Facing the economic disaster of a pending loss of PortMiami’s sole fueling site, county commissioners last week authorized taking the present site on Fisher Island by eminent domain if pending mediation with the land’s new owner hits an impasse. Talks are to begin Oct. 20.
After commissioners debated in September whether to order eminent domain before the land could be sold, TransMontaigne Partners LLC quickly closed on the sale to luxury condo developer HRP, which commissioners agreed would raise cost of a county acquisition of the site by untold millions. A representative of the buyer refused to tell commissioners the sale price.
The 9.6-acre privately owned fuel hub on the luxury island has been the port’s sole source for 95 years. Competitive seaports control their fuel on port land, but PortMiami has never done so. The land was put up for sale in May 2024 for $200 million.
Both the cruise and cargo industries fear the loss of their fuel supplies at PortMiami, which county officials agree would affect both the companies’ economic viability and Miami-Dade’s overall economy and jobs.
“This is a critical economic driver for our community and it’s clear that we must have a long-term solution in which the port can own and control its own fuel supply to support our continued growth,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told commissioners before they debated what to do.
Commissioners were told by letter the night before the meeting that the land sale that they were seeking to delay or prevent to protect the port’s fuel had already taken place after the landowners had delayed negotiations for the county to acquire the site by either purchase or eminent domain.
On Oct. 1, the county had received a proposal from the land buyer and seller to build a fuel facility on the port at an estimated cost to TransMontaigne of $200 million. “We appreciate that this was a significantly improved offer from prior proposals” that would have seen the county pay more than $1 billion to lease the Fisher Island facility for 30 to 40 years “with no guarantees after the lease expires,” the mayor said.
The commission voted to begin meetings Oct. 20 with an already-chosen mediator to secure a permanent fueling facility, with a 60-day time limit and an already-approved eminent domain filing that would be triggered should the mediator declare an impasse. Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez is to join in the talks along with the county administration.
Under the vote, talks are to include three to-be-chosen sites on PortMiami as alternate fueling sites to Fisher Island. The port and administration in the past have insisted that the port cannot accommodate the fueling operation.
Mayor Levine Cava told commissioners that fueling on the port faces challenges “such as lack of available acreage, lack of berth availability, and impacts to operations, lack that could limit future revenue and growth.”
Brian May, representing new owner HRP, assured commissioners that the new owners would take no actions that could increase the value of the Fisher Island site during the 60-day mediation period.
Assessing the threat to one of the county’s two main economic engines in what Commissioner Raquel Regalado labeled an existential crisis because it has no secure source of fuel, Commissioner René García said. “I think we all recognize that if this had happened in the private sector someone would have been fired.”
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