By Arian Campo-Flores
MIAMI -- A battle royal has erupted among some of Miami's most powerful economic players over a 10-acre parcel of land on Fisher Island, often dubbed the wealthiest ZIP Code in America.
The list of people involved in the sprawling fight reads like a Who's Who of Miami. It has drawn in Fisher Island's residents, billionaire developers, cruise lines and county officials, and threatens to disrupt operations at one of the busiest cruise ports in the world.
At the heart of the conflict lies a marine terminal on Fisher Island that for about a century has supplied fuel for cargo and cruise ships at PortMiami. A joint venture of developers and investors, including HRP Group, Related Group and Raycliff Capital, bought the property last year and floated plans to replace the fuel depot with new luxury condo towers.
Many residents of Fisher Island, where the median list price is around $12 million, welcomed the move. They hoped it would rid them of what they consider both an eyesore and an environmental hazard. Cruise lines, however, panicked over the prospect of losing their fuel supply, which jolted Miami-Dade County into action. The county is trying to buy the land, while some of the parties spar in the courts.
The dispute imperils the port, which generates $61 billion in economic activity annually for the region. It has prompted criticism of county officials who some say should have stepped in earlier to prevent the sale of the parcel in the first place.
And it has inflamed tensions between Miami's growing legion of wealthy residents and the workers and small-business owners who prop up the city's economy but increasingly feel priced out. A recent protest by opponents of the Fisher Island condo plans featured a banner reading, "Miami Yes, Billionaires No."
"We will be the only port in the country...without its own fuel depot, which is insane," said Joe Garcia, a former Democratic congressman who organized the rally. But "it happens to be located in this billionaire paradise."
The fuel terminal was built in the 1920s, when there was little other than mangroves and coconut palms on Fisher Island. Only in the 1980s did development get under way, eventually producing an exclusive idyll just south of Miami Beach with roughly 800 residences, accessible only by ferry or yacht. Though the "wealthiest ZIP Code" moniker has stuck, it is actually No. 2 by median list price, behind the Newport Coast community in Southern California, according to Realtor.com. ( News Corp, parent of The Wall Street Journal, operates Realtor.com.)
In 2024, TransMontaigne Partners, a fuel terminal operator that then owned the Fisher Island facility, put it up for sale. Though the property was openly on the market, the county only learned about a potential purchase through a media article that year, according to a senior county official familiar with the matter.
In January 2025, TransMontaigne announced that it had reached an agreement to sell the terminal for $180 million to HRP Fisher Island. Under the deal, HRP planned to remove the fuel depot and, starting in 2027, build two luxury condo towers with penthouse units priced as high as $100 million.
The Miami-Dade County mayor's administration began to study other ways of getting fuel, including barging it in from a port in Fort Lauderdale, transporting it by rail, or building a new terminal on the port or nearby. But officials deemed all the options too costly or unworkable.
Through much of 2025, the county also negotiated with HRP to try to replace it as the buyer, said Jimmy Morales, chief operations officer for the county, in public remarks. But the development group made offers that were "very, very, very expensive," he said.
So, with the deal expected to close in the fall, county officials decided to play hardball.
At a hastily scheduled special meeting of the county commission in September 2025, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava asked commissioners to authorize her administration to acquire the fuel facility, by either negotiating a transaction or seizing it through eminent domain.
"Miami would be at an extreme competitive disadvantage if we were to lose access to fuel," she told commissioners.
Flanked by fellow cruise-company officials, Jason Liberty, chief executive of Royal Caribbean Group, said no major U.S. port operates without its own fuel supply. "It's a matter of strategic economic security for Miami-Dade and for Florida," he said.
Some commissioners expressed frustration to be learning about a potential crisis at such a late stage. A few asked why the administration hadn't stepped in earlier to try to buy the fuel terminal.
"To sit here now in an emergency meeting, say we're going to take someone's property...it's a tough pill to swallow," said Commissioner René García.
The board ended up directing the mayor to try to negotiate for the fuel facility, but didn't immediately allow her to use eminent domain. Approval to seize the land came at a meeting the following month -- one day after the sale of the terminal to HRP closed.
The Fisher Island Community Association, which represents property owners, and Fisher Island Club, a country club, sued Miami-Dade in federal court in January, seeking to block the county from exercising eminent domain. They argued, among other things, that such a move would be unconstitutional and that the fuel storage tanks were decrepit and environmentally risky.
They also said that under the terms of an agreement that the Fisher Island entities struck with HRP in October, they had obtained rights to about four of the parcel's 10 acres in exchange for supporting the development project and providing millions of dollars worth of club memberships for the future condo owners. That deal, they argued, gave them veto power over any potential sale of the property.
In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the county made several arguments, including that the property rights the Fisher Island entities were claiming were tied to certain conditions that hadn't been met.
Labor advocates have entered the fray, too. A union representing maritime workers urged the county to prevent the removal of the fuel terminal. So did participants at the recent rally organized by Garcia, the former congressman.
"It is a fight over whether Miami will continue to work for working people or for the ultrarich," said Thomas Kennedy, an immigration advocate who attended.
Talks between the county and HRP have continued since October. A senior county official said the dialogues have been productive and could result in a resolution soon -- a prospect that doesn't sit well with the Fisher Island interests.
Earlier this week, they sued again, this time in state court to try to stop HRP from selling the land to the county, claiming that such a move would breach their earlier deal. They allege that HRP has agreed in principle to sell the property to the county for $200 million, plus another $200 million payable over 20 years.
Spokespeople for HRP and the county declined to comment.
"They need our consent to sell," said James Ferraro, chairman of the Fisher Island Community Association. Given the island's claim to four of the 10 acres, that translates into 40% of the purchase price or conferral of the 4 acres, he said.
As for the fuel storage tanks, Ferraro said: "They have to go one way or the other."
Write to Arian Campo-Flores at arian.campo-flores@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 31, 2026 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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