Miami-Dade commissioners giving away land to favored groups

Lede

If Abraham Lincoln had the Homestead Act — the 1862 measure that gave 160 acres of public land to almost any American who agreed to steward it — Miami-Dade County has the Homestead Town Center.

In a neighborhood where development sites sell for $1 million an acre, the 24-acre Homestead Town Center went for just $12.4 million in a no-bid deal in which the county shed so-called surplus land. The new owners are a pair of would-be developers planning an entertainment venue with restaurants inside refurbished cargo containers.

Theirs is just one of three recent surplus deals since 2023, and by far the most expensive. The other two cost their developers nothing at all, just like Lincoln's plots. In all three, favored groups seemed to take control of properties without competition and without much scrutiny. In exchange, the no-bid winners are promising to build hundreds of affordable and workforce housing units or generate hundreds of jobs.

County commissioners authorized the Homestead sale, ignoring warnings from the Miami-Dade Inspector General that county staff had failed to obtain independent appraisals on the value of the land.

The watchdog also determined that the new owners, Ahmand Johnson and Jossua Parini, had been less than forthcoming about how they plan to finance their project and who their financial backers are.

These no-bid surplus land deals are made possible thanks to a county administrative order approved by the county commission in 2022 that authorizes any Miami-Dade official to back a developer's proposal for underutilized government properties, according to an affordable housing builder who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Real Deal agreed to conceal the developer's identity because their firm is currently building affordable housing projects for Miami-Dade County and vying for other development agreements.

"People are going straight to the commissioners and cutting these types of deals. There is no advertisement for selling the land and there is no competitive process. You only hear about them once they are placed on a county commission agenda. By then, the deals have already been cooked." — Affordable housing builder, on condition of anonymity

The county commission appears to be circumventing Miami-Dade and state law requiring competitive bidding for government contracts, Robert Jarvis, a Nova Southeastern University ethics law professor, told The Real Deal.

"It sounds illegal. It could be that these projects make the most money for the county or provide the most benefit for residents, but when you don't have a competitive process, the county doesn't know if it is getting the best possible deal." — Robert Jarvis, Nova Southeastern University ethics law professor

Hundreds of pages of county documents and video recordings of county commission meetings for the three deals analyzed by TRD show how the agreements sailed through even when a handful of elected officials raised concerns about the planned projects.

Deal 1 — Homestead Town Center

By all accounts, the new owners of Homestead Town Center, the first of the three deals, are not developers. Johnson is a Miami-based sports and entertainment lawyer who handles contractual and transactional matters for professional athletes and musicians. Parini is an events producer and party promoter, also based in Miami.

Despite having zero experience in building construction, the duo snagged approval and negotiated a bargain price in 2023 by wooing elected officials with the pitch that their containerized entertainment park, which also included a mini-golf course, a covered amphitheater, a dog park and playgrounds, would generate hundreds of new jobs.

Johnson's and Parini's Homestead Town Center proposal received the most scrutiny of the three deals, yet county commissioners still approved it by an overwhelming majority with a vote of 7-1. Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins voted against the deal after grilling Homestead Town Center's lobbyist, Miami-based government affairs lawyer Albert Dotson, about his clients' credibility, video of the July 6, 2023 county commission shows.

County Commissioner Kionne McGhee, who represents the district where the 24 acres are located near a U.S. Air Force base, advocated for the deal, which hinged on Homestead Town Center's principals showing they had the financial capacity to develop the park. The project would cost an estimated $18.7 million to build, county documents state.

McGhee did not respond to multiple text messages and emails to his spokesperson requesting comment. Johnson initially told TRD that he would only respond to questions in writing. He did not respond to follow-up requests for comment after TRD emailed him a list of questions. Dotson, Homestead Town Center's lobbyist, declined comment.

Before the vote, then-Miami-Dade Inspector General Felix Jimenez provided county commissioners with a recap of his office's audit of the proposed contract. Johnson and Parini had agreed to a stipulation that they would not seek to build multifamily units on the site for a period of 15 years, yet they were relying on a $16 million equity investment from Montvale, New Jersey-based Cider Moon Investment Group, to cover the $12.4 million purchase, Jimenez's report noted. Cider Moon, which would end up owning 50 percent of Homestead Town Center, focuses on apartment projects.

