Residential tower enters deal to sell county courthouse

The sole bidder to acquire the historic Miami-Dade County Courthouse downtown is proposing to build a residential tower on the north side of the parcel including condominiums and apartments, though the county has not yet struck a deal to sell him the land.

GFO Investments, led by local developer Russell Galbut, issued a press release last week sketching plans to turn the present courthouse building to hotel, office and retail uses when the county leaves for a new courthouse whose opening is awaited next door.

The release did not detail the height of the proposed residential tower or number of units or anything concrete about how the old building will be restored and the distribution of uses within it. Nor did the release mention that the county has not yet agreed to sell the site to GFO. No terms are stated.

In February, county Commissioner Eileen Higgins, frustrated by inaction in selling the old courthouse, sought a commission OK to negotiate a cash-land swap for the historic tower to help pay for the new one when it finally opens. In the deal that she cited, the county would get cash plus other unspecified downtown land from GFO.

Ms. Higgins moved to reject the only bid for the old courthouse from GFO Acquisitions, explaining that she wanted to turn around and cut a cash-plus-land deal with the firm. Her motion was to reject the bid for the historic site at 73 W Flagler St., accept GFO’s invitation of an exchange, and direct Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to do within 30 days appraisal, title work and due diligence on an 18,000-square-foot vacant lot at 54 W Flagler St.
The aim was to get a $53 million package for the old courthouse.

“We only got one bidder. That bidder bid $53 million, but it wasn’t all in cash,” Ms. Higgins said at the time. It was $33 million plus downtown land that Mr. Galbut’s firm said was worth $20 million. Ms. Higgins said she didn’t think another round of bids would add buyers.

The old courthouse building had been a maintenance problem for years, as structural repairs seemed to never end. It was also considered inadequate for its purpose as the judicial center of a growing county that could never have been envisioned when the building was constructed. Now its replacement is almost ready.

In the early years of the county in the 1800s the courthouse site shifted repeatedly and was always running behind the growth of population. Railroad magnate Henry Flagler then donated 12 lots of prime downtown real estate for a bigger and better courthouse that was built at the site of today’s outmoded courthouse. But by the time of the real estate boom of 1925 it was clear that another new building was needed.

The county then hired celebrity architect Anthony Ten Eyck Brown to design the 28-story skyscraper that is now on the sale block. The building then served both the county and the City of Miami.

The new building was constructed around the footprint of its predecessor, which was eventually demolished. When the newer building reached 10 stories engineers discovered that the then-rising tower was sinking into the porous ground beneath. Construction then was put on hold until a consultant suggested shoring up the foundation with cement supports.

When completed in 1928, the $4.2 million, 360-foot building with its neoclassical design and a central tower rising on a ziggurat-stepped roof became a landmark, believed to be the tallest public building in the nation and the tallest building of any sort south of Cincinnati.

In 1989, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

GFO’s press release last week said “the proposed expansion and redevelopment will transform the nearly century-old building into a dynamic hospitality, retail and cultural destination, preserving its historical architectural integrity while securing its role as a vital economic engine for downtown Miami.

“The project also introduces new public gathering spaces and cultural venues along Flagler Street,” the released said. It did not detail what those spaces and venues might be.