UM to partner with developer, not foundation - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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UM and the Public Health Trustof Miami-Dade Counth (PHT), which oversees the 1,500-bed, $1.1 billion healthn system, are still working out the details of the proposef project. It was planned to be an 300-room hotel with a 1,000-seat conference center and 150,0000 square feet of retail space, plus a rehabilitatiomn center, located on 9.8 acres. One scenario for the projecft being considered last year involved partnering with the JacksobnMemorial Foundation, the health system’se nonprofit fundraising arm, to develop the projecty and hiring the foundation to manage retailp space at . The PHT voted last year to negotiatw exclusively with the foundation onthe no-bi d deal.
The foundation would have been paid to managdeboth projects, with the profig going back to the cash-strapped “Currently, talks continue in an efforty to create a project that not only best servee the campus, but makes busineszs sense to both UM and JMH,” foundation Executive Directof Rolando Rodriguez said. “Nor easy to do. I predict that something will either move forwardx in the next 60 or the project in its currentf formwill disappear.” Laura Hunter, VP of strategiv planning at Jackson Health said it is still looking at the feasibility of the projecgt and has not decided whether to go It probably won’t make a decision untip late this year or early 2010.
Most of the hospital’s focusa for facilities is on improving its infrastructurre and redevelopingsome buildings, Hunter added. Develope Michael Swerdlow, a foundation donor and formerboarx member, said UM’s choice to seek a private developer for the project eliminaterd the foundation’s role. “The foundation originally thought ofthe idea,” he “Since a third-party developer is goinfg to be used, the whole mattef is between the university and the health trust. The foundatiom is no longer involved.
” Swerdlow was involve in the conception and promotion of the project to PHT Rodriguez has said in the past that the foundatiob was tapping his vast development experiencwe to help shape the project andthe foundation’e proposed role in it. Swerdlow said he would not be developinbgthe project: “Absolutely no way, no no way, not a chance in the UM’s Miami Asset Management Co. had been in discussions with hospital officials abougt thepossible partnership.
Hotel czar and UM truste Sherwood “Woody” Weiser was helping to vet the possible jointt venture with Jackson Memorial Hospital to builf the hotel portion ofthe Weiser, developer of the Grand Bay hoteo chain and the Grand Bay Towers projecft that includes the posh Ritz-Carlton, Key is also chairman of the university’s wholly owneds real estate and development arm. The project was lauded for its but criticized forthe no-bid deal given to the which its administrators contend is not subject to the state’sw public disclosure rules. The no-bid deal woulxd have circumvented the usual counttbidding process.
Chris Mazzella, Miami-Dade County’s inspectoer general, said the process of choosinv a retail leasing company and managed should follow county procedure and bepubliclyu bid. Former PHT board member ArmandoGutierrez Jr. calledd the hospital’s plan to manage the retaipl component ridiculous because the foundation had no real estater ordevelopment experience, and because it deviates from the foundation’s primary mission of raising money for the Gutierrez said at the time the hospital shoulc explore outside revenue streams, including building a hotel.
He wasn’t involved in the hospital’sa hotel project because of a potential conflict with his plan to builr a hotel on StateRoad 836. That is to open in the An opinion he sought fromthe Miami-Dadd Commission on Ethics and Publi Trust said he could not participate in meetings or votee on the hotel project. He later steppefd down from the board. Gutierrez could not be reacheffor comment. There also were questions about whether the IRS wouldc make the foundation pay taxexs on management anddevelopmenft revenue. Rodriguez said the project “got too for the foundation to continue.
“Our only goal was to help and, insteadf of being rewarded for this we ended upwith headaches,” he said in an e-mail response. “W e ... found it too complicated to have the foundatioh lease the land and partner with UM to builxa hotel,” he added. “Although it made businesd sense, politically, it raised too many So, we’re ... serving in an advisort capacity using ourboard expertise.
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