MIAMI | 520 Biscayne Boulevard | FT | 50 + 38 + 12 FLOORS

[colemonkee]

I think either proposal - Nader or Related/Arquitectonica - will be a great addition to the skyline. I personally prefer the base of the Nader proposal, but like the glassiness of the shorter Arquitectonica tower. Either one is good.

The Oppenheim proposal was really cool, but that design has already been done - and done very well - in Beijing.

[chris08876]

Covin back in: Miami Dade College to negotiate with three proposers for downtown site

In a surprising move, Miami Dade College’s board of trustees voted Tuesday to negotiate with three — not two — proposers for its prime downtown site, adding third-ranked Gregg Covin Development/Oppenheim Architecture to the mix, along with the Related Group and the Nader team.

The unanimous vote overruled the college’s evaluation committee’ decision last month to begin negotiations with the two topped ranking bidders, Related and Nader. It means the college will negotiate separately, simultaneously, with each of the three. The process will “probably take much more time,” Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padron told the board during the morning meeting.

Overall, the proposals’ ideas range from condo towers that would soar 75, 57 or 50 stories; a 39-story office tower; a 300-key or 100-key hotel, sculpture gardens, restaurants, a cultural center, museum and conference center, all at the college’s 520 Biscayne Boulevard site. For months, the college has been soliciting a developer to enter into a public/private partnership for the 2.6-acre parcel, currently used as a surface parking area at the college’s Wolfson Campus. The proposals are geared to include a cultural center with a 1,600-seat performing arts theater, a conference center that can house 3,000 people, a museum measuring at least 100,000 square feet, and parking. Board members Marili L. Cancio and Armando J. Oliveira were among the most vocal in their preference to negotiate with three proposers. Before the vote, Cancio said she was “frustrated not to be more involved in the process,” due to rules governing public/private partnerships. “Personally, I would feel more comfortable negotiating with three,” she told board members. Padron and Helen Aguirre Ferre, chairman of the board, as well as other board members, ended up agreeing. “In the end, I think that it will be to the maximum benefit of the college,” Padron said.

Board members also expressed concern about completing negotiations, and then having a real estate downturn derail the project.

Related Group had come out on top among the four bidders in the committee’s ranking last month, with 470 points; Nader+Museu | Limited Liability Limited Partnership’s proposal came in second with 440 points; Gregg Covin Development/Oppenheim Architecture’s bid earned 405 points; and Pi Art Tech and Trade Center at MDC, LLC ranked last with 330 points and was eliminated from the process.

Evaluation committee members had decided that Covin and Oppenheim would stay in the game in the event that negotiations fell through with the top two bidders.

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http://therealdeal.com/miami/2016/04....HpZ6ZZDW.dpuf

[dave8721]

Turns out that MDC might not to want manage a big museum which is hurting the Nader proposal

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...e78742387.html

Miami Dade College wary of building big art museum

When Gary Nader first approached Miami Dade College to discuss building condo towers and a massive museum across the street from the Freedom Tower, he believed an offer to donate hundreds of works of art would blow college officials away. And last fall, when the college invited developers to compete against him, he was confident a collection he valued at $60 million would put him head and shoulders above any competitor.

But on Thursday, the mercurial art dealer and collector was stunned to learn that his promise to build a massive Latin American art museum on Biscayne Boulevard might not be the selling point he had once imagined. Instead, it might be a problem.

“We have serious concerns about the future feasibility and operational expenses for a facility like a large museum with valuable works of art,” college Provost Rolando Montoya said.

Nader, who had spent the past 18 months telling anyone who would listen that he would create an art museum that would rival any across the globe, was floored. After all, the college had required bidders — all of whom intend to turn a profit by also building some combination of commercial, hotel and residential towers on the site — to submit development proposals that included a 3,000-seat conference center, 1,600-seat theater, and a museum around 100,000 square feet.

“Shall I come to you with a new proposal with no museum? No donation?” Nader said. “I don’t know what to do.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca...#storylink=cpy

[chris08876]

I'm still banking on Related's bid going through.

[chris08876]

Legal Fight Continues Over Valuable Miami Parking Lot

The downtown Miami skyline is dotted with cranes. New developments are popping up everywhere. But there’s one notable exception.

Across from the American Airlines Arena and next door to the Freedom Tower is a very valuable plot of land that has been the source of a long legal battle that tax dollars are tied into because of one wealthy man’s vision of what it could be.

Miami-Dade College owns the parking lot that it says was valued three years ago at $125 million.

Gary Nader has one of Miami’s most impressive art collections with works from artists like Botero, Matisse and Picasso.

The Botero sculptures outside clearly mark his Wynwood gallery. But the gallery owner doesn’t have a Latin American museum to display his art.

He says he’s invested four million dollars of his money in an effort to change that. He had an architect come up with a plan.

“It’s a super avant garde building,” Nader told us. “It would be a project that would be visited by everybody who comes to this city without a doubt.”

For years, Nader has had his sights set on building his museum along with a condo tower and retail shops where the parking lot is now.

“If you ask me why there, it’s a prominent space and a collection like this deserves a prominent space,” Nader said.

He put in an unsolicited bid to develop the land. Miami Dade College then opened up a bidding process.

Months later in late 2016 Miami Dade College rejected Nader’s plan.

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https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/...485626411.html