Miami-Dade Rejects $400M Deal for PortMiami Fuel Site

• Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on Friday rejected a $400M county deal to purchase the 9.6-acre fuel yard at 1 Fisher Island Drive, calling the price too high
• The county will now pursue eminent domain, a process that could take years, leaving the site's future in the hands of the developers who already own it
• A JV of Related Group, HRP Group, Raycliff Capital, and GFO Investments paid $180M for the site in October 2025 and has plans for two 13-story ultra-luxury condo towers
• Penthouses starting at ~$100M, units from ~$5,000/SF, ~$2B projected sellout; groundbreaking targeted for 2027

What Led to the Rejected Deal

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava rejected a $400 million deal on Friday to purchase the fuel yard at 1 Fisher Island Drive that keeps PortMiami's cruise and cargo ships running. The price was too high, she said. Her plan now is to use eminent domain to force a sale at a lower figure.

That decision clears the most direct path to what a JV of Related Group, HRP Group, Raycliff Capital, and GFO Investments has been planning since they paid $180 million for the 9.6-acre site in October 2025: two 13-story ultra-luxury condo towers on the last developable land in America's most expensive ZIP code.

"It's the last masterpiece to complete the island," Jon Paul Perez, CEO of Related Group, said.

What the Developers Have Planned

Every unit in the planned towers will be a corner residence with ocean views, starting at around $5,000 per square foot. Penthouses are expected to reach $100 million apiece. Jon Paul Perez estimates a total sellout of roughly $2 billion. Bippy Siegel, CEO of Raycliff Capital, said "handshakes have already been done" on early sales.

Environmental remediation is required before construction begins. The fuel depot currently stores 28 million gallons of combustible fuel in century-old tanks. HRP, the Chicago-based Hilco Global subsidiary led by CEO Roberto Perez, built its business around exactly this kind of project. Their most comparable undertaking is Bellwether District in Philadelphia, a 15-million-square-foot industrial and life sciences hub on a former refinery site.

TransMontaigne, the Denver-based operator that sold the site to the JV, will continue running the fuel terminal under a leaseback agreement through 2027.

What the Market Looks Like on Fisher Island

Fisher Island is currently the most expensive ZIP code in the U.S. Existing condos trade at roughly $2,800 to $3,000 per square foot, with a median listing of around $2.85 million as of early 2026. At $5,000/SF, the new towers would set a new floor for the island.

The closest benchmark is Six Fisher Island next door, where Related partnered with BH Group, Teddy Sagi, and Wanxiang America RE Group. That JV paid $122.6 million for 6.5 acres in 2022 and is building 50 boutique condos starting at $30 million each. Related has already closed on two penthouses there for a combined $150 million.

The new site is 9.6 acres, half again larger, and required 18 months of negotiations with Fisher Island's community association and country club before the deal closed.

What Comes Next

Eminent domain proceedings are rarely fast. Fisher Island entities have already filed suit to block a government seizure. The county acknowledged it should have moved to acquire the site when it first hit the market in 2024; the leaseback with TransMontaigne expires in 2027, the same year the JV is targeting groundbreaking.

With the negotiated deal off the table and a contested legal process ahead, completion around 2030 remains the developers' timeline.