FYI Miami: March 26, 2026

FANS PACK HOTELS: The World Baseball Classic games that packed loanDepot Park with loud and enthusiastic fans also packed Miami-Dade hotels, according to a report from CoStar. Hotel occupancy for the week ended March 14 soared 10.1% in the county to 87.3%, the average daily room rate that hotels actually received grew 17% to $315.14 for the week, and hotels’ revenue per available room jumped 28.9% to $275.04. Nationally for the period, hotel occupancy was 65.7%, the average daily rate was $167.97, and the revenue per available room was $110.29.

FONTAINEBLEAU WATER PARK: Miami Beach city leaders last week discussed the possibility of legally challenging the state over a land-use bill that would limit how local governments regulate development. Commissioners authorized City Attorney Ricardo Dopico to “take any and all necessary and appropriate legal action” challenging House Bill 399. It passed the Florida House and Senate, but Gov. Ron DeSantis hasn’t yet signed it. If it becomes law, the bill could allow the Fontainebleau Hotel to build a water park without public input. The commission voted to have stakeholders – the mayor, city attorney, city manager and residents from the Mid Beach Neighborhood Association – negotiate with the Fontainebleau over the proposed project.

BUS HUB EXTENSION: Commissioners last week extended to November a contract to finish the first bus operations center in the nation built specifically for electric buses, adding 126 days for NV2A Dragados JV to finish the South Dade Transit Operations Center and to pay the joint venture $1.5 million more for the $245.7 million, 218,000-square-foot hub. The center north of Biscayne Drive between Southwest 127th and 129 avenues will support 100 zero-emission electric buses serving the Metro Express line on the South Dade Transitway. This is the first all-electric Bus Rapid Transit corridor of its kind in the nation and Miami’s first major transit garage in 40 years.

UM BONDS APPROVED: County commissioners last week approved the issuance of $500 million in revenue bonds for University of Miami capital projects on the Coral Gables campus, the medical campus, at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science Campus on Virginia Key, the UHealth Doral facility and the UHealth SoLé Mia facility in North Miami. The bonds will be issued by the Miami-Dade County Educational Facilities Authority on behalf of the university. Neither the authority nor the county, which must approve the issuance, would be responsible for paying principal or interest on the tax-exempt bonds.

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