Jimenez also pointed out that Homestead Town Center's initial proposal stated that the container park would operate at a loss without an apartment component. The ownership structure of the Homestead Town Center entity managed by Johnson and Parini was also shrouded in mystery, the inspector general found. What's more, Jimenez criticized county staff for only relying on the Miami-Dade property appraiser's valuation of the 24 acres to determine the $12.4 million sale price. Appraisals that valued the land based on what could be developed on the property would have been useful to obtain, the report said.

In response to Commissioner Cohen Higgins' inquiries about Jimenez's findings, Homestead Town Center lobbyist Dotson insisted Johnson and Parini were the sole decision makers, and that Cider Moon was merely a limited partner. He also boasted that the project would be successful without including apartments.

"We absolutely believe that it is viable. [Cider Moon] knows exactly what the restrictions are. They have submitted a letter of intent to invest in this project as it is presented today." — Albert Dotson, Homestead Town Center lobbyist

Yet a year later, on July 2, the county commission voted 12-0 to amend the purchase agreement and allow Homestead Town Center's principals to explore adding workforce and affordable housing to the project, meeting minutes show. Johnson and Parini also got a five month extension on their due diligence period, which expired in November. They still have not closed on the site.

That may be because Johnson and Parini didn't end up partnering with Cider Moon. Chris Mooney, Cider Moon's managing partner, recently told TRD via email that his firm was never a partner in Homestead Town Center: "It was just a proposal, but it ended up not working out and [we] never actually got involved in the project."

Deal 2 — Terra's South Dade multifamily project

Cohen Higgins played an integral role in backing a no-bid surplus land deal in her district with Terra, the Coconut Grove-based development firm led by David Martin. In 2023, Terra submitted an unsolicited proposal to Cohen Higgins' office to build a 500-unit workforce housing project on 10.6 acres of county-owned surface parking lots near the South Dade Government Center in Cutler Bay.

Instead of seeking competitive bids, Cohen Higgins' office and the Miami-Dade Internal Services Department began the process of determining if the parking lots could be deemed surplus land, county documents show. While 7.2 acres could be used for redevelopment, the remaining 3.4 acres could not be made available because the county uses that portion to store equipment.

Roughly a year later, the county and Terra agreed to enter into a lease. The developer would get the 7.2 acres for 99 years to build a 352-unit workforce housing project, with an option to build another 322 affordable housing units on the remaining acreage if Miami-Dade stopped using the land within five years, county records show. An independent appraisal by the county valued the entire 10.6 acres at $15 million, but Terra would not be required to pay for the land for a while.

Instead, Terra agreed to pay the county up to $227 million in rent over the life of the 99-year lease if the developer builds all 674 apartments. The firm also agreed to make an initial rent payment of $5.7 million within 60 days of Terra obtaining construction financing, a draft of the lease shows. Once the 352-unit first phase is completed, Terra would make an annual rent payment to the county of $122,500 and subsequent annual payments would grow by three percent every year.

Terra's proposal shows that a project with at least 500 units would generate an estimated $3.2 million in annual net operating income the first year that tenants move in. The net operating income grows to $9.8 million by the sixth year.

Through a spokesperson, Terra's Martin declined to comment about the proposal.

County memos initially showed Miami-Dade would receive $27 million over the 99-year term if only the first project got built, and another $71 million in rental income should the second development move forward. But by the time the lease agreement was placed on a county commission committee agenda on Sept. 4 of last year, the rent projections had grown by $129 million over the life of the 99-year lease, county documents show.

However, county staff, Cohen Higgins' office and Terra did not provide an explanation for the disparity between the initial proposal and the final version. During the September committee hearing County Commissioner Eileen Higgins, whose district includes downtown Miami and Brickell, two of the hottest neighborhoods for development in Miami-Dade, criticized Terra's proposed annual lease payments as "outrageously low."

"I think this is a fantastic project on a fantastic piece of land, but I am not convinced the money we should receive is relative to deals done on much smaller pieces of land." — Commissioner Eileen Higgins, suggesting Terra set aside more units for affordable housing

Another county commissioner, René Garcia, also had a problem with the lack of affordable housing units when Terra's lease agreement came before the full county commission for approval a month later on Oct. 1.

