Miami-Dade County Courthouse at sunrise. Photo: J. Albert Diaz/ALM

Miami-Dade County has eliminated the parent company of the Brightline passenger train and another development group from the competition to build a new civil courthouse and left three  groups in the running for construction.

Five development teams started the process vying to build the courthouse, including an unsolicited joint proposal from Coral Gables-based Florida East Coast Industries LLC and El Paso, Texas-based Hunt Cos. Inc. FECI is the parent company of Brightline, which in November announced it's changing its name to Virgin Trains USA after Richard Branson's Virgin Group took a minority stake.

The first round looked at qualifications and although the FECI-Hunt team was eliminated, it will remain as an alternate in case one of the three finalists opts out in the second and final round.

The three companies still in the running are M-S-E Judicial Partners LLC, a partnership of the DLR Group and Suffolk Construction; Plenary Group USA Concessions Ltd., whose partners include design and architectural firm HOK and Los Angeles-based Tutor Perini Corp.; and Sacyr Infrastructure USA, a partnership of Sacyr SA, AECOM and Plaza Construction, according to a Dec. 11 county memo.

Next, they are being asked to submit project specifics, including cost and technical plans, according to the memo.

The other eliminated team was a partnership among Toronto-based investment firm Fengate Capital Management Ltd., Miami-based Arquitectonica, Colorado-based Hensel Phelps and others.

The county wants the new courthouse built under a public-private partnership with the private sector designing, building and maintaining the building while fronting the project cost. The county would repay the development team over time.

The courthouse is set to rise on a half-acre owned by the county. It's now is a park and parking lots on the northwest corner of Flagler Street and Northwest First Avenue just west of the existing 1928 courthouse at 73 W. Flagler St. Its problems include termites, mold, and water and plumbing leaks.

A selection committee reviewed the five applications and qualifications in the first round, heard oral presentations and scored the teams. The M-S-E Judicial Partners LLC team scored the highest, followed by Plenary Group and Sacyr in third place, according to a selection committee memo to the county Internal Services Department.

FECI-Hunt placed fourth, which allows it to stay as an alternate, and Fengate placed last.

The selection committee comprises five voting members, including county staff members from the Finance and Internal Services departments as well as a Florida International University representative and retired Miami-Dade Chief Circuit Judge Joseph Farina.

County administrators reviewed and upheld the selection committee's recommendation.

The county has been trying for years to build a new courthouse and find the financing. In 2014, voters struck down a $390 million bond measure to finance a new courthouse.

Now, the county has vowed it won't use property tax revenue to pay for the project.  Revenue sources include the remainder of a $50 million voter-approved bond and proceeds from the future sale of county property, including the existing courthouse.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez recommending a 1-acre, county-owned lot at the Children's Courthouse to the north. But many in the legal community pushed for the Flagler site.

In July, the County Commission voted 10-0 to select the Flagler site despite a warning from Gimenez of higher costs.

County administrators estimated in November that the first-year cost to the county would be 49 percent more than previously predicted in part because the Flagler site will require a rent payment.

The property was purchased with the help of a Federal Transit Administration grant requiring lease payments for nontransit uses.

The County Commission is scheduled to approve a development agreement in April 2020, and construction would start the following July.

Related stories: 

First-Year Courthouse Price Tag Jumps 49 Percent in Miami-Dade After Location Change

New Miami Civil Courthouse Site Selected With Construction Set for 2020

Brightline Miami-Dade Courthouse Plan Stays in the Running, Along With Four Others

Miami Judges Want to Hear From You: Feedback Invited on New Courthouse Design

Miami-Dade Postpones Brightline Courthouse Site Decision