In the heated battle to develop Miami Dade College’s downtown site, Gary Nader’s team plans to file a bid protest and has asked the court to rule on the appropriateness of a required $2.3 million bond, an attorney for the group told The Real Deal.
Miami Dade College has not yet awarded a contract in the months-long process to develop the 2.6 acre-site at 520 Biscayne Boulevard into a mixed-use project. But the college’s evaluation committee has ranked the Related Group as the top bidder. Nader+Museu was ranked second.
And following a Miami Dade College evaluation committee meeting earlier this month, the college issued “a notice of intended decision” to recommend it negotiate a contract with Related. In the complicated public-private partnership process, that offers a window of opportunity to file a bid protest.
On Friday, Nader+Museu sent a letter to the college saying that it it intends to file a bid protest and was told it must issue a $2.3 million bond, Bill Riley a partner with GrayRobinson who represents Nader+Museu told TRD. “The formal written protest will prove that the recommendation was arbitrary, capricious and a clear departure from the essential requirements of the law…” the letter by Riley, obtained by TRD, said.
The bid protest and bond are due this coming Monday. Riley said the opportunity to protest is among four in the process that began with the solicitation.
Nader+Museu has now asked Miami-Dade Circuit Court to issue a temporary injunction. And in a hearing on Wednesday, it asked Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Bronwyn Miller for a stay to allow the court time to consider the appropriateness of the $2.3 million bond, Riley said.
“I don’t see that that is in keeping with open, fair, competitive solicitations,” Riley said of the bond. “I think it is a chilling effect, at a minimum, on competitive solicitations. I think it is improper.”