FYI Miami: January 27, 2022

Below are some of the FYIs in this week’s edition. The entire content of this week’s FYIs and Insider sections is available by subscription only. To subscribe click here.

ROAD TO MEDIATION: The Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, Miami-Dade County, the Greater Miami Expressway Agency and its board members are to meet virtually Feb. 25 in a mediation conference as one step toward resolving who controls and owns the $4 billion assets MDX now operates and the expressways running solely in Miami-Dade. George LeMieux, chairman and shareholder at law firm Gunster, is to be the mediator in the virtual meeting. Judge Alan Fine is now presiding in the case, as Judge William Thomas’s term in the Complex Business Litigation Division expired. The legal battle, begun in 2019, has already cost over $1.6 million in legal fees to the local authority and state combined. The Florida Department of Transportation has $326,469 in attorneys’ fees, costs and filing fees paid to outside firms or counsel, while ​MDX has spent $1.3 million for outside counsel.

BRIGHTLINE+: Brightline began last week a new door-to-door booking service, Brightline+, that enables customers to pre-book transportation from their point of origin to their final destination across multiple modes of transportation. Riders now can book trips at least two hours in advance of departure through their website or mobile app, anywhere within five miles of all three Brightline stations. The service also provides walk-up shuttles to Miami Beach, Fort Lauderdale’s beaches, Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, synchronized immediately upon train arrivals.

ROYAL CARIBBEAN LEASE: County commissioners approved an amendment to the Royal Caribbean Cruises lease that is expected to add $53 million to PortMiami revenue and grant $4.9 million in covid recovery relief to Miami Cruise Terminal A LLC, a Royal Caribbean affiliate. The company and the county signed a lease in May 2019 committing at least $300 million to add improvements to its global headquarters campus at PortMiami. The work was to be done by Dec. 31, 2022, but as the industry resumed operations after a Covid-19 shutdown in July 2021, Royal Caribbean notified PortMiami of the intent to resume construction and requested a two-year extension to complete the work.

NORTH CORRIDOR: The Miami-Dade Department of Transportation and Public Works was awarded $405,000 for 10 miles of the North Corridor proposed heavy rail line, including station area plans, the Federal Transit Administration announced last week. The award was part of a pilot program for transit-oriented development that gave $11 million to 20 projects in 12 states to support comprehensive planning to improve access to public transportation, a press note details. In the recent resolution approving the 2022-2026 update of the five-year implementation plan of the People’s Transportation Plan, the corridor received $11.1 million from the half penny surtax, an added $8.8 million from the amount requested for 2021-2025.