HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Alberto Milo-Letter regarding development of property 174 E Flagler Street (Olympia Theater)El RELATED
Submitted into the public
record f r ite (s)
on kb ! l i) . City Clerk
October 24, 2017
Daniel Rotenberg
Director
City of Miami
Dept. of Real Estate and Asset Management
444 SW 2"d Avenue, 3'd Floor
Miami, Fl. 33130
Re: Development of property located at 174 E. Flagler Street Miami, FI, ("Olympia Theatre")
Dear Mr. Rotenberg:
On May 9, 2017, Related Urban submitted a "non -binding" proposal for the formation of a Public -
Private Partnership between the City of Miami ("City") and RUDG, LLC ("Related Urban").
Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions regarding our proposal, so I wanted to take this
opportunity to clarify the proposal.
The City signed an agreement with Olympia Center, Inc. over five years ago to renovate and operate the
theatre. The agreement is now expired. This organization was given control of the theatre under the
premise that they would obtain the funding to renovate the theatre, unfortunately they have failed to do
so. The City has contributed $3,000,000 for the renovations of the theatre in accordance with the
agreement.
As you know, the facade of the Olympia Theatre has been deteriorating and falling off for many years.
The City has had scaffolding around the property for over a decade. The property is in major need of
capital improvements. In addition, the theatre and the affordable housing units are not generating enough
revenue to support their operations.
Our proposal is based on adding workforce housing units onsite to create a mixed -income development
under the City's Attainable Housing Ordinance passed earlier this year. This approach would generate
capital improvements dollars to renovate the theatre; more importantly, since the City would share in
the revenues of the nixed -income building, there would be an established revenue stream to help support
the operations of the theatre.
Related Urban understands that the Olympia Theatre is an important historical community asset that
needs to be preserved, which is precisely why we submitted the proposal to the City. Our intentions have
never been to demolish the theatre. Instead we want to create a mixed -income mixed -use development
that will bring together cultural arts with affordable and workforce housing. There is a tremendous need
for affordable and workforce housing in the downtown area which has been well documented.
315 South Biscayne Boulevard • Miami, Florida 33131 ♦ T: (305) 460-9900 F: (305) 460-9911
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Submitted into the public
record fort itg (s) D1. 5
on t a lz �n . City Clerk
Related Urban is ready and willing to collaborate with the City and the community at large on this
important project; therefore, to allow for that dialogue to occur, we will withdraw our current propo,saL
In the meantime, we will continue to have discussions with community stakeholders to obtain their
input. This will also allow the City more time to determine how it would like to proceed.
Sincerely,
zif/
Alberto Milo, Jr.
Senior Vice President and Principal
315 South Biscayne Boulevard ♦ Miami. Florida 33131 ♦ T: (305) 460-9900 F: (305) 460-9911