"I think moving forward we should have more of an affordable housing component. I don't want to break the deal here, but I think we can get a little more for our community when we look at these types of projects." — Commissioner René Garcia

To appease her colleagues, Cohen Higgins and Terra agreed to reserve 10 percent of the apartments for low-income residents. The county commission voted 10-1 to approve the Terra lease agreement.

In an emailed statement to TRD, Cohen Higgins defended the no-bid deal by noting housing affordability in Miami-Dade is at "crisis levels" and a "top concern" for Miami-Dade residents:

"The benefits you ask? Transforming a parking lot used for Covid testing into affordable homes for families while creating a new revenue stream for the county." — Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins (statement to TRD)

Deal 3 — Miami River project (Goldstein Kite Environmental)

The third no-bid surplus land deal involves Miami-Dade County giving away a half-acre lot on the Miami River for free to Goldstein Kite Environmental, a Vero Beach-based firm that focuses on cleaning up contaminated sites and flipping the land for development. The Miami River is one of the hottest neighborhoods for waterfront development in South Florida. Planned projects on tap include Faena Residences, a 440-unit condominium by developer Alan Faena, Fortune International Group and KAR Properties, and One Brickell Riverfront, a three-tower condo complex by Two Roads Development and Newgard Development Group.

Goldstein Kite Environmental submitted a proposal to build an eight-story project with 104 affordable and workforce housing units to County Commissioner Marleine Bastien's office in 2023, shortly after the firm paid $4.5 million for 2 acres that abuts the county-owned half acre at 2750 Northwest 20th Street. The properties are in Bastien's district.

In exchange for paying nothing for the land, Goldstein Kite Environmental would reserve 10 percent of the planned project's apartments for "extreme low-income" renters, and another 15 percent of the units for tenants who earn between 60 percent and 100 percent of the county's area median income, which is $79,400 annually, county records show. Another 25 percent of the units would be designated workforce housing. The remainder of the apartments would be market rate. Goldstein Kite Environmental would be responsible for obtaining government grants to clean up its 2 acres and the county's half-acre lot so the vacant assemblage can be redeveloped.

Bastien and Michael Goldstein, an environmental lawyer who is Goldstein Kite's CEO, did not respond to phone messages seeking comment and emails with questions about the no-bid deal.

Yet, it appears Goldstein Kite Environmental has zero experience in residential development. Projects listed on the firm's website shows that Goldstein Kite Environmental conducted soil removal and clean-up duties on a 17-acre site in North Miami Beach on behalf of a property owner who bought the land for $2.2 million in 2012. The site, after it was cleaned up and rezoned for residential use, was sold two years later for $17 million. In 2022, Goldstein Kite Environmental cleaned up another development site and got the property rezoned for a mixed-use project with up to 300 apartments in Miami. The firm then sold the site to multifamily developer the Richman Group.

Despite Goldstein Kite Environmental's lack of experience actually developing buildings, Bastien pushed hard for the firm at the county commission's meeting on Sept. 9 of last year:

"The housing crisis demands our immediate attention. This project has been in the works for over a year and letting it slip away would be a missed opportunity." — Commissioner Marleine Bastien

The county commission voted 12-1 to approve the no-bid deal.

Typically, no-bid government deals are justifiable if they're meant to address a true emergency, like clearing debris after a hurricane, or if a firm is the only vendor that can provide a particular service or product to a governmental agency, Nova Southeastern's Jarvis said.

"There may be an affordable housing crisis. But it is not an emergency. It could be a case of 'thank God someone is taking this property off our hands and it is not just sitting there unused.' But a bidding process is designed to uncover if someone else can come in and give you a better deal." — Robert Jarvis, Nova Southeastern University ethics law professor

Cast of characters

Underlying authority

The mechanism enabling these no-bid deals is a County administrative order approved by the Board of County Commissioners in 2022 that authorizes any Miami-Dade official to back a developer's proposal for underutilized government properties. Statutory backstops the County uses to convey or lease land below market value include §125.35 Fla. Stat. (general sales/leases), §125.379 Fla. Stat. (affordable-housing conveyances), and §125.38 Fla. Stat. (conveyances at less than fair market value to qualifying entities including governments and not-for-profits).