If city approves Inter Miami soccer complex, which neighborhood might get a new park?
If a proposed Inter Miami soccer stadium and commercial complex is approved to replace Melreese golf course, new parks will have to be built somewhere else in the city.
Miami requires that lost park space be replaced with other parks within city limits. An important vote on the proposed redevelopment of Melreese, which is zoned as a city park, is scheduled for April 28.
Commissioners are expected to consider a key approval that could put Inter Miami’s owners, including retired footballer David Beckham and businessmen Jorge and Jose Mas, one major step closer to redeveloping Melreese into Miami Freedom Park. The vote would determine whether the city will lease the publicly owned land to the team for 99 years, but none of the lease documents address where new parks might be built.
Documents obtained by the Miami Herald through a public records request show the city and Inter Miami owners are considering four city-owned plots of land for new parks. The city is considering converting city-owned properties that are not currently zoned as parkland and creating new parks.
The park replacement plan and other public benefits tied to the redevelopment would have to be a part of the rezoning plan, and commissioners will need to approve zoning changes at a later date.
City planners are still reviewing the rezoning application, known as a “special area plan,” and it could be several months before commissioners vote on the zoning. Team officials have said that of the 73 acres that Inter Miami would lease from the city, 20 acres would need a zoning change.
Here are some of the options for new parks in the city:
Virginia Key
About 7.8 acres on the northwest section of Virginia Key, next to the wastewater treatment plant, could be transformed into playing fields, according to City Manager Art Noriega.
“That’s always been earmarked as far as the master plan as a sort of mixed-used public recreation area,” Noriega told the Miami Herald. “We’ve talked about maybe doing sports fields there.”
The city manager said that over the years, there have been discussions with the Village of Key Biscayne to create more playing fields to accommodate growing youth soccer and tennis players.
Outside LoanDepot Park
New parks could also go on about 3.6 acres across two lots directly west of LoanDepot Park, where the Miami Marlins play.
One lot with a paved roadway through it runs north to south between Northwest Fifth and Sixth streets, behind residential properties. The other is a grassy field across the street to the south.
The land has been used as parking space for the stadium and as a makeshift baseball field, Noriega said.
“It had kind of this hybrid use even though it was always designated as a parking area,” he said.
This city-owned land was at one time considered a possible location for the Inter Miami stadium, years before Beckham was formally awarded a franchise. Beckham and his investors were unable to buy adjacent privately owned parcels from individual landowners and eventually abandoned that plan.
Near Miami City Cemetery
The city is also looking at about 3 acres directly north of the Miami City Cemetery on Northeast 19th Street, behind a city fire station.
“There’s a soccer goal there but it’s never been activated as a park,” Noriega said. “It’s been kind of walking like a duck and talking like a duck, but we’ve never activated it as a park, and we’ve never done the park improvements that you’d formally make.”
City parks and recreation maintenance facility
A city parks and recreation maintenance facility that sits on about 6.1 acres behind the fire station at Northwest 12th Avenue and 20th Street could be turned into a park.
The city is considering using a section of that land in Allapattah to create new green space.
Noriega said there are other properties that are not on the current list that could later contribute to the roughly 20-acre replacement plan.
One example is a short drive from the parks and recreation facility. At the corner of Northwest Eighth Avenue and 23rd Street, a patch of land at the former location of the Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium could be considered. Noriega said the county deeded the land to the city with restrictions that it must be used for recreation
“It’s never been zoned for it,” Noriega said.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 11:59 AM.
