A November ballot referendum will ask voters to green-light a new operator for the Rickenbacker Marina on Virginia Key in Miami.<\/p>\n
PHOTO BY AL DIAZ<\/p>\n
adiaz@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
In the Nov. 3 election, voters in the city of Miami will be asked to decide three referendums<\/a>. Here is the Herald Editorial Board\u2019s recommendation on Referendum 3:<\/p>\n You can read our recommendations on Referendums 1 and 2 here.<\/a><\/p>\n Referendum 3: Voters are being asked to approve a lease of city-owned property on Virginia Key to redevelop existing Rickenbacker and Marine Stadium marinas.<\/p>\n Click to resize<\/p>\n Our recommendation: Vote NO<\/p>\n Why? This is a 10-year-old redevelopment deal to lease 27 acres of public waterfront property to private developers, a measure even some Miami commissioners weren\u2019t happy<\/a> about putting on the ballot. The two marinas on Virginia Key may need renovation \u2014 may even need it badly \u2014 but this proposal has dragged on for too long due to prolonged legal wrangling.<\/p>\n A judge ultimately ordered the city to put the proposal, which is a lease for 45 years plus two potential 15-year extensions, in front of voters this November. City-owned waterfront leases or sales need to be approved by voters through a referendum, an important safeguard for land that is limited and precious. However, voters are now in the untenable position of trying to decide on a deal that was first proposed in 2016.<\/p>\n Virginia Key LLC, a partnership involving RCI Group and Suntex Marinas, says it wants to invest $80 million in private money for the project. The project includes wet and dry boat storage, restaurants, retail, parking and waterfront improvements, and it would be done in an \u201cenvironmentally sensitive manner.\u201d The new operators would pay the city a minimum base rent of $2.2 million a year, plus a percentage of revenues.<\/p>\n The current Rickenbacker marina operator, Aabad Melwani, has been there for 40 years, and his family\u2019s lease expired back in 2016. That\u2019s not a good situation, either. He\u2019s on a month-to-month lease now, leaving his business in limbo and raising questions about whether it\u2019s time for someone else to manage the property.<\/p>\n Over a decade ago, when the city put out a bid request to redevelop the site, Melwani\u2019s team, Biscayne Marine Partners LLC, submitted a bid, but that bid was ranked second by the city\u2019s selection committee, behind Virginia Key LLC. Melwani\u2019s team sued over the bidding process and lost.<\/p>\n The city subsequently rejected all the proposals for the site and put a referendum on the ballot in 2021 asking voters to approve a no-bid lease for Melwani\u2019s team. Voters rejected the ballot item. And Virginia Key LLC sued the city.<\/p>\n In 2023, a judge ruled that the city had acted \u201carbitrarily and capriciously\u201d by rejecting all bids and favoring a lower-ranked bidder. That brings us to this summer, when commissioners, forced by the courts, voted reluctantly to put the Virginia Key LLC proposal on the ballot for voters to decide.<\/p>\n The delay might not have been fair to the bid winners, who might have had their project approved a long time ago, but ultimately this is about what\u2019s best for the public.<\/p>\n Gramps Getaway, a waterfront bar on Virginia Key, has become one of the most visible faces of the opposition. Even though Virginia Key LLC has said Gramps would be able to stay at the Rickenbacker marina, owner Adam Gersten has called this a \u201cfight for the soul<\/a> of Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a far amount of truth to Gersten\u2019s words. Miami is in danger of losing its sense of place and the things that make it special, including waterfront access. With the influx of the ultrarich during and after the pandemic, we have worried that our city could become a place that only the wealthy can enjoy. Gentrification and soaring property values have continued driving the city in that direction.<\/p>\n The marine redevelopment deal going before voters may truly provide a \u201cwaterfront for all,\u201d as the developers have been promising. That would be great. But then there\u2019s the question of the value being assigned to this land. Virginia Key LLC notes that there are two appraisals from early 2026 that determined the deal on the ballot goes \u201cabove fair-market value.\u201d The opposition takes issue with the methodology and independence of the appraisals.<\/p>\n As Miami Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela said at a commission meeting in June, \u201cI think this is a bad deal for the city.\u201d He said he didn\u2019t \u201cfeel comfortable with the numbers dating back 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n The answer to all of these questions \u2014 about the value of the land, any outdated conditions in the lease and the worry that Miami might lose another piece of its specialness \u2014 isn\u2019t to lock down the use of the land, no matter how many delays the bid winner has had to put up with.<\/p>\n The answer is harder than that: The city needs to figure out what makes sense for Virginia Key\u2019s marinas in the Miami of today. Once the land is leased, it\u2019ll be too late.<\/p>\n BEHIND THE STORY MORE <\/a> Who decides the political endorsements? <\/p>\n