Downtown Miami’s largest chunk of undeveloped waterfront just sold for $1.2 billion

Miami developer David Martin agreed to pay $1.2 billion for the largest piece of undeveloped waterfront in downtown Miami, purchasing the former Miami Herald site from a casino operator that failed to build a planned resort there.

“Very proud of longtime Miamian David Martin for successfully purchasing what I consider to be the most valuable piece of property in America,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said in a post on Twitter. “I can’t wait to see what’s in store for our city.”

Genting, the Malaysian casino operator, purchased the 15.5-acre bayfront site of the former newspaper offices and printing presses for $236 million. The sale was announced in 2011 and closed in 2014. The land has sat undeveloped since then after a failed effort by Genting and other casino companies to loosen Florida’s gambling laws.

The official purchaser is Smart City Miami, an entity formed earlier this month and owned by Martin and his father, Terra Group co-founder Pedro Martin, according to a regulatory disclosure form Genting filed this week. The filing said Smart City has 60 days to conduct due diligence research on the property, then up to another 60 days to close.

The former Herald site is the largest piece of undeveloped waterfront in downtown Miami, sitting north of the MacArthur Causeway, south of the Venetian Causeway and across the street from the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Genting had proposed a mix of high-rise residential buildings, retail and a waterfront casino.

SEE PHOTOS: What the land used to look like

Terra’s purchase includes assuming the development lease of a county-owned site around the Omni Metromover station, which Genting had been planning to redevelop into a new hotel complex and modernized bus terminal under a 2017 deal with Miami-Dade.

Genting still owns the property to the north, including the Omni parking garage and office complex, and the adjoining Hilton Miami Downtown Hotel. Those buildings aren’t part of the pending sale.

“The scale and location of this site offers the opportunity to do something spectacular, something that all Miamians can take pride in, and we will deliver nothing short of that,” Martin, the chief executive officer of Terra, best known for its luxury condo developments across Miami, said in a statement. “Over time, we will arrive at a plan that elevates Downtown Miami, improves access to the waterfront, and is welcomed by our community.”

Through a spokesperson, Martin declined to comment further on the deal until the closing.

Peter Zalewski, founder of the consultancy firm Condo Vultures, calls the deal a risky one. Developers building today face rising interest rates and tightening financial markets. Banks are choosing carefully which projects to support. Delivering a project sooner rather than later seems unwise, he said.

“If they’re able to hold out for 10 years they will be touted as geniuses. The question is does he and his investors have the financial wherewithal to stomach what is coming?” Zalewski said.

Although development plans have yet to be revealed, Zalewski said he believes the site merits a development mixing residential, office, hospitality and retail space.

“Genting was on the right path, some sort of mixed use with conference space and gambling,” Zalewski said. “Genting’s vision for the site was good. It’s just they were too early in the market and they didn’t know how to navigate the locals. David might be able to navigate the locals. Genting proved they weren’t able to do that.”

Martin, a reliable donor in county political races, could find himself at the center of Miami-Dade’s transit future. The administration of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava is pursuing a Metromover extension along the old monorail route, though with a blueprint that bypasses the former Herald site in favor of using existing Metromover stations connecting to a new Miami Beach line.

Martin is a partner with Russell Galbut in a new project being built on the beach side of the proposed Metromover route, the Five Park condo complex.

Miami-Dade must approve transferring the deal to Smart City or Genting must drop that one-acre parcel from the sales agreement.

Boat show and art festivals

Since the Herald building was torn down, the property has been home to a portion of the Miami International Boat Show, using a mix of tents and temporary floating dock, and other special events.

Art lovers would be familiar with the site. Every winter since 2017, Art Miami has hosted its annual festivals Art Miami and Context Art Miami there. The week-long event draws over 100 art galleries to exhibit and sell artwork from across the globe.

One Herald Plaza was also the planned site for a new transit station for Miami-Dade County built around a monorail system Genting and partners wanted to run. The project was scrapped by the county after the price tag topped $1 billion.

A University of Florida graduate, Martin has business in his blood. Born in Gainesville and raised in Miami by Cuban-born parents, Martin is the grandson of Bernardo Garcia, the operator of three South Florida funeral homes. After graduating from law school, Martin at 23 years old co-launched Terra in 2001 alongside his father Pedro, a partner at Greenberg Traurig at the time. Since then, Terra has become one of the best known developers in South Florida.

Terra has transformed iconic spots in some of Miami-Dade’s most notable neighborhoods with the help of star architects, including its Glass condo by prominent Miami architect Rene Gonzalez in the exclusive South of Fifth neighborhood in Miami Beach, the twisting twin residential towers Grove at Grand Bay designed by Danish superstar Bjarke Ingels in Coconut Grove and Eighty Seven Park in North Beach, envisioned by Italian Pritzker Prize-winner Renzo Piano. Terra is also part of the development team behind the mixed-use complex going up at the county’s Coconut Grove Metrorail station.

Terra’s development of Eighty Seven Park, just south of the Champlain Towers South condominium that collapsed in June 2021, came under scrutiny in the investigation into the building failure that killed 98 people. Some Champlain owners and victims’ family members claimed foundation drilling at the Terra project may have contributed to the collapse by weakening the older condo’s deteriorated structural supports. Insurers of Terra and its general contractor contributed to the $1 billion settlement that was reached in the aftermath.

Terra’s first big project in 2005 provoked a public outcry when after buying the iconic Freedom Tower in downtown Miami, it proposed tearing down the back of the historic building, which served as a service center for Cuban refugees in the 1960s, to make room for a massive condo tower complex. Critics said the new tower would overwhelm the historic building. Terra won approval for the project after hiring a famed Italian architect to redesign the condo and spare the Freedom Tower, but never built it.

The Martins eventually donated the Freedom Tower to Miami Dade College. David Martin later said the experience taught him the value of hiring top-notch architects, heeding community wishes and tailoring projects to fit their surroundings.

Terra, based in Coconut Grove, has since steadily expanded its reach to include not just its marquee condo towers but also several sprawling single-family subdivisions in Doral and some notable public projects, such as the planned new hotel at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

In February, the David and Christina Martin Family Foundation announced a $100,000 donation to the Herald’s Impact Journalism Fund to support coverage of climate change and resiliency in South Florida.