Details emerge on Adler Group's bid to redevelop city HQ on Miami River

Rendering of the Nexus Riverside Central (Inset: Adler Development President David Adler)

The Adler Group has big plans for city-owned land on the Miami River.

Responding to a request for proposals from the city, which is looking to replace its aging administrative headquarters, the developer said it would build the city new offices and construct a massive mixed-use development on the vacated riverfront site.

The city of Miami's Miami River headquarters

According to bid documents uploaded by the Next Miami, Adler's proposal for the 3-acre Miami River site entails erecting two 36-story towers with a combined 900 apartments, 20,000 square feet of retail space and 150 hotel rooms.

The project, dubbed Nexus Riverside Central, would be combined with Adler's neighboring development site to the north that it purchased for $14.25 million late last year. As detailed in the proposal, Adler is already close to beginning development of a 462-apartment residential tower called Nexus Riverside on that site with 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

To make the project happen, Adler has proposed a 90-year lease on the city's site with a present-day value of $70 million. In return, the city would gain 3 percent of all gross revenues generated from the development, according to the documents.

Adler would also partner with the city of Miami to finance and erect a new built-to-suit Class A office building with 375,000 square feet and 1,200 parking spaces.

The location of that building isn't yet specified, though Adler said in the bid that it would be willing to offer a piece of land at its Link at Douglas Station development site - which it's leasing from the county. Other suggestions include the Marlin Stadium and the Overtown Lyric Theater.

The city would have the option to stay in its current offices until the new building is completed under the proposal. If approved, Adler pegs the completion date for the city's offices in January 2020, while the mixed-use development as a whole would roll open its doors later in 2026.

The developer is competing against Panther Capital Management, which has proposed to buy the city's headquarters for $58.6 million and lease it back for roughly $25.6 per square foot on a triple-net basis.