Inter Miami doesn’t have the votes for a Miami stadium and commercial complex — yet
In the days leading up to a crucial vote on a plan to turn a city-owned golf course into a massive commercial center and soccer stadium for Inter Miami, it appears commissioners are not yet prepared to vote in favor of the deal.
After months of delays, Miami commissioners are expected on Thursday to at least discuss the terms of the no-bid deal for Miami Freedom Park, a $1 billion real estate development that could replace Melreese golf course with a shopping center, hotel, office park, 25,000-seat stadium and a 58-acre public park. Owners of Miami’s Major League Soccer franchise, including business magnates Jorge and Jose Mas and retired footballer David Beckham, want to lease the city-owned land for 99 years to build the project.
The plan, a part of Mayor Francis Suarez’s agenda since he was elected in 2017, requires approval from four of five commissioners. Commissioner Manolo Reyes has repeatedly pledged to oppose the project since its inception in 2018. In recent days, the four remaining commissioners have told the Miami Herald that they are still reviewing details, or they have not yet made a decision.
“As the commissioner of District 5, the city of Miami’s poorest district, it is my responsibility to ensure our residents and neighborhoods benefit from any city-wide projects,” said Commission Chairwoman Christine King, on Friday. “As of today, I have not decided how I will vote. However, I believe this project has the potential to provide 99 years of opportunities for all districts — I am specifically looking at how this project will benefit the residents of District 5.”
Commissioners could use Thursday’s meeting as a platform to air out their issues with the deal and demand specific terms from Inter Miami’s owners. Commissioner Joe Carollo has in the past negotiated higher fees during public meetings from private businesses who want to use city-owned land, such as Ultra Music Festival.
READ MORE: What the proposed Inter Miami stadium deal says about team name and rent
On Monday, Carollo said he was still combing through the hundreds of pages of legal documents that comprise three proposed lease agreements between the city and Inter Miami’s owners. He suggested Thursday’s meeting will be more about discussing the project than steering toward a quick vote.
“Absolutely, there will be a discussion on terms,” Carollo said. “As of right now, I don’t believe that we’re close to a vote on that. That should not be interpreted that I am against the project.”
Each commissioner said they are generally in favor of a “good deal” for the city to redevelop Melreese and into a complex that would host Inter Miami’s home games, but none committed to supporting the terms that have been made public now for nearly five months.
“I am still reviewing the details because, at the end of the day, the devil is in the details,” said Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla, whose district includes Melreese.
Deal on the table remains unchanged
Commissioner Ken Russell said he would not vote to approve the lease unless it is good for Miami, while alluding to terms he negotiated with Mas and his partners in 2018 before a referendum asking voters if the city should skip the normal bidding process and negotiate a century-long lease solely with the Mas brothers and Beckham. The referendum passed with about 60% support.
At the time, Russell demanded millions be set aside for Miami’s long-stalled Baywalk and Riverwalk plans, and that employees at Miami Freedom Park be paid a living wage.
“I put all of my criteria on the record four years ago when it went on the ballot,” Russell said.
Recent statements suggest Russell is not close to a “yes” vote.
Russell also stated he wants to see a reasonable plan to replace park land that will be upzoned to build the stadium, hotel and office park. In a recent commission meeting, Russell for the first time stated his displeasure with the preliminary plan to replace about 20 acres of upzoned park land with city-owned plots of land on Virginia Key and in Allapattah, Edgewater and Little Havana.
“I am absolutely unhappy with where Freedom Park is on its no-net-loss policy right now,” Russell said. “I’ve not said that before, but I’m saying it right now.”
Carollo also emphasized that his stance is not a response to any of the recent opposition to Miami Freedom Park.
“This has got nothing to do with any of the noise that some are trying to create,” he said. “No one’s going to pressure me to vote for or against something.”
The commissioner did not name names, but the loudest critics of the deal in the past week have been documentary filmmaker Billy Corben and David Samson, the former Miami Marlins executive who negotiated the much-maligned deal to build a ballpark for the baseball team with a public financing plan that has left taxpayers on the hook for nearly $2 billion in loan payments.
Corben produced a video where Samson blasts the proposal for Miami Freedom Park, adding a dose of controversy to the debate the week before the vote. One aspect of the deal that drew criticism even before the Samson video is the minimum rent that Inter Miami would pay the city.
The city and Jorge Mas negotiated a rent floor in 2018, which was included in the referendum where voters authorized the city to negotiate the no-bid agreement. According to the final proposed agreements released in January, the minimum rent amount has not changed. Under the proposal, Inter Miami owners would owe the city $3.57 million annually or 5% of the project’s gross revenues, whichever is greater, and the rent increases would be capped at not more that 4% a year. Meanwhile, real estate prices and rent prices have soared in Miami since 2018.
Mas has vehemently defended the rent floor, arguing that the figure is set above the fair market value assessed in multiple appraisals, and the privately financed plan would have team owners pay for $101 million in improvements to Melreese’s contaminated land, including environmental remediation and other infrastructure improvements.
In January, Díaz de la Portilla suggested new land appraisals might be necessary to assess a fair market rent. On Monday, City Manager Art Noriega confirmed that a new city-ordered appraisal is underway, and it is not expected to be complete by Thursday.
“The decision was made internally over a month ago,” Noriega said.
Noriega, one of the city’s top negotiators on the deal, said he does not expect terms of the existing Miami Freedom Park proposal to change before Thursday’s meeting, echoing a Suarez spokesperson.
This story was originally published April 25, 2022 at 1:18 PM.
