OMNI Community A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE OMNI Redevelopment REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENTAGENCY Agency ("CRA"), WITH ATTACHMENTS, AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF AN ECONOMIC INCENTIVE AGREEMENT, IN SUBSTANTIALLY THE ATTACHED FORM, WITH NR MAX MIAMI, LLC, A FLORIDA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MAX MIAMI PROJECT. 14-00536 Cover Memo.pdf 14-00536 Legislation.pdf 14-00536 Exhibit.pdf 14-00536-Submittal-Aerial Photo.pdf Motion by Vice -Chair Suarez, seconded by Board Member Gort, that this matter be ADOPTED WITH MODIFICATIONS PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: Commissioner Gort, Vice Chair Suarez and Chair Sarnoff Absent: Commissioner Hardemon and Commissioner Carollo CRA-R-14-0041 Chair Sarnoff All right, I want to welcome everybody to the June 11, 2014 meeting of the Omni CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency). I want to thank the board members for being here. I'll hand it over to the director (UNINTELLIGIBLE) item. Pieter Bockweg (Executive Director, Omni Community Redevelopment Agency): Thank you, Mr. Chair. Welcome, everybody. The item before you is something that the CRA has in its toolbox to -- what we feel will spur redevelopment, and, of course, revitalize the area. We have many tools in our toolbox; this is one of them, and I believe that this will spark more interest into the area for future growth. With that, I would like to introduce Miguel De Grandy and their developer to present the -- some terms as well as the project. Chair Sarnoff. I apologize, Mr. De Grandy. Go ahead. Miguel De Grandy: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, Commissioners. For the record, my name is Miguel De Grandy. My address is 701 Brickell Avenue, and I'm here on behalf of NR Max Miami, LLC (Limited Liability Corporation), and with me today is Nir Shoshani, the principal of NR Max Miami. Now, Commissioners, in over two and a half decades that the CRA has been in existence, there's been only minimal development in this area west of the boulevard. And I wanted to pass out some (UNINTELLIGIBLE). City of Miami Page 2 Printed on 6/19/2014 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes June 11, 2014 Chair Sarnoff.. You're violating the Clerk's first rule. Mr. De Grandy: Give it to the Clerk first. Chair Sarnoff No; that you're walking around without a mike. Vice Chair Suarez: The second rule is you give it to the Clerk first. Mr. De Grandy: That's the second rule, okay. Now, this area is mainly composed, as you could see, of industrial parcels and vacant land and is ideal for infill redevelopment, since it will not displace existing residents. The proposed project, which is sitting at the center of this underdeveloped area, will serve as a catalyst to spur positive development activity in this community by creating a critical mass of residential density, and in fact, this development will create roughly four times more residential units than those currently existing in this area of the CRA. Now, there have been other proposals to develop this area that have not come to fruition, but unlike those developers who have failed to deliver on their proposals, my client has a proven track record in this very same area. In fact, they took over an abandoned shell of a building that had been an eyesore in the Miami skyline and took the risk of getting it done. That failed development had been foreclosed in 2006 when the real estate bust began and it remained as a blight in this community until in 2012, my client took the risk of purchasing it and completing construction, and that development known as `Filling Station Lofts, " is now a few weeks from obtaining a TCO (Temporary Certificate of Occupancy); moreover, NR Investments -- and Mr. Shoshani had been involved in a development of over 5,000 residential units and approximately five million square feet of office space. And so, in short, you have an experienced developer who has proven that it could successfully develop this type of product under challenging circumstances in the same underdeveloped area. Now, let me take a minute to go through some of the highlights of the proposed agreement. The proposed development consists of a 37-story commercial and residential high rise with approximately 513 residential units, 650 parking spaces, and 10,000 square feet of commercial space. NR Max Miami has agreed to invest a minimum of $100 million in development cost to complete the project. And my client has also agreed to invest $2 million to provide community improvements. These community improvements are intended to significantly enhance pedestrian and vehicle access to 17th Street between 2nd Avenue and North Miami Avenue, and Nir, if you could put those down for a second so we could show the renderings. Under the -- these community enhancements as you could see will include improved sidewalks, landscaping, street level parking and a center median to allow for segregated two-way traffic. You can put them back up. Now, under the proposed agreement, the CRA does not have to expend any money unless my client fully performs on its obligations to develop the project as well as the community improvements, and moreover, the money that the CRA will pay comes directly from the incremental TIF (Tax Increment Fund) created by the project. The CRA will pay my client 50 percent of the incremental TIF; 25 percent tied to the development itself, the other 25 percent tied to the community improvements. The City will have full audit rights to verify both development costs and expenditures towards community improvements, and the developer will pay for the cost of the audit. The incremental TIF is subject to several conditions, including an annual cap of 750,000; a total cap of $9 million; approval by the County of the CRA budget with these payments and subordination to existing obligations of the CRA. The payment is also subject to reduction if the project does not commence and completed within the aggressive timeline set forth in the agreement. This creates the maximum incentive for the developer to commence and complete the development with the agreed upon timeline. And finally, my client has also agreed to enter into a first source hiring agreement for the construction of the project, setting a goal of 30 percent of new job opportunities for low- and moderate -income residents of the CRA for the City. And so in conclusion, Commissioners, this agreement with an experienced, proven