Miami-Dade Balks At $400M Price Tag For PortMiami Fuel Site
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Cava rejected a $400M deal to purchase a vital fuel yard for PortMiami amid a potential redevelopment into luxury condos.
Miami-based Related Group, Chicago's HRP Group and New York private investment firm Raycliff Capital, which planned to redevelop the site, are now facing a potential eminent domain, which Cava said county lawyers will try to utilize to force a lower sale price, the Miami Herald reported, citing a Friday memo written by Cava.
The deal would have required 20 years of revenue from fuel sales and other port operations fees to pay off.
"In the end, the price tag is simply too high," Cava wrote.
The depot, which the port relies on to keep cargo and cruise ships running, is on Fisher Island, which is home to one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in America.
The nearly 10-acre site at One Fisher Island Drive went up for sale in 2024, and when the county didn't buy it, the HRP Group, Related Group and Raycliff Capital team did for $180M.
The developers signed a short-term lease with the seller, Denver-based energy storage, terminaling and transportation company TransMontaigne Partners, to continue operating the facility until August 2027.
In the meantime, Related, Raycliff and HRP, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, were planning the site's redevelopment.
The group submitted preapplication plans to the county in April, seeking to rezone the site and build two 12-story buildings with 49 luxury condo units on more than 5.5 acres, the South Florida Business Journal reported.
The remaining 4 acres would be developed with recreational, lifestyle and service facilities for the Fisher Island Community Association.
That agreement is now under fire after the association and the Fisher Island Club filed to sue HRP, claiming it prevents the sale of the 4 acres to any party other than the association unless they sign off on it, according to the suit filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court in May.
The suit says the fuel storage site should be relocated in or around PortMiami and that the terminal poses a safety hazard to residents.
The move came barely 24 hours after Miami-Dade County Chief Operating Officer Jimmy Morales and PortMiami Director Hydi Webb — who negotiated the deal on behalf of the county — were forced out by the mayor.
Cava and Morales didn’t respond to requests for comment.
