I was referring to the equity as in capital or money. In order to build you have to have financing (debt) and capital (equity). So say you are building a $100m project and the most a bank will loan you is 60%, then you have to have the other 40% in cash (equity). From what I heard the group putting up that equity for the residential portion backed out. They were still going to go forward with the Whole Foods and garage with the ideal that they would find a new equity partner or iron out and issues later.

I don't know if that's true, that just what I've heard.

MDM moves forward with market and garage, rental tower out

MDM Development is working to begin vertical construction on the parking pedestal with a Whole Foods Market on the ground floor at its downtown Miami site. But the planned rental tower above it is on hold.

MDM had been negotiating with Equity Residential to build more than 400 apartments as part of the third phase of its Metropolitan Miami project, dubbed Met 3. But that deal is not going forward, according to sources.

MDM would only comment on what it will build.

“We are moving forward with construction of the much-anticipated Whole Foods Market and accompanying parking pedestal with the Met 3 site. Regarding future development on the Met 3 site, we will continue to evaluate all our options as we move forward with the ongoing development of Metropolitan Miami as a whole,” MDM VP Tim Weller said.

Metropolitan Miami, at 200 S.E. Second St., is slated to have a 37,000-square-foot Whole Foods on the ground floor, topped by 10 levels of parking.MDM expects that the supermarket would be open by the fourth quarter of 2013.

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/print-edition/2012/07/27/commercial-real-estate-roundup.html

Looks like they have now cleared up the liens that were placed on the property.

As a resident of the Epic Hotel and Residences, I can see the lot for Met Square undergoing some construction and excavating. Only a partial of the lot is currently being excavated which seems odd unless it's in phases???

I believe the only permit that they currently have is for tree removal.

The plan for Met SQ was to stagger the construction so that it starts six months after Met 3 since they will share parking.

There is now a permit pending for archaeological excavation - which could indicate that they found some type of native burial ground at the site. This could potentially delay the project for some time.

Just to clarify, that archeological permit is for Met Square, not Met 3?

I think so - but not sure.