developer will become the catalyst for future growth in this underdeveloped area of the CRA; will provide economic development in jobs in the community; and will serve to significantly increase the City's tax base. City of Miami Page 3 Printed on 6/19/2014 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes June 11, 2014 And with that, I thank you for your consideration, and I'm available to answer any questions you may have. Vice Chair Suarez: Move it for discussion. Chair Sarnoff Motion by Commissioner Suarez. Board Member Gort: Second. Chair Sarnoff Second by Commissioner Gort. Before we get to that, can I ask -- I know we've discussed this earlier, and I was looking at the agreement; it's paragraph 19, page 11. And I think I know what the intent is and we can approve it if it just says, `And shall not exceed 50 percent of the incremental TIF received from the subject property by the CRA," in case there's any ambiguity there as to whose TIF that has been created. Mr. De Grandy: That's page 11, Commissioner? Chair Sarnoff Page 11, Mr. Grandy, paragraph 19; it is the fourth line down -- might be fifth line down. If you see it, the sentence or -- not the sentence -- paragraph -- TIF received. It just should say, `from the subject property." Mr. De Grandy: Yeah, I -- that's correct; that's no problem. Board Member Gort: Very important. Mr. De Grandy: No problem. Chair Sarnoff Okay, and now Commissioner Suarez. Vice Chair Suarez: Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's an interesting mathematical certainty or quirk: A million times zero is zero, a billion times zero is zero, and a trillion times zero is zero. So when you have a project or when you can develop a project utilizing the CRA, which is created specifically to develop projects, to redevelop an area, and you're using its own revenue, in essence, to subsidize and to kind of finance particularly beautiful streetscapes, I mean, it just -- it makes logical sense; that's what the CRA was created for. I don't know why certain people sometimes are critical of TIF financing arrangements; I'm not exactly sure why. Why else would you have a CRA if not to do these kinds of financing structures? I mean, I don't see other -- any other purpose for it. It's hard to incentivize people to build if you give them no incentives, so, you know, I think it's going to be a beautiful project. It's -- you know -- the renderings are gorgeous. The area needs -- obviously, from this schematic, it's very clear that the area is starving for development and -- you know -- and it's going to continue to offshoot revenue. Not only is it going to produce the 50 percent that we're going to capture throughout the years of the existence of the CRA, but -- you know -- whatever offshoots beyond that. So it's going to increase our tax base, which we can use for a variety of other services, so, you know, I obviously support the project and I wish you luck. Chair Sarnoff Commissioner Gort. Board Member Gort: Let me tell you, I wish we had a CRA in my district; I could sure use it, 'cause I think the Planning Department needs to look at the City overall. And this -- at one time -- maybe 30 years ago, this was a very active area where you had a lot of manufacturing, a lot of different type of industry like the garment industry used to be on Northwest 2ndAvenue. They moved away with the changes that have taken place with the globalizations and the changes of business and transportation. Miami -Dade County, most of the major people are moving to the west because of transportation, as well, and I think this area needs it. I think this is one of the City of Miami Page 4 Printed on 6/19/2014 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes June 11, 2014 NON AGENDA ITEM(S) NA.1 14-00591 area that needs to do -- and that improves all the other neighborhoods. I can tell you right now, Allapattah is receiving individuals that want to invest there because what took place in Brickell, what took place in Midtown, what took place in Wynwood. That is moving west and that is very helpful. So I don't have any problem with this. I think the area needs it, and we need to make some changes in some of the other neighborhoods with that that's taking place. Chair Sarnoff All right, I'm going to put up a public hearing. Is there anyone from the public wishing to be heard on the CRA agenda that I --? Hearing none, seeing none, coming back to this Commission, any further discussion? Hearing no further discussion, all in favor, please say "aye." The Board (Collectively): Aye. Todd B. Hannon (Clerk of the Board): As amended. Chair Sarnoff Sorry, again? Board Member Gort: As amended. Vice Chair Suarez: As amended. Mr. Hannon: As amended. Chair Sarnoff As amended, as amended. CRA RESOLUTION OMNI Community A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE OMNI Redevelopment REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY Agency ("CRA") INCREASING THE AUTHORITY OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO EXPEND UNASSIGNED DISCRETIONARY FUNDS BELOW A CERTAIN THRESHOLD. Motion by Vice -Chair Suarez, seconded by Board Member Gort, that this matter be ADOPTED PASSED by the following vote. Votes: Ayes: Commissioner Gort, Vice Chair Suarez and Chair Sarnoff Absent: Commissioner Hardemon and Commissioner Carollo CRA-R-14-0042 Chair Sarnoff I have a pocket item I'd like to bring up to you, and that would be to allow the CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) director -- he has presently, I understand $4,500 in authority. I'd like to increase that to $10, 000 in authority. I think if you look at the budget, if you look at the way this CRA operates -- Vice Chair Suarez: Move it. Chair Sarnoff -- Commissioner Gort, Commissioner Suarez -- Vice Chair Suarez: Move it. Chair Sarnoff Thank you. City of Miami Page 5 Printed on 6/19/2014 OMNI Community Redevelopment Agency Meeting Minutes June 11, 2014 ADJOURNMENT Board Member Gort: Second. Chair Sarnoff We have a motion, we have a second; any discussion? Public hearing; anyone wishing to be heard? Seeing, hearing none, corning back to this Board. All in favor, please say "aye." The Board (Collectively): Aye. Chair Sarnoff. Thank you very much, gentlemen. Pieter Bockweg (Executive Director, Omni Community Redevelopment Agency): Thank you. Miguel De Grandy: Thank you. Vice Chair Suarez: Good luck. Board Member Gort: Miguel, good luck. Chair Sarnoff. Congratulations. Mr. De Grandy: Thank you. The meeting adjourned at 12: 27 p.m. City of Miami Page 6 Printed on 6/19/2014