Gary Nader's team to file bid protest for Miami Dade College site, asks court to rule on $2.3M bond required

Gary Nader's proposal for 520 Biscayne Boulevard and Gary Nader

In the heated battle to develop Miami Dade College's downtown site, Gary Nader's team plans to file a bid protest and has asked the court to rule on the appropriateness of a required $2.3 million bond, an attorney for the group told The Real Deal.

Miami Dade College has not yet awarded a contract in the months-long process to develop the 2.6 acre-site at 520 Biscayne Boulevard into a mixed-use project. But the college's evaluation committee has ranked the Related Group as the top bidder. Nader+Museu was ranked second.

And following a Miami Dade College evaluation committee meeting earlier this month, the college issued “a notice of intended decision” to recommend it negotiate a contract with Related. In the complicated public-private partnership process, that offers a window of opportunity to file a bid protest.

On Friday, Nader+Museu sent a letter to the college saying that it it intends to file a bid protest and was told it must issue a $2.3 million bond, Bill Riley a partner with GrayRobinson who represents Nader+Museu told TRD. “The formal written protest will prove that the recommendation was arbitrary, capricious and a clear departure from the essential requirements of the law…” the letter by Riley, obtained by TRD, said.

The bid protest and bond are due this coming Monday. Riley said the opportunity to protest is among four in the process that began with the solicitation.

Nader+Museu has now asked Miami-Dade Circuit Court to issue a temporary injunction. And in a hearing on Wednesday, it asked Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Bronwyn Miller for a stay to allow the court time to consider the appropriateness of the $2.3 million bond, Riley said.

“I don't see that that is in keeping with open, fair, competitive solicitations,” Riley said of the bond. “I think it is a chilling effect, at a minimum, on competitive solicitations. I think it is improper.”

The Wrap: New restaurant building could be coming to 1428 Brickell Avenue, Palm Beach mansion owner among wealthiest Russian bachelors…and more

Rendering of the restaurant space at 1428 Brickell Avenue

1. New restaurant building could be coming to 1428 Brickell Avenue [The Next Miami]

2. Palm Beach mansion owner among Russian wealthiest bachelors [Palm Beach Daily News]

3. Developers, historians, and activists war over the future of Little Haiti [Miami New Times]

4. World's largest flexible workspace company opens South Florida location [SFBJ]

- Sean Stewart-Muniz

Miami-Dade retail market softens, while Broward and Palm Beach thrive

Brickell City Centre

With the stunning transformation of Wynwood and the Design District in recent years, it's easy to believe that Miami's retail market is only headed up.

But a new second quarter report from commercial brokers Colliers International shows there's softness to be found in the Magic City's retail sector.

Meanwhile, Broward and Palm Beach counties enjoyed another healthy quarter of growing rents and tenant demand.

Miami-Dade

Lincoln Road

There's uncertainty in the air for Miami's retail market, which has boomed in recent years as neighborhoods like Wynwood, the Design District and Brickell became established shopping destinations.

For the second quarter, rental rents for Miami-Dade County as a whole actually fell 1.64 percent from the first quarter to an average of $31.25 percent, according to the Colliers report.

That could partly be explained by turnover in markets like Lincoln Road, Miami's most expensive shopping district in terms of rental rates. New vacancies on the high-profile strip, where asking rents average roughly $170 per square foot, are likely to have a much more significant impact on the market as a whole opposed to less-expensive neighborhoods.

But while rents across Miami-Dade took a slight hit, according to the report, absorption and vacancies continued to improve. Tenants ate up 175,200 square feet of space during the second quarter, pushing vacancy rates down to 3.1 percent.

With an absorption spike of nearly 20 percent, according to the report, there's still high demand for areas like Aventura, Coconut Grove, Brickell and Wynwood. That demand will have to keep up if the county expects to absorb the roughly 2.1 million square feet of retail space that's now under construction.

Decreasing rents did not seem to deter investors, who made a slew of big-ticket purchases in the past three months. The largest of those was Lightstone Group's $29 million purchase of a three-property portfolio in Miami Beach from Crescent Heights and Streamline Properties.

