Clubs face Tropical Park sticker shock. County rents soar under private operator

Putting on a weekend dog show at Tropical Park’s Equestrian Center used to cost the South Dade Kennel Club less than $3,000, but that was before Miami-Dade County hired a private events company to run the place.

Earlier this year, volunteer club leaders said they were shocked when the company, Loud and Live, quoted a cost of $26,000 to use the county-owned, publicly funded Equestrian Center again — $21,000 in rental fees and a $5,000 security deposit.

“We’re a little club,” said Kate Long, club vice president. “We can’t afford Madison Square Garden.”

Organizers said the skyrocketed venue costs at the Equestrian Center prompted the Kennel Club to scrap the idea of hosting another dog show at Tropical Park.

The privatization of the public facility comes as the county is planning to spend $102 million in tax dollars upgrading the Equestrian Center — the most expensive construction project in the Parks budget this year, at a time when funds are tight for Miami-Dade.

Last summer, county commissioners approved a proposal by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava to turn over the Equestrian Center campus to Loud and Live, a live-events company based in Doral. Loud and Live beat out two other bidders for the 20-year county deal, which was authorized in legislation that included the higher rental rates for the Equestrian Center.

A company executive said Loud and Live helped Miami-Dade administrators research the new rates to retire outdated prices and move Equestrian Center costs closer to the current market. Under the deal, the company must pay a share of its event revenue at the park to Miami-Dade.

Loud and Live also produces the CountryFest rodeo festival, the signature county event at the Equestrian Center that County Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez hosts each year.

Last summer’s legislation approving the Loud and Live deal attracted scrutiny for an obscure provision in the contract: language added by Rodriguez requiring the events company to pay $250,000 yearly to an unknown charity called the A3 Foundation.

As the Miami Herald first reported in February, Miami-Dade prosecutors are now looking into the charity as part of a criminal investigation. The Herald stories raised questions about the county funding the A3 Foundation received to put on CountryFest and whether all of those dollars went to the county event.

Miami-Dade commissioners in September shifted the Loud and Live payments from the A3 Foundation to the county Parks Foundation, following the Herald reports.

The annual CountryFest rodeo is one of several events Loud and Live has put on at the Equestrian Center in recent years. Under the county management agreement approved in July, the company will be putting on the events in a public facility it now runs.

The Equestrian Center agreement is the latest venture that deepens Loud and Live’s ties with both local governments and local elected officials. The company manages a city amphitheater in Doral’s main park and produces Miami’s Coconut Grove Arts Festival on city parks and streets. While pursuing its county deal, Loud and Live employed the top political adviser to Levine Cava, Christian Ulvert, in what the company describes as the role of communications consultant.

Special events generating more dollars at Tropical Park

A recent visit to Tropical Park showed the area under Loud and Live’s management functioning as a special events campus. Portable air conditioners ran outside a temporary event venue set up for an immersive tribute to the late Cuban comedian Álvarez Guedes, a theatrical experience where tickets started at $79.

A short walk away, a red-and-white striped tent housed the pirate-themed Circus Lena, where children get in for $16 and adults pay $38. The road leading to the Equestrian Center was closed to the public, with signs promoting the “Baller League” indoor soccer exhibition matches in a temporary arena set up inside the facility, where tickets start at $35.

The blocked-off road to the Equestrian Center disrupted Raul Capote’s regular bike circuit around Tropical Park on a recent weekday morning.

“It’s ridiculous. I used to bike the whole loop,” said the 73-year-old retiree, who drove to Tropical Park from his home in the International Gardens neighborhood about 7 miles away. “We’re paying our taxes to the county for this. Then we can’t use it.”

A spokesperson for the Parks Department noted that Tropical Park visitors can still walk along a perimeter road that runs parallel to the fenced-in stables area behind the Equestrian Center arenas. But that route still would have had Capote turning around his bike because the road empties into a parking lot controlled by Loud and Live that was fenced off from the rest of Tropical Park. Loud and Live said the lot closure is temporary while company staff disassemble an event space set up for a soccer exhibition.

In its statement, the Parks Department also said that the new Equestrian Center rates reflect what event organizers like the South Dade Kennel Club would be charged elsewhere.

“These rates are based on market research and are in line with comparable municipalities and facilities,” the department said in a statement. “Miami-Dade Parks remains committed to balancing community access with the operational needs of our facilities while continuing to serve Miami-Dade residents.”

Higher county rates at the new Tropical Park Event Complex

While it used to cost $600 a day to rent one of the Equestrian Center’s three open-air covered arenas, the new daily rate is $2,500. Horse stalls that rented for $6 a day now cost $49. While community groups said they previously got free use of the grassy areas outside the Equestrian Center, the county now allows Loud and Live to rent those out for $1,500 a day.

Paula Perlmutter, secretary of the South Dade Kennel Club, said Loud and Live suggested the group could save money by using Tropical Park’s free parking instead of renting some of the area right outside the Equestrian Center.

