Contrast Brad spending money and restoring an old building to the blighted and disgusting vacant lots owned by the Miami World Center promoters. Have the Miami Work Center promoters built or renovated one thing? Have they even cleaned up one lot? How much taxpayer money has been wasted on pie-in-the-sky schemes?

I have ALWAYS supported the main thesis that incremental redevelopment is better than “magic bullet” redevelopment. Misinformed, bitter posts win readers and comments, but is that really what Transit Miami is about?

Brad K seems like the perfect small-time property owner to get this incremental redevelopment going. How about it, Brad? Applied for a loan recently?

Luckily the money losing PAC Center is surrounded by unused surface parking lots. Acres and acres of parking. There is no public money and no need to build a new parking garage. Why would someone pay $25 to park in a pay enclosed lot when there are acres of parking available for $10 per space? There is no more public money. When firemen and useless muncipal employees get paid $250,000 per year there is no public money available. Plus there is no demand.

If a private developer using private money wants to buy a lot and pay for a new garage that is their business. But no more taxpayer bailouts. Please.

1) A respected national publication has raised questions about the viability of this mega-project. For some reason the press in Miami has ignored this. It really doesn’t matter if they closed on land in September or will eventually find the money to build it. THE PROJECT IS POTENTIALLY AT RISK.

2) Our Government, as stewards of the taxpayer’s money, should not spend any additional public funds to assist or facilitate any part of this project until the owners can demonstrate the financial abiolity to pull it off and actually build something instead of showing slick renderings. They should pay for their own studies like every other developer.

Everything else is just an attempt to cloud the issues and detract from the most important points, noted above.

And once again, you are ignoring the fact that they just purchased an additional $40 million piece of land and brought in another partner subsequent to the events mentioned in the Forbes piece. This certainly is not indicative of an imploding partnership.

Last weekend I was in Washington D.C. visiting with a friend in Georgetown. I am a big cheerleader for Miami. I asked this friend, not a huge real estate investor but with at least $10 mil of equity (post crash) from his various holdings in D.C. and N.Y. He said Miami was off limits – OFF LIMITS. He called it a boom/bust city, corrupted by greed, and that until that pattern breaks he wasn’t touching it – no matter how good a deal it seemed. That’s what Miami’s brand is… no avoiding that. Frankly, World Center just seems like another avenue for corruption in a city that is run-down by it. Re-build some credibility with the community here and outside Miami by paving sidewalks, planting trees, putting in a park, etc.

Another friend is a program director for the world bank, working on development in Africa. She specializes in micro finance. I asked her if that could work in a city like Miami and her response was *OF COURSE! Miami needs it, too many mega projects (her words not mine), you need to finance small community projects.*

I’m not an expert, but it seems to me that the problem with these “mega projects” is similar to the phenomenan of “leakage” in the tourism business. Money from the community actually gets pulled out because the larger the projects the more accountable they are to outside investors – not the communities. That is not intended to assign any blame, that’s just business. Of course, some anchors and catalysts are necessary but making miami livable doesn’t appear to need (another) white knight. It needs a grocery store, a park, and a couple of shops.

The big question with the World Center Project is why hold everyone else up?

To TM Reader. I really enjoyed your post. But do we need a Miami case study? Seems to me that Miami is doing too little LEARNING from places like Boston, D.C., Brooklyn, Harlem, Denver… Again, I’m not expert but it seems that World Center is an idea looking for a plot of land, not a solution for anybody.

“The duo took a 50% ownership that Roberts publicly fronted and Silverman backed with equity, borrowing $80 million on his own personal guarantee. Citigroup, which lent $10 million, called on Silverman to maintain a net worth of $150 million. But the credit crisis diminished the prospects for both Miami Worldcenter and Silverman’s portfolio. At one point Silverman’s net worth dipped below $150 million, says one lender. The bank loans started maturing this year and have gone unpaid”

With one of the ‘owners’ of the project defunct it is not unreasonable to conclude that this project is imploding. MB, your libel lawsuit threats show a desperate and ignorant approach to the subject. Refrain from personal attacks, especially as you hide under the veil of anonymity. Any further comments that veer from the discussion will be deleted. Thanks.

“…says Kenneth Lapatine, a lawyer for Deutsche Bank, which lent $20 million. “All we want is for the note to be paid”.”

“The coupon has not been paid in months.”

Perhaps the Miami media will discover this story?

“Taxpayers get beat by another group of out-of-town con artists”?