Developer of SkyRise Miami, Jeff Berkowitz, recently signed a deal to hook up utilities to the iconic project, and a lawsuit challenging the SkyRise has been dismissed by an appellate court, according to The Next Miami.
Berkowitz will pay a utility connection fee anticipated to be approximately $360,000. The paperwork for the utility connection was not only signed by Berkowitz but also signed by the city manager of Miami, the leaseholder of Bayside Marketplace and Deutsche Bank, Bayside’s mortgage holder.
In the lawsuit that was dismissed on appeal, activist Grace Solares challenged the validity of the voting referendum regarding the approval of a deal between Bayside and SkyRise Miami. The lawsuit by Solares was thrown out because Solares lacked standing to bring the lawsuit. In layman’s terms, this means that Solares could not show that she had a personal legal interest that was invaded by the mega-project. Basically, it doesn’t matter that a person is merely interested as a member of the general public, a person must have a personal stake in the outcome of the controversial issue with the project, and apparently she didn’t.
So, the utility connection for SkyRise Miami is expected to be completed sometime in the middle of June with foundation work on the project anticipated to begin this coming fall.
Some of the details of SkyRise Miami include the following:
- 174,340 square feet of retail space
- 10,123 square feet of office space
- 24,291 square foot banquet hall
- 13,822 square feet of full-service restaurants
- 4,723 square feet of fast-food restaurants
- 20,922 square feet of bars or cocktail lounges
- 13,703 square feet of warehouse space
- 72-seat theater