With No Buyers For Its 1928 Courthouse, Miami-Dade Plans An Auction

Miami-Dade County’s 1928 civil courthouse — a relic so old that Al Capone once stood trial there — has become a tough property to unload.

The aging 28-story building at 73 W. Flagler St. has deteriorated to the point that several floors have been declared unsafe, and its facilities are so outdated that the county is completing a $267 million modern replacement next door.

After months of trying to sell the property with no success, county commissioners just voted to put the courthouse up for auction sometime next year. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s administration had hoped to secure at least $50 million from a private sale to help offset the cost of the new 23-story courthouse, but no buyers stepped forward.

Without a sale, the county faces spending millions annually just to maintain the empty landmark once judges and staff relocate by December 31.

“We’re already paying for a courthouse,” Levine Cava told the Miami Herald after the vote. “We don’t need two.”

Officials had pitched the historic building as a prime opportunity for redevelopment — a potential mix of apartments, hotel rooms, and office space. Despite its strict preservation protections, the site offers space for a modern addition, making it an attractive project in theory. In practice, though, only one serious buyer emerged: GFO Acquisitions, a firm controlled by Miami developer Russell Galbut.

Galbut’s offer included a combination of downtown land and cash, but it came with a major condition — the county would have to pay at least $10 million a year in “maintenance fees” for the building, according to a memo from Commissioner Eileen Higgins. Higgins, whose term on the County Commission ends this week as she campaigns for Miami mayor, sponsored the legislation calling for an auction.

“I don’t want to see it sitting empty for years and years to come,” she told her colleagues before the vote.

Source: Miami Herald