An effort by Miami International Airport to add two new convenience stores fell apart when one of the two proposers didn’t meet airport concession disadvantaged business enterprise goals and the other dropped out, leaving the airport trying to figure out what to change in its solicitation for vendors.
The county’s Airport Committee is being asked this week to reject all proposals for the two convenience stores that were advertised in June 2024 “to allow for further review of what changes, if any, will be needed if the solicitation is re-solicited.”
The vote on rejecting the two proposals comes three months after the county commission acted to upgrade all concessions at the airport by agreeing to extend hundreds of leases by 12 years or more coupled with tenant-paid improvements while they ordered an early search for tenants in a new terminal and a new secret shopper program with teeth.
The airport, in the midst of $9 billion growth, is also revamping the stores and dining that passengers can choose from in an upgrade that will swing the mix from mostly shopping to nearly two-thirds food and beverage.
Most food and shopping concessions will vastly alter within three years, all funded by tenants, who will pay at least $1.1 billion to the airport in 12 years. The sweeping reconfiguration will come with new dining and shopping concepts in present locations with the current strong local flavor.
In the case of the two convenience stores being sought, the airport advertised in open competition in June 2024 for a company that would finance, develop, manage, design, construct, operate and maintain the stores “for the purpose of establishing high quality, state of the art convenience store concessions,” according to a document from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava that requests the rejection of the proposals received.
In that competition, the airport notified 216 registered vendors, 74 viewed the solicitation, 16 attended the pre-proposal conference, and only two made proposals. The only one that complied with the rules, JDDA Concession Management, dropped out a week afterward when its joint venture airport concession disadvantaged business enterprises partner dropped out and JDDA said other projects in the works required its own capital.
That left the convenience store space in the pre-security area of the North Terminal and the post-security area of the South Terminal with no proposers and the airport wondering if it needed to change its solicitation to get anyone to bid again.
This week’s vote comes just three months after commissioners bypassed competition for a dozen vacant airport concession locations and cited their personal candidates to get the valuable leases as the airport is swinging from majority store concessions to majority dining locations.
Today’s 244 concession spaces are 46% food and beverage, 54% stores. That’s to swing to 63% food and beverage and 37% stores.
The post New Miami International Airport convenience stores aren’t convenient appeared first on Miami Today.