Miami Gardens also bought about 14 acres for $3.5 million from the Archdiocese of Miami on Aug. 7, according to Miami-Dade County records. The 18330 NW 12th Ave. site will house a senior citizens facility and a park, Crew says.

Both cities avoided tapping into cash reserves to make the recent purchases. Sunny Isles, which cut its overall budget by 12%, obtained a $20 million loan from Bank of America in May and has money saved in the city's capital improvements fund to cover remaining property acquisition and construction costs. Miami Gardens, in addition to the city's capital improvements fund, held two recent bond sales backed by Bank of America to cover the property costs.

While nobody has escaped the credit freeze unscathed, municipal governments are still considered by lenders to be qualified buyers and safe borrowers, says Steven Hurwitz, senior vice president of Continental Real Estate Cos. in Coral Gables.

"Banks know that governments have the ability to close," Hurwitz says. "The other thing is they are long-term players who don't buy land for appreciation or to sell in the near future. Obtaining financing isn't as much as an issue, as long as the [elected officials] give their approval."

Neither city is done shopping, the city managers say. "These are not routine transactions," Crew says. "You don't see elected officials signing off on these every day. It takes a lot of guts" in this economic climate.

And this is an optimal time for solvent governments to make acquisitions and shape their cities' futures, Hurwitz says. "This is a good opportunity for these governments to reclaim private land for the benefit of the public," he says. "They can take a [stalled] development site and turn it into a park or recreation center."