Miami city attorney helped steer $10 million meant for citywide projects to Carollo’s district

When a developer came to the Miami City Commission in February 2020 with a deal to build a luxury high-rise on cityowned land, commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the project. As part of the agreement, the developer had promised to build a new fire station and give the city $10 million for park improvements and other public benefits across Miami.

But over the course of the next six weeks, the City Attorney’s Office and other officials quietly reshaped the deal to shift those funds to a single district. Behind-thescenes revisions to the contract changed where those millions would go — instead of being used for projects across the city, the money would be given to Commissioner Joe Carollo’s District 3, where the high-rise site is located.

Records reviewed by the Miami Herald show that in March and April 2020, City Attorney Victoria Méndez exchanged dozens of text messages with the developer’s lobbyist in an effort to finalize that new version of the deal. The amended agreement, which was signed that April, was never publicly presented to the City Commission or to residents after the February vote, despite the changes that eliminated the citywide financial benefit.

In a recent interview with the Herald, District 4 Commissioner Manolo

Reyes said he was never informed that the agreement he voted on that February had been changed.

“Absolutely I feel disappointed that I was not informed,” Reyes said. “I mean, we all should have been informed.”

The amended agreement approved by Méndez negotiated even more money from the developer, promising $13.5 million in payments to Carollo’s office: $9 million for promotion and development of affordable housing and parks projects in his district, including land acquisition; $4 million for developing parks and recreational facilities in the district; and $500,000 for “arts, culture and entertainment,” including “general food