Miami Voters Approve Hotel On City-Owned Watson Island As Part of Jungle Island Redevelopment

Miami voters have approved a new hotel to be built on city-owned land on Watson Island as part of a redevelopment of Jungle Island. 59% of voters said yes in support of waiving competitive bidding on the property to extend Jungle Island's lease to 2099 and approve the owners of Jungle Island to have the right to build a 13-story, 300 room hotel. The lease has an option for a 15-year extension. If built the hotel would be privately financed and would have a maximum height of 130'. The owners would provide the city with $750,000 towards the Affordable Housing Fund and $700,000 for maintenance to the adjacent Ichimura Miami-Japan Garden. Jungle Island now has 4 years to secure a master building permit and 6 years to complete construction of the hotel, the lease be void if either deadline is missed. The hotel will pay $250,000 in annual rent for the first 3 years of operation and $1.22 million or 5% of the hotel's total gross revenue thereafter. Jungle Island was purchased in 2017 for $60 million by ESJ Capital Partners.