Beckham may have another play in Overtown. Partner wants to develop land there.

The David Beckham group may not be done with Overtown, with local partner Jorge Mas saying he has a plan for the former stadium site as Miami-Dade tries to rebuild a public-housing project that sits across the street.

Miami-Dade in March released a request for proposals to redevelop the Culmer Place and Culmer Gardens, inviting private developers to pursue local and federal dollars to expand properties within blocks of each other off Northwest Sixth Avenue. Sitting between the two clusters of county-owned town homes is a six-acre vacant lot the Beckham group purchased in 2016 when it was pursuing a Major League Soccer stadium in Overtown.

“I know there is a request for proposals out for redevelopment of Culmer Gardens,” Mas said during an interview Monday with the Magic City Soccer website. “That will be something very nice for the neighborhood there. Obviously our parcel is dead center. And I think there’s something innovative there that we can do. And I’d like to be part of that. ... If the stadium doesn’t go there, I’d like to see that site go for the best use possible for the neighborhood.”

Beckham’s Overtown land has taken a backseat to the soccer group’s pursuit of a new stadium site at Miami’s Melreese golf course about five miles away. But with Miami-Dade inviting bids from developers on the Culmer project, the Beckham Overtown holdings could become relevant again at County Hall.

County bid documents for the housing project encourage proposers to offer private land near the Culmer complexes as a way to speed up construction, which will involve building a portion of the new residences before demolishing any of the existing 226 units. Built in the 1970s and 1980s, the Culmer complexes need significant upgrades and the county plan would replace them with a new, expanded complex for the hundreds of existing residents and additional units for new tenants.

Like the ongoing redevelopment of Miami-Dade’s Liberty Square housing complex, the Culmer project would include a mix of subsidized and market-rate units. Along with public housing for existing low-income residents at Culmer, the project would include a collection of apartments and town homes in the “affordable” and “workforce” range that target renters with enough income to pay more. Developers use a mix of private, federal and local funds to build the projects, and earn profits from built-in fees that can be worth millions of dollars.

A spokeswoman for Beckham’s Major League Soccer franchise said Friday that Mas “will not be bidding on Culmer Gardens. He does have ideas for the Overtown land, but all [are] preliminary right now, so nothing to talk about in detail.”

In January 2018, while Overtown was still the Beckham group’s public choice for a stadium site for its Inter Miami squad, Mas met with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Housing Director Michael Liu about the future of Culmer. At the time, Gimenez said the Beckham group was exploring whether ground-level stores, restaurants and parking could service an Overtown stadium next door.

That possibility fizzled as Mas shifted the 25,000-seat stadium to the Melreese site. Miami-Dade’s pursuit of a Culmer redevelopment picked up speed in the months that followed. The Gimenez administration convened a series of resident meetings last summer and fall, circulated draft bid documents and released the final request for proposals on March 15. Bids are due by May 27.

The Culmer plan centers on a joint project with the city of Miami, which would provide money and land to make the project work. Bid documents say $50 million is anticipated from the city-controlled Overtown Community Redevelopment Agency, and that Miami may contribute more money through bond funding.

Miami-Dade said it wants to swap the county-owned six-acre Culmer Gardens site for Miami’s four-acre Henry Reeves Park.

The city would build a new park once Culmer Gardens is demolished, and Miami-Dade would use the old Reeves Park acreage and Culmer Place to build a far larger complex to replace the existing housing units. Housing officials said existing residents won’t have to move until new units are ready for them. By using multiple sites, Miami-Dade can build new housing units before demolishing existing ones, allowing residents to move directly into a modern home without having to be moved elsewhere temporarily.

Adding private land near Culmer could give the county more flexibility, since it would give the developer another option for constructing residences without having to touch the existing Culmer complex. The county proposal also requires developers to propose options if Miami-Dade is unable to secure the Reeves site from Miami, which would make an extra building site even more valuable.

“If it’s an empty site [and] a site with very close proximity, we can use that to build there first,” Jorge Cibran, the county’s director of housing development, told potential Culmer bidders at a March 27 meeting on the project. “Then it’s to the benefit of the residents, because we’re expediting the process.”

When Miami-Dade released its first set of draft bid documents in July, there was no provision for developers offering private land. A second draft in September allowed developers to submit land within two miles of the Culmer site. The final request for proposals limited private land that’s offered to within a one-mile radius. Liu said the shrinking radius was based on the need to keep the option for temporary housing units for Culmer residents as close as possible to their current homes.

Along with the six acres in Overtown that the Beckham group bought for about $19 million three years ago, the soccer partners have another three acres of county land off Sixth Avenue under contract for $9 million. Miami-Dade agreed to delay required installment payments until litigation over the no-bid sale is resolved, and the case is awaiting a decision from the Florida Supreme Court on whether to hear the dispute.

Mas employs one of Gimenez’s sons, C.J. Gimenez, as a lobbyist in Miami on the Melreese proposal. Mas and the county mayor had been in talks about bringing a Major League Soccer training facility to a county park before the Beckham group opted to build the facility in Broward County. In March, Fort Lauderdale commissioners approved negotiations with Mas to build the facility, including an exhibition stadium to hold the first two MLS seasons for the Miami soccer squad, on city land.

Mas also appeared multiple times on Gimenez’s public calendar during the last several weeks. Gimenez’s office wouldn’t disclose the topic. On March 14, Gimenez communications director Myriam Marquez said Mas and the mayor met that day on “economic development and continuing to diversify [the] County’s jobs.” Gimenez said recently his administration was trying to lure “major” investment funds to Miami-Dade, and that the Melreese complex “could be the place” for them.

Gimenez said he has no plans to recuse himself from matters involving Beckham’s soccer partnership.

“My son and I don’t talk about it,” Gimenez said. “He has to deal with the city of Miami. That’s what he’s doing. He and I don’t talk about it. ... I’m the mayor of Miami-Dade County. ... I’m interested in bringing opportunity [and] diversifying the economy of Miami-Dade County. If I think it’s good for Miami-Dade County, that’s what I’m going to do.”

The redevelopment of Culmer could make the Beckham holdings a natural location for a project unrelated to the housing complex. New ground-floor retail and other commercial spaces would offer a chance to bring more foot traffic and amenities to a neighborhood a few blocks from a Metrorail station and the Miami River.

And while the Beckham property sits next door to Culmer, Liu said developers have plenty of options if they want to offer the county private property within a mile of the project. “There are a lot of properties around there that are vacant,” Liu said.

This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 6:00 AM.