With Stadium Talks Muted, Big Plans Being Considered For Seaport Land

With a soccer stadium at PortMiami apparently no longer an option, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez says he’ll come back with a new plan for the seaport’s under-used but highly valuable southwest corner.
“It’s one of the most valuable properties left in Miami,” he said at Tuesday’s commission meeting. “I have some ideas that I’d rather let be right now and not put it out there.”
The mayor theorized that the plan for the southwest corner of the port could involve “some kind of mix of uses” – including “commercial spaces” maybe tied to the port in some way. However, he said a port-related use in a strict sense seems to be out, since the waters around the site are not deep enough to accommodate cruise or cargo vessels.
And he said using the site to store cargo containers wouldn’t make sense with the port’s plan to ship containers west of the city via the reactivated freight rail line into the port.
“I will be coming to you very soon,” he told commissioners, “to make those 36 acres there [at the port] much more productive than it is today.”
Whatever is developed on the site, he added, should not compete with nearby businesses downtown, referring to the Downtown Development Authority’s position on the issue.
The mayor’s goal is for the site should be developed to a greater degree than it is now to increase the seaport’s revenue to cover expenses such as bond debt or to lower costs for cruise and cargo users to encourage more business.
 
Source:  Miami Today