April 24 2017 | Developer offers Miami-Dade a $300 million courthouse. Rent: $1.8 billion over 99 years
May 28, 2017A Miami developer wants to build a $300 million courthouse for Miami-Dade in exchange for an $18 million yearly lease stretching into the next century and the right to convert the existing historic tower into a for-profit complex with shops and offices.
The unsolicited proposal by developer Russell Galbut would deliver Miami-Dade a modern courthouse a few steps across Flagler Street from the existing one built in 1928 — a government building so old it once held the trial of Al Capone.
While Galbut’s Crescent Heights would pay for construction, it would gain two significant sources of revenue from Miami-Dade to try and turn a profit during the 99-year deal.
Crescent would collect at least $18 million a year in rent from Miami-Dade on the new courthouse, which would rise on what’s now a narrow parking lot at 54 W. Flagler Street. And Crescent would take over the existing courthouse, and refurbish it into Miami’s newest high-end office tower, with shops and restaurants on the ground floor at 73 W. Flagler St.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article146414734.html#storylink=cpy
Source & Photo Miami Herald
