Miami voters will decide November 3 whether the city may lease about 27.5 acres on Virginia Key to Virginia Key, LLC. The proposed agreement provides a 45-year initial term with two possible 15-year renewals, minimum guaranteed annual rent starting at $2.2 million with escalations, 6% of gross revenues and approximately $80 million in privately funded marina redevelopment. Proposed uses include boat storage, restaurants, retail and public parking, with the ballot language requiring environmentally sensitive redevelopment. Because the lease could control valuable city-owned waterfront land for as long as 75 years, voters are weighing revenue and private investment against public control, environmental risk and the opportunity cost of a very long commitment. A ground lease can bring investment without selling the land, but seventy-five years is long enough that today’s safeguards have to work for people who will inherit the waterfront decades from now.
Is Miami’s proposed long-term Virginia Key marina lease the right deal for public waterfront land?