Broward

Promenade at Coconut Creek

Broward County boasted South Florida's biggest retail investment deal during the second quarter, when AEW Capital scooped up the Promenade at Coconut Creek shopping center for $85.6 million.

As noted in the Colliers report, population growth and a strong tourism industry are driving investors to buy into Miami-Dade's northern cousin. Broward, which hasn't relied on foreign investment as strongly as Miami, has also been shielded from fallout following Britain's vote to exit the European Union, as well as the continuing strength of the U.S. dollar.

On top of that, net absorption rose sharply from the stagnant first quarter to 391,300 square feet, while vacancies fell slightly to 5.9 percent, according to the report. As a result of that tightening, asking rents rose 2.86 percent to $19.8 per square foot.

To try and feed that demand, developers have another 393,500 square feet of retail space under construction, with new developments line the 650,000-square-foot Plantation Fashion Mall and the 500,000-square-foot Dania Pointe projects also in the pipeline.

Palm Beach

Lakeside Centre in Boca Raton and the Holiday Inn Express next door

Tenant demand is picking up in Palm Beach County, which is now boasting its lowest vacancy rate since 2008, according to Colliers.

Net absorption held mostly static at 284,700 square feet between the first and second quarters, but vacancies continued their downward slope to a flat 5 percent. Rental rates, on the other hand, budged upward only a fraction of a percent to $19.22 per square foot.

The report said one major driver behind Palm Beach's retail growth is investors and developers looking for favorable deals outside of already competitive markets.

Some of the most notable investment deals included California's Edens retail company buying out the Lakeside Plaza in Boca Raton for $40.5 million, while Craig Menin's Menin Development went on a small buying spree picking up two properties for a combined $58.6 million in a single week in June.

While new large-scale construction has been practically nonexistent in the county during recent quarters, the Alton Town Center development is slated to bring 400,000 square feet to Palm Beach Gardens, plus the Swinton Commons in Delray Beach and the Shops at Indian Trace near Palm Beach are both promising to deliver more than 100,000 square feet of new space each.

Gulf Greater Amberjack Season Closed for Rest of the Year

Gulf of Mexico Recreational Greater Amberjack Federal Fishing Season Will Remain Closed Through December 31, 2016

NOAA projects the Gulf of Mexico greater amberjack recreational fishery exceeded its allowable harvest. Therefore, the recreational fishing season will not reopen as scheduled on August 1, 2016, and will remain closed until December 31, 2016. The recreational season will reopen on January 1, 2017.

NOAA reminds fishermen that greater amberjack state water regulations may differ from federal water regulations. It is important for fishermen to check the applicable state regulations to determine whether harvest is allowed in state waters.

During the closure:

Recreational harvest or possession of greater amberjack is prohibited in federal waters. The closure applies in both state and federal waters for vessels that have a valid Gulf of Mexico reef fish charter/headboat permit.

This closure is necessary to protect the greater amberjack resource. The greater amberjack population is considered overfished (the population is too low) and limiting harvest is necessary for the population to recover.

NOAA Fisheries Southeast is pleased to announce the introduction of our Text Message Alert Program. The program will allow you to sign up to receive important fishery related alerts via text message. Text alerts you may receive include immediate fishery openings and closures, and any significant changes to fishing regulations that happen quickly.

How to opt-in

Sign up for related alerts for one or more of the following groups. Standard message & data rates may apply. You may opt-out at any time.

Gulf of Mexico Recreational Fisheries: Text GULFrecFISH to 888777

Gulf of Mexico Commercial Fisheries: Text GULFcommFISH to 888777

South Atlantic Recreational Fisheries: Text SATLrecFISH to 888777

South Atlantic Commercial Fisheries: Text SATLcommFISH to 888777

Caribbean Fisheries: Text CARIBFISH to 888777

Mutton Snapper Workshops Coming Up Soon

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is hosting several mutton snapper workshops this August to gather public input on potential management changes in state waters. FWC staff presented draft rules to the Commission at the June meeting and these rules will be brought back before the Commission for a final public hearing at the September meeting in St. Augustine.

