Miami on the Move

Leonard says the metro knows that transport is what helps make the economy go. In November 2002, voters approved a half-cent sales tax dedicated to transportation. Efforts to link air travel, passenger rail and other traffic-defying modes of transportation are well under way. And the city's much-derided airport is in the midst of a $4-billion capital improvement program that includes a fourth runway designated for operations in September 2003.
        Jose Juncadella, senior vice president of Codina Realty, says that the area's development potential has been helped by state and county brownfield designations. One 75-acre (30-hectare) tract in West Dade Co. is opening up for potential industrial development, as is Codina's new 435-acre (176-hectare) Beacon Lakes development. The 6-million-sq.-ft. (557,400-sq.-m.) park, developed in partnership with AMB, was three years in the making, and has now taken its place in the Dade Co. master plan.
        Matthew Coglianese, a partner in the Land Use and Environmental Dept. of Miami law firm Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod, says state and local brownfield measures have received a tremendous boost from additional liability protection afforded by the federal Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, passed in January 2002. But what he calls a "seamless umbrella of liability protection" is not the sole spark needed to light the redevelopment fire.

Developer: You Can Always Go Downtown Doug Eagon, president of Ft. Lauderdale-based developer Stiles Corp., has seen his home region grow to a metro area of more than 6 million people, and says its diversity of activities puts South Florida in good standing. Among the company's latest projects are a planned Latin American hub facility for FedEx in Miami and a finished 600,000-sq.-ft. (55,740-sq.-m.) headquarters and distribution center for area retailer City Furniture, which is already looking at growing again.         Eagon sees the "return to downtown" movement touted by so many cities (but enacted by so few) as a reality in South Florida, with Miami and Ft. Lauderdale as its showpieces. What he calls a "vital and robust" central business district can have potent effects on overall real estate prospects.         "I truly believe in it – I think that there is a meaningful return to downtown," says the former city planner, named "Downtowner of the Year" in 2000. "It isn't just a passing fad. That's not to say that everybody is moving back into downtown – quite the contrary. The historic suburban development pattern will continue."         What has happened, says Eagon, is that those fleeing cities have found the grass is not that much greener, and that feeling is compounded by no longer having a sense of place.         "You thought you were leaving because of crime, traffic, schools. Now it's about the same [in the suburbs] as in the former city, except that you have no common meeting ground."         "What we're selling here in Ft. Lauderdale is an environment that comprises high-end executive housing adjacent to the CBD, which is a relatively unique thing in most cities," he says. "It's no secret that an awful lot of the location decision is made by the head of a company. They look first to roads, and then where the high-end residential housing is. If in fact that company head can live adjacent [to the office], that works."

        "In Florida, a variety of stakeholders have formed the Florida Brownfields Association," he writes. "The lobbying mission of the FBA is to inject new funding into the development of brownfields throughout the State of Florida. As noted by the FBA, in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in particular, and to a lesser degree in Palm Beach County, redevelopment is becoming the cornerstone of the region's economic development."
        The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta observed the heat generated by the South Florida office market, especially in comparison to its suffering Southeast metro neighbors like Atlanta and Charlotte.
        "Miami's reliance on small and medium-sized businesses has worked to the area's advantage during a period characterized by corporate downsizing," reads a Fed Reserve bulletin. Further credit for the region's resilience is given to its service industry focus and its rapid increases in both corporate and resident population. Those two demographic increases mirrored the influx of Latin America.

FTAA Secretariat
Tops Prospect List

It is those very neighbors to the south that have many in the state excited. For Miami, alongside Atlanta, is considered a lead candidate for the Secretariat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which some see as bringing a Brussels-like economic impact.
        "By any assessment, Miami is the logical choice for the FTAA Secretariat," says Gov. Bush. "It is a city with a population, culture, and business climate that demonstrate the power and potential of successful integration in the Americas."
        Bush points out that Florida is the leading trade partner with every country involved in the FTAA, "except Mexico, and we're still working on that." And the city's position as a telecom and transport nexus only enhances its bid.
        Among the numbers bandied about in relation to the FTAA location: more than 89,000 direct and indirect jobs; a $3.2-billion boost in payrolls; a $13.6-billion annual addition to the Gross State Product; and more than $157 million in fiscal revenues for state and local governments.
        State officials hope to further cement their bid in November 2003, when Miami will host the proposed trade area's 34 trade ministers and thousands of business leaders from throughout the Western Hemisphere during the eighth round of FTAA Ministerial and Americas Business Forum meetings. The final selection is due to be made by 2005.