Terra, ESJ’s Jungle Island project moving forward

After six deferrals and one meeting cancellation, the Miami City Commission voted to move forward with how it plans to allocate the funds from the pending sale of city land on Watson Island to David Martin’s Terra and ESJ Capital Partners. 

In November, 62 percent of voters approved a charter amendment to redevelop Jungle Island. Terra and ESJ’s Ecoresiliency Miami will acquire 5.4 acres that are currently part of the 13.3-acre Jungle Island property at 1111 Parrot Jungle Trail in Miami in a deal that values the land at $135 million. 

The assessed purchase price is $160 million, but the developers won’t pay that all at once, and much of that will be in the form of public benefits. At closing, the developers will pay $10 million. They will also pay and build the city a public park valued at $37 million, make annual payments to the city for 99 years, provide $20 million in public benefits, and $22 million to pay off a HUD loan to the Jungle Island property.  

At a commission meeting last week, city manager Art Noriega said the city “identified that the proceeds from this transaction really accounted for $47 million worth of total value.” 

Chairwoman Christine King proposed dividing $35 million the city’s five districts, giving each district $7 million for affordable housing; plus another $12 million earmarked for the city’s public safety capital fund, which passed unanimously. 

Noriega will now revise the agreement with Ecoresiliency Miami and bring it back to the commission at a future meeting. 

The developers plan to build a condo tower on the land they’re buying from the city. Aventura-based ESJ Capital Partners, led by CEO Arnaud Sitbon, owns the Jungle Island lease, and brought Terra on last year, proposing 600 luxury condos on the 5.4 acres. 

Much of the existing waterfront Jungle Island theme park will become the public park paid for by the developers. 

Sixty-four percent of voters last year also approved a second charter amendment that will allow the Motwani family’s Merrimac Ventures and BH3, led by Greg Freedman and Daniel Lebensohn, to acquire about 3 acres of their leased property for a fair market value of at least $25 million. 

Both projects are on Watson Island, which is off the MacArthur Causeway that connects Miami to Miami Beach. The referendums waived competitive bidding and have allowed the city manager to negotiate the deals.

Last week, the commission voted to delay making a decision on the proposed sale of the historic Olympia Theater in downtown Miami. Noriega will also negotiate that deal with Sports Leadership Arts Management, a charter school group known as SLAM, which would restore and repair the property. The commission will vote on a more complete contract in September.