CORAL GABLES — MasTec signed a $296-million contract to engineer and build a cellulosic ethanol facility for Irvine, Calif.-based BlueFire Renewables.
» The City Commission approved zoning rules that will allow the University of Miami to build a 1-million-sq.-ft. mixed-use center, including an outpatient medical center that could be as large as 225,000 square feet.
CUBA — The Cuban government plans to lay off 10% of its payroll — 500,00 workers — and will permit more private businesses in hopes of expanding non-government employment.
DORAL — Private equity fund New Boston Fund paid an undisclosed amount for the 281,623-sq.-ft. One Park Square office tower. Seller Shoma Development has a minority stake in the new ownership group and will help finish the project. Shortly after the purchase, travel technology company Amadeus signed a lease to move its North American headquarters from elsewhere in the county into 105,000 square feet at the park — the largest new office transaction in the county to date in 2010.
MIAMI — The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded $22 million to the Port of Miami to restore a rail line at the port. The line will enable cargo to be moved to an inland distribution center, alleviating traffic congestion in and around the port.
» Condo sales in metro Miami rose 36% in September from the same month in 2009 while existing-home sales fell 6%.
» A new Publix will open in downtown Miami in early 2012, as part of a 57,200-sq.-ft. retail project developed by Fort Lauderdale-based Stiles Corp.
» Daya Medicals is moving its corporate office from Boca Raton to a 15,000-sq.-ft. space in the under-development University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park. The company is developer Wexford Science & Technology's first new-to-market tenant.
» A group led by Miami-based Air Capital Group paid $5 million at a bankruptcy auction to purchase jet engine maintenance company AeroThrust Corp. and all of its facilities.
» Lennar Corp. acquired $740 million of distressed real estate assets in 17 states in three separate transactions, for a total of around 306 properties and 397 loans.
» Palm Beach-based WhaLou Properties paid $37.8 million for Mayfair in the Grove, a 264,153-sq.-ft. open-air office and retail center in Coconut Grove. It had been owned by lender Deutsche Bank Securities after a foreclosure lawsuit.
» Equipment rental company Neff Rental emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a restructuring sponsored by private investment funds.
» Mobile phone distributor Brightstar Corp. acquired Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based OTBT, which will allow Brightstar to enter the U.S. mobile phone activation business.
» AerSale acquired 19 Boeing 747-400 series passenger aircraft from Japan Air Lines and plans to use them to become a provider of after-market engines and material for the aircraft.
» A company managed by developer Jose Milton paid $4.05 million for the incomplete 11-story La Veredita Tower condominiums near the new Florida Marlins baseball park. Spanish bank Caja de Ahorros de Galicia was the seller.
» An affiliate of The Related Group sold the 300-unit Palm Lake Apartments complex for $15 million to California-based non-profit Rainbow Housing Assistance Corp.
» Annapolis, Md.-based Grove Hotel Partners, which leases the 50-room Grove Isle Hotel and Spa, has stopped paying rent to the property's owner, Coconut Grove-based HMG/Courtland Properties.
» Private equity group Miami Icon Hotel Room paid $5.1 million for 15 units, totaling about 15,200 square feet, at the Icon Brickell condominium.
» The Miami Parking Authority agreed to let a non-profit created by BVK/Meka CEO Herman Echevarria take over management of the struggling Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts. The city commission must still approve the deal.
» Discovery Networks Latin America/U.S. Hispanic plans to add some 40 jobs and invest $5 million in expanding its headquarters during the next three years.
» Hyperion Onyx Partners won title at a foreclosure auction to 40 units at the failed Onyx on the Bay condominium project. Hyperion Development Group, out of whose offices Hyperion Onyx operates, owned the debt on the units.
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MIAMI LAKES — BankUnited purchased a small-business lender from Butler Capital Corp. and a municipal leasing business from Koch Financial Corp., for an undisclosed amount. The two companies will be based in Maryland and Arizona.
OPA-LOCKA — Banyan Air Services, which operates out of Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, signed a 20-year, $40-million lease for 135,000 square feet at AVE Aviation & Commerce Center.