Galbut's GFO pitches 70-story tower on Miami's 1928 courthouse

Russell Galbut’s GFO Acquisitions has offered Miami-Dade County $35 million for the vacant 1928 courthouse at 73 W. Flagler St., with a condition attached: let it build a roughly 70-story residential tower against the building, and let that tower’s county property taxes pay for the courthouse’s upkeep, according to the Miami Herald. GFO submitted the pitch Sept. 4. The plan would remove the courthouse’s northern facade and its front steps to make room.

Why it matters

This is a developer asking a county to sell a landmark and accept a future tax stream as the price of preserving it. GFO had been in direct talks to buy the building before commissioners ended them and sent it to auction, as we reported earlier. The tower pitch is a way back in after the auction failed to produce a buyer.

A rival view exists. Moishe Mana bid $5 million on Sept. 18, per the Herald, proposing to turn the courthouse into galleries, design studios and cultural space with no new construction. One bid cuts into the historic fabric and the other leaves it alone, at a fraction of the price.

The numbers

The auction minimum is $35.41 million with a $100,000 deposit required. Miami Today reported Sept. 23 that four deposits had come in but no bids, and that the auction was set to close Oct. 2 at 5:05 p.m. The Herald says it has since been extended through Oct. 25, so the closing date is still in flux. The building holds about 265,000 square feet across a full city block, per Miami Today. GFO’s $35 million sits just under the county’s minimum, and Mana’s $5 million is roughly 14% of it.

What’s next

Neither proposal is a deal. The Levine Cava administration would have to negotiate a purchase with a winner and then win approval from the County Commission, per the Herald. Commissioners previously walked away from GFO once, so watch whether a tower that alters the facade changes that vote. The closing date, any first real bid, and the commission agenda will show whether the county treats these offers as bids or as a reason to rewrite the terms for South Florida downtown’s most visible vacant building.