Proposed rule changes to be discussed include:

Increasing the recreational, commercial, importation and sale minimum size limit from 16 to 18 inches total length.

Reducing the recreational bag limit from 10 to 3 fish per person within the 10-fish snapper aggregate bag limit.

Replacing the May through June commercial trip limit in all state waters with a 3-fish per person, per day limit from April through June in Atlantic state waters only.

Establishing a 300-pound commercial trip limit for the remainder of the year (July-March) in Atlantic state waters.

Staff will also be gathering public input on whether or not to create a closure at Western Dry Rocks, a major spawning site and popular fishing spot for mutton snapper located 11 miles southwest of Key West.

Schedule

Workshops will be from 6 to 8 p.m. EST and are scheduled as follows:

Aug. 10 – St. Petersburg – Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, 3rd Floor Conference Room, 100 8th Ave. SE

Aug. 11 – Stuart – City of Stuart Commission Chambers, 121 SW Flagler Ave.

Aug. 15 – Dania Beach/Fort Lauderdale – Hilton Garden Inn, 180 SW 18th Ave.

Aug. 16 – Duck Key – Hawks Cay, 61 Hawks Cay Blvd.

Aug. 17 – Key West – Key West Marriott Beachside Hotel, 3841 N. Roosevelt Blvd.

Aug. 18 – Key Largo – Murray Nelson Government Center, 102050 Overseas Highway

Investors buying homes in low-income section of Naples

River Park home listed for sale

A New York investment group has bought a dozen properties in the River Park area of Naples, raising concern that residents of the low-income neighborhood will have to look elsewhere for affordable housing.

Jonathan Shectman manages private hedge funds that have spent $8.2 million to buy 12 River Park properties, including nine single-family homes, two commercial lots, and an apartment complex with 96 units.

Shectman manages the hedge funds in his role as a portfolio manager at Axonic Capital LLC, a Manhattan-based advisory firm for real estate investors.

He told the Naples Daily News the investors in the River Park properties have not made plans to redevelop the neighborhood.

“We're not developers,” he told the newspaper. “We're buying apartment complexes and single-family homes all across Florida. We own in many areas of Naples. We look all over Naples.”

Shectman acknowledged that investors in the 96-unit rental complex, called Gordon River Apartments, have raised rents.

He also told the Naples Daily News that “we haven't been raising rents in a way that is any different from rents across the state, basically. There is no intent to move people out of the neighborhood.”

River Park was built in the 1960s as a segregated area for African Americans laborers to reside. It is where 90 percent of the African American population of Naples now resides.

“It's a low-income neighborhood that's historically been low-income, and these [housing] units are needed for the workforce in town,” Susan Golden, a planner who worked for the City of Naples for more than 20 years, told the Naples Daily News. [Naples Daily News] – Mike Seemuth

Publix acquisition would broaden entry into Virginia

Virginia is the seventh state Publix has added to its territory.

Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets has contingent plans to broaden its entry into Virginia by purchasing 10 supermarkets there branded as Martin's Food Markets.

The 10-store acquisition agreement depends on a ruling by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) unrelated to Publix.

Publix's deal with a unit of Ahold USA Inc. is contingent upon FTC approval of a pending merger of Ahold with grocery chain Delhaize Group.

Unless it buys 10 Martin's Food Markets sooner, Publix will open its first Virginia location in the Bristol area by year-end, making the state the seventh in the grocer's territory. Publix also plans to open a supermarket in Glen Allen, Virginia, in early 2018.

The 10 supermarkets would continue operating under the Martin's brand for a while but eventually will be converted to Publix stores, which will involve remodeling work.

Publix's expansion into Virginia follows its entry into North Carolina, where its first store in the state opened in February 2014.

Publix also has locations in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. [Tampa Bay Times] – Mike Seemuth