Parking Patchwork Plagues Arsht With Deals in the Works

The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts celebrated its 15th anniversary just months ago in October 2021, but with that came the anniversary of a considerable mistake: Miami-Dade County’s decision to hold off on designating parking for the venue at its inception. Now, as the problem is exacerbated by nearby construction, traffic detours and the loss of most of its surrounding parking lots, the Arsht and local governmental agencies are exploring their options.

The performing arts center has taken matters into its own hands to provide for their patrons and improve what CEO Johann Zietsman calls the “street-to-seat experience.” He assured the Biscayne Times that, although details have yet to be finalized, there’s a permanent fix on the way – one that would free up more than 2,000 parking spots for guests.

In the meantime, they’ve had to settle for temporary solutions.

One such solution is their agreement with the parking garage at 1425 NE Second Ave., which allows prepaid and same-day parking for $15. Although the garage’s managers have been collaborative and accommodating, Zietsman says, the garage itself – both small and spilling into a crowded road – does little to alleviate the situation.

Since February, the Arsht has also been using the school board’s district office parking lot for valet parking once board members go home for the evenings. With the help of the Miami-Dade Police Department, which has allowed road closures for the Arsht’s personal use, valet wait times have been reduced from 45 to 25 minutes, but Arsht officials are hardly satisfied with the improvement.

“I sympathize and empathize with our patrons who come here very excited to see an evening of great performing arts,” Zietsman said, “and then they have to deal with logistics before and after the show, which often can spoil the great joy they had inside the theater.”

That school board parking lot could become a permanent fix for the Arsht in the future. A potential land deal between Miami-Dade County Public Schools, developer Crescent Heights and the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) would bring 600 new parking spots to the area for Arsht patrons to utilize, but that deal is starting to falter.

Waiting to Seal the Deal

The school board has long been looking to sell the plot of land that their surface parking lot takes up. But during its initial negotiations with Crescent Heights, it became clear that what the district was asking for – the incorporation of designated office space for school board members, as well as the parking that would be allocated to the Arsht and additional facilities for the school board’s use – was far more costly than the $20.6 million the land was initially worth.

That’s when the CRA entered the discussion. Members realized that if the school board moved into new office space provided by Crescent Heights, the north end of that plot – where the current district building resides – would be unencumbered and ripe for redevelopment, putting it on the CRA’s tax roll and allowing

the agency to use that added revenue to invest in community benefits.

The CRA decided it would be willing to help fill the funding gap for the Crescent Heights project through yearly payoffs on the condition that the school board agreed to a memorandum of understanding that would require the district to incorporate housing for teachers and other school system workers in their plans. But, the agreement dictates, those yearly payoffs need to last until well beyond 2030.

“Everything has been contingent on the extension of life of the CRA,” said Adam Old, the agency’s director of planning and policy.

But the city of Miami has yet to sign off on that, and it’s uncertain if it ever will.

At a Feb. 9 meeting, Steve Gallon III, school board vice chair, introduced an amendment to set a deadline of December 2022 for the deal with Crescent Heights. Otherwise, it’s back to the drawing board, which may even be more profitable for the school board, now that market prices have elevated.

“We know that [South Florida] is one of the hottest real estate markets in the nation,” Gallon said, “and to the extent that land is not either being used or fully maximized by the district, it is a consideration to explore monetizing that as an asset for the district.”

“They do have until December 2022 to culminate this particular deal as per board action,” he added, “but there is continued discussion as to whether or not the board will look at contemplating, relisting it and seeing if it can bring some additional value based on current market rates.”

Although a new deal would require the beginning of an entirely new negotiation process, it’s likely that the school board and the CRA would come together to prioritize parking even if Crescent Heights is no longer in the picture.

“Arsht Center got built without parking and they were like, ‘Someone will figure it out. Let’s just build the center,’ and obviously the neighborhood around the Arsht Center has suffered because of the lack of structured parking,” Old said. “It stands to benefit everyone to have a structured solution next to the Arsht there.”

And although he’s grateful for the collaboration, Zietsman says, the Arsht is in no position to rely only on parking that would require years of construction to come. They’re looking for a solution that could be ready as early as next season.

Not a Lot of Lots

The parking situation at the Arsht has been an issue since its inception, but the problem has only been compounded by the reconstruction of I-395. Although the project promises a signature bridge that will enhance Miami’s skyline – meant to be completed by 2024 – the construction, initially having broken ground in 2019, has taken over many of the surface lots that patrons used to rely on when visiting the Arsht.

Now, one of the only nearby parking lots left – known as the PAC lot at the corner of NE Second Ave and NE 13th Street – has been forcing performing arts lovers to pay exorbitant rates. Alternate garages listed on the Arsht’s website either get full fast or are too far to walk from for many patrons. The Omni Garage, for instance, is located approximately three blocks away at 453 NE 15th St.

Andrew Mirmelli, a manager for M&M Parking Management, which owns the PAC lot, explained how the lot charges $25 for six hours when there’s only one show at the performing arts center, but that the parking machines are preprogrammed according to the Arsht’s schedule. As a result, those prices increase to $30 when there’s two shows at the same time and to $40 about thirty minutes before they begin.

Mirmelli says he’s had customers call him upset that they were forced to pay $10 more than the person in front of them in line just minutes later.

“If you want to get the cheaper rate, come early,” he said, “but as it gets later and closer to the show time, the prices go up.”

Still, he says, it’s far from a matter of greed. He assures that the lot makes little money after tax deductions, insisting that 100% of profits go to the state, city and county, sometimes even requiring the company to pay taxes out-of-pocket.

According to the Miami-Dade County Tax Collector, M&M Parking Management paid approximately $53,816 in taxes for the year 2021. But without public records of the company’s finances, and machines that have only recently replaced a cash-only system with no paper trail, it’s uncertain how that amount stands next to what their earnings were in previous years. To add to the suspicion, private auditors hired by the City of Miami in 2019 accused the company of hiding nearly $900,000 in revenue.

Mirmelli, who now says he’s largely out of the parking business and gradually divesting from his final real estate holdings, contributed to People for Fair Parking Fees, a 2018 nonprofit looking to decrease surcharge taxes on parking. But, he says, the effort went nowhere.

Hang in There, Arsht Says

Rest assured, the Arsht insists it is exploring every avenue possible, despite the odds being seemingly stacked against finding a solution. The venue has looked to police, the school board, the county and surrounding parking operators, and – as long as it lives on – the CRA is on its side.

Zietsman mentioned that Commissioner Keon Hardemon, who oversees the district, has been cooperative. He says the county is helping to put one of the lots currently overtaken by construction back into the Arsht’s hands for future use.

Hardemon, however, did not reply to the Biscayne Times for comment on that effort by press time.

Meanwhile, Zietsman encourages Arshtgoers to hang in there, asking them to arrive early, carpool and even take public transportation when feasible.

Plus, he invites patrons to stay tuned for a big announcement to come, which for now remains shrouded in mystery.

“All I can say is help is on the way,” said Zietsman. “It’s going to get better.”