New agreement allows Ultra Music Festival to stay in downtown Miami through 2027
Ultra Music Festival can stay in Bayfront Park through at least 2027 under a renegotiated deal with the city agency that manages Miami’s downtown waterfront parks.
The terms of the agreement that allows organizers to stage the annual three-day electronic music festival in downtown Miami remain largely the same, though the city would raise Ultra’s fees each year by a higher percentage than before.
Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved the terms of a new revocable licensing agreement between Ultra and the Bayfront Park Management Trust, a semi-independent agency responsible for Maurice A. Ferré Park and Bayfront Park. The item passed with no discussion.
In April, the commission voted unanimously to revoke a previous deal with City Hall administrators and give the responsibility back to the Trust, which is chaired by Commissioner Joe Carollo and has in years past managed agreements with Ultra. Oversight of the Ultra agreement transferred to the city manager’s office when in 2019 the festival moved for one year to Virginia Key after conflict with downtown neighbors and political fights led to the festival’s ouster from Bayfront Park.
The Trust has negotiated the proposed deal and requested approval from the commission. Carollo and the Trust’s board will control the revenue from Ultra going forward. The commissioner has said the money could be used for upkeep and improvements to the waterfront parks, though Commissioners Manolo Reyes and Ken Russell suggested some of the dollars could support the city’s general fund. Carollo said he’d be willing to transfer surplus funds from the Trust to the city’s coffers.
The new contract is a year-to-year agreement that allows either the city or Ultra to revoke it during a two-month period after the annual event, which takes place in the last weekend of March. But unlike in the previous deal, the year-to-year arrangement is not indefinite and the new agreement will automatically terminate in May 2027. That end date will force the Trust and Ultra back to the negotiating table in 2027 if they wanted to keep holding the festival in Bayfront Park.
Another negotiated change: A 4% annual rent increase on the $2 million base rent after the 2023 festival. Under the previous agreement signed in early 2020, Ultra was required to pay $2 million with annual increases of 3%. The COVID-19 pandemic derailed the 2020 and 2021 festivals, and the city agreed to keep the fee at $2 million this year and in 2023 as a result.
Other key terms, including how long Ultra can close off public access to the park and the hours the festival can operate, remain unchanged. Several of those issues were the subject of years of conflict between residents of downtown high-rises and the festival. The festival settled the long-running dispute with neighbors in 2021 under terms that have largely remained confidential. This year’s event went smoothly and city officials said they received very few noise complaints.
James Torres, president of the Downtown Neighbors Alliance, told commissioners before Thursday’s vote that neighbors support the new agreement but hopes the Trust will revisit some of the rules around how long the park can be closed off from the public.
Under the agreement, Ultra can close the park for 28 days. Neighbors want this time to count toward an annual cap on the amount of time private events can close down the park. City law requires the park to be open for public access at least 85% of the year.
The agreement allows Ultra’s closure to be exempt from the rule. Torres said he has asked the city to look at this exemption to maximize the number of days the park is open to the public.
“Making exceptions could be a slippery slope,” Torres said.
This story has been updated to reflect unanimous approval of the new agreement between the city and Ultra Music Festival.
This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 1:09 PM with the headline "New agreement allows Ultra Music Festival to stay in downtown Miami through 2027."