Developers: test piles in February; financing closing targeted for March; foundation work in April; hotel opening targeted for Nov. 2027

Terra (project manager) and city project staff updated the committee on the Miami Beach Convention Center headquarters hotel schedule. Yvette Batista, construction project manager for the developer, said project teams have secured term sheets with the lender and are in due diligence; test piles are scheduled to begin in February, a closing is targeted for March and foundation/pile construction will begin in April. The developer continues to target a hotel opening in November 2027.

City liaison staff said five easements (including bridge and temporary staging/equipment easements) must be reviewed and recorded; a city-contracted surveyor is completing a peer review of submitted easement surveys and staff expects that work to finish in the coming weeks. City and project counsel also discussed insurance requirements: staff said certificates of insurance and builder’s-risk documentation are in progress and will be reviewed by the city attorney’s office; staff emphasized these protections will be finalized before full construction possession.

The committee asked about traffic, staging and parking plans; developers said a MOT/logistics plan has been submitted and approved by transportation and public works for foundation work and a separate parking agreement for construction-worker parking (previously used for foundations) is being extended for vertical construction. Tay Spier, the city’s project liaison, said the easement review is underway and that easement approval is an administrative matter covered by the city manager’s authority under the existing lease/agreements.

Staff and the developer agreed to provide an update at the committee’s February 12 meeting and to continue coordinating on easement recordings, certificates of insurance and final GMP/GMP signature.