Controversial plans for a super mega retail mall
with tourist attractions in a northwest corner of the county may have come out of nowhere earlier this month, but it’s looking like the project is going somewhere fast.
American Dream Miami — the 200-acre complex that includes a skating rink, water park, performing sea lions and an artificial snow ski slope proposed by the Canadian family that built Mall of America in Minnesota, the largest mall in the world — could be one step closer to being a reality Tuesday if the commission approves the purchase of 82 acres of vacant state land at no more than $12.3 million.
Well, we think it’s worth $12.3 million. The resolution on the agenda Tuesday waives the requirement of two appraisals. Because those are the kind of perks you get in an inside deal.
The move also includes buying out a lease owned by the Miami-Dade School Board for a future school on the land at no more than $7.25 million. That’s for their lease interest on 44 acres of the land. So, 82 acres are worth $12.3 million but slightly more than half is worth more than $7 mil?
Read related story: Miami-Dade mega mall: A new, and shinier, insider deal?
A 107-page agreement with all the details was provided to commissioners late Monday
— this was only a little bit after Gimenez’s first boasts about the jobs the mall would create were debunked. It tells them that International Atlantic LLC has already put the $19.25 million in escrow for purchase of this land. So, the county is just acting as a go-between.
To sweeten this insider deal: Government t staff time will also be covered by this company, up to $300,000 a year.
But what it doesn’t say, from Ladra’s quick perusal of 107 pages, was that International Atlantic is a company formed just last June, according to the Division of Corporations, and managed by one Nader Ghermezian. The Canadian development firm that would build the mall, Triple Five, is owned by Jacob Ghermezian and his family. Nader Ghermazian’s address is in Meadowlands, NJ, which is where Triple Five is building another mega mall (which has fallen behind schedule).
It’s not as if the last name was Smith or Perez. These are the same people, people? That might be confused for using a shell company and going deeper inside with this deal.
But it wouldn’t be the first time we see shell games or inside deals at the county.
Carlos Gimenez’s ‘mega mall’ on fast track with shell firm added by Ladra on
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