FYI Miami: August 20, 2015

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GARAGE DEVELOPMENTS: Coral Gables received five responses by Friday’s deadline for preliminary concepts of private development on the sites of two city-owned central business district garages. The site of Garage 1, at 245 Andalusia Ave., has 34,941 square feet, and Garage 4, at 2450 Salzedo St., has 55,000 square feet. Zoning would allow up to 315,000 square feet of private development for mixed use and 1,000 public parking spaces (122,294 square feet at Garage 1, 192,000 at Garage 4), with potential to transfer development rights between the two. City staff and officials are under a cone of silence about the proposals, which were to include qualifications along with preliminary concept development. In June, officials said short-listed proposers would be invited to submit more detailed second-stage proposals.

ISRAELI ENTREPRENEURSHIP PACT: Miami Dade College and Tel Aviv University are to sign an agreement this week to promote cooperation between entrepreneurs in Miami and Israel. The agreement is to initially bring Israeli start-up leaders, tech gurus and professors to Miami to share their experience and build relationships with local entrepreneurs. Oren Simanian, founder of StarTau, Tel Aviv University’s entrepreneurship center, is to represent his university at the signing ceremony and lead a seminar on entrepreneurship tonight (8/20) at Miami Dade’s Wolfson Campus. The ceremony was originally scheduled for June 25, but a US State Department computer glitch created delays for thousands of travelers, including the Israeli delegation, trying to enter the country.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UPDATE: Mayor Carlos Gimenez is to report on the negotiation process for projects in line to share in $75 million in Economic Development funds to county commissioners at their next full meeting Sept. 1. Commissioners previously set a six-month deadline for projects to reach a deal with the county on thresholds developers are to meet, essentially bringing jobs and economic development to Miami-Dade. Should agreements for any projects not have been reached yet, tax funds for them are to be reallocated to others.

GAS FALLS HERE, RISES THERE: Gas prices in Miami fell 2.5 cents a gallon in the week ended Sunday to $2.55 per gallon, 88.8 cents a gallon lower than a year ago and 18.2 cents lower than a month ago. Nationally, AAA said, prices are the lowest since the Great Recession as the price of oil fell to its lowest since March 3, 2009. But in the Midwest, gas prices spiked sharply, up by more than 50 cents a gallon in days.