Commissioners vote in favor of building country's largest mall in Miami-Dade

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Plans to build the country's largest mall and entertainment complex in northwest Miami-Dade County passed the first land vote Tuesday. 

Miami-Dade County commissioners voted 11-2 to act as broker for 80 acres of state-owned land being purchased by Triple Five, the developer of what will be called the "American Dream" mall.

Triple Five's Eskandar Ghermezian, developer of the Mall of America in Minneapolis, has plans to build a 4 million square-foot complex with stores and attractions, including a snow ski slope. He has already assembled a patchwork of 120 privately held acres, but needs 80 more acres owned by the state of Florida to fill in the parcel.

Triple Five has agreed to pay the state-appraised $12 million for the land by passing it through Miami-Dade County as the broker, plus offer $7.25 million to the Miami-Dade County school board to buy out its lease-option.

School board chair Perla Hantman said she thinks the deal is financially beneficial to the school district. She put the vote on the board meeting agenda for Wednesday.

A majority of commissioners expressed early support for the project, with questions about traffic impact and environmental and water supply concerns. But the sole decision Wednesday was about the land conveyance.

"Can we make sure as we move through that safeguards are put in place, (that) lessons (were) learned from the Marlins Stadium?" asked Commissioner Sally Heyman.

"For us, $12 million worth of land goes right back on the tax roles," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

"We don't have to spend $1. I can't ask anything better than that," said Commissioner Rebeca Sosa.

If the school board votes to take its lease-hold buyout Thursday, the land deal goes to the state Cabinet for a vote next month.

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Glenna Milberg joined Local 10 News in September 1999 to report on South Florida's top stories and community issues. She also serves as co-host on Local 10's public affairs broadcast, "This Week in South Florida."

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