The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners has approved a US$14 million study into the feasibility of Asian casino giant Genting Group and its local partner, Meridiam Infrastructure North America Corp, building a US$600 million monorail connecting the city of Miami with Miami Beach.
The study, expected to take around 18 months, will see engineers consult with county, Miami and Miami Beach officials before Commissioners vote on the whether to proceed with the monorail plan once the study is complete.
If the final proposal is approved, the monorail system would start at a new station to be built on 30 acres of land Genting purchased in 2011 upon which it hopes to one day develop a casino complex dubbed Resorts World Miami.
Such a development would require changes to the state’s gaming law, but that hasn’t stopped Genting from powering ahead with associated infrastructure plans – including approval in 2017 to develop a 300-room hotel which would also see it refurbish a connected national bus terminal.
The monorail itself would not require any substantial input of equity from Genting Group with the majority to come from private fund raising and up to US$77 million from Meridiam.
According to a Friday report by The Edge Markets, the monorail project would likely be undertaken by an operating unit of Genting Malaysia, whose subsidiaries include Resorts World Miami LLC and Resorts World Omni LLC.
