South Miami Agrees To Reconsider $300M Makeover Plan After Nixing It

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter 

MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- South Miami commissioners have agreed to reconsider a plan to redevelop Sunset Place, just a day after nixing the proposal.

Pleas from residents and business people prompted them to reconsider the plan, according to our news partners at the Miami Herald.

While they are reconsidering the plan, it's unclear if it will lead to a revival of the about $300 million project as valued by City Manager Steven Alexander.

The mall's principal owner, Federal Realty Trust, did not comment on the move Thursday.

The commission will formally vote on the motion to reconsider Federal's proposal during a meeting on November 21st, according to South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard.

This would lay the groundwork for drawing Federal back to the table, said Stoddard.

If the motion does pass, some commissioners could then defer the project proposal to allow time to negotiate parts of the plan that concerned some commissioners like the height of a proposed 18-story hotel.

Monday night, commissioners voted 3-2 to deny land-use changes that would have allowed Federal to redevelop the part of the mall closest to US-1.

Those changes, which included a hotel, apartments and pedestrian promenade, would have helped finance a makeover for the rest of the mall.

Just a day after the vote, City Manager Alexander warned commissioners that if they did not reconsider the proposal, the project would likely be dead and the town could be stuck with a white elephant and a dying downtown area.

(©2017 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news
partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report.)