“People with dogs and crates can’t walk that far,” Perlmutter said.

Jose Garcia-Tuñon, senior vice president at Loud and Live, said the Kennel Club’s price quote was higher because the group wanted exclusive use of some of the lots around the Equestrian Center — and that those areas would be free if organizers agreed to let them be open to the public during the dog show.

“We’re not preventing them from using the parking lot,” he said. “But if you want it for your exclusive use, then there is a rate involved.”

Garcia-Tuñon said the Equestrian Center’s prior rates were outdated and made it difficult to put on events there without it costing Miami-Dade money. He said Loud and Live researched other venues in South Florida to help the Parks Department determine new prices that made more sense for taxpayers while still keeping the Equestrian Center viable for local nonprofit events.

The new rates “reflect a necessary modernization of a pricing structure that had not kept pace with changing market conditions and the increasing costs associated with operating and maintaining a large-scale equestrian and event facility,” Loud and Live said in a statement. “The updated pricing structure is intended to preserve the Complex as an affordable and vibrant community resource ... without putting an undue financial burden on the County or taxpayers.”

Garcia-Tuñon also said the Parks Department has free use of the Equestrian Center for 50 days throughout the year, giving the county the option “to partner with community organizations and non-profits at their discretion to ensure maximum participation and usage.”

Miami-Dade spending $102 million to modernize Tropical Park’s Equestrian Center

Loud and Live’s new events operation at what the company now calls the “Tropical Park Event Complex” overlaps with Miami-Dade’s plans to spend $102 million upgrading the Equestrian Center.

While detailed design proposals from construction firms pursuing the two-year project aren’t due until June, county bidding documents describe significant upgrades throughout the 50-acre site.

That includes a new visitors center with an event room large enough to hold 300 people; a stables complex with more than 200 stalls, plus wash stations and hay storage; an event lawn for concerts and farmers markets; and an air-conditioned arena to replace one of the three open-air arenas that are already there.

Miami-Dade plans to pay for the Equestrian Center upgrade with borrowed dollars that would be paid back in future years out of the countywide general fund — the $2.8 billion pool of property taxes, sales taxes and other revenue that pays for police, transit, jails and other core government services.

The Equestrian Center is on track for its $102 million makeover at a time when Miami-Dade is expecting a budget crunch.

Countywide deficits are forecast to hit $324 million by 2030 if revenues don’t exceed their targets and services aren’t cut. This year’s Parks budget lists $74 million in unfunded construction expenses for replacing playgrounds countywide and more than $200 million in unfunded costs related to improving greenways across Miami-Dade.

Administration officials said the Equestrian Center project will bring crucial repairs to the park’s stables — dilapidated relics from the land’s former life as the Tropical Park Race Track before Dade County voters approved purchasing the real estate for $12 million in 1974. The buildings are under a repair-or-demolish order from the county’s own Unsafe Structures Board.

The Loud and Live deal also ramps up the Equestrian Center’s longstanding role as an events hub for Miami-Dade. Since the 1980s, the Equestrian Center has played host to the for-profit event called Santa’s Enchanted Forest — a holiday-lights carnival that was replaced by Loud and Live’s Christmas Wonderland in 2023. Loud and Live also has been renting the Equestrian Center from the Parks Department for the fall’s House of Horror Haunted Carnival.

Rodriguez, whose district includes Tropical Park, sponsored the last-minute legislation passed on July 16, 2025, that awarded the 20-year Equestrian Center management agreement to Loud and Live.

At a March commission meeting, Rodriguez praised both the Equestrian Center redo and the Loud and Live deal as good decisions for Miami-Dade.

“This is an investment in something that the voters voted for that is not only deteriorating, but is condemned,” Rodriguez said, adding about Loud and Live’s Equestrian Center deal: “They generate revenue for this county. Something that everybody here should probably pay attention to and mirror that model.”

The Levine Cava administration estimates the Loud and Live contract will mean at least $1.3 million annually for Miami-Dade over the life of the 20-year deal and an optional 10-year renewal period. Loud and Live collects the rental fees and pays up to 25% of its revenue to Miami-Dade as rent. The higher rental fees approved by Miami-Dade mean more revenue for the county and for Loud and Live.

A modernized Equestrian Center would be appealing for Sergio Garcia, an organizer of amateur horse shows at Tropical Park. But he said his nonprofit organization is already struggling to afford the as-is rates charged by the Equestrian Center today.

“The prices tripled from what we used to pay for,” said Garcia, president of the Florida Paso Fino Horse Association, which still plans to put on five horse shows at Tropical Park a year.

“If we’re already paying those prices, imagine what they’ll charge when those old stalls are torn down and they build new ones,” he said. “We’ll be out of there.”

Loud and Live’s Tropical Park deal brought scrutiny to A3 Foundation

While CountryFest still received $500,000 from the Miami-Dade Parks budget this year, most small nonprofits don’t have county dollars to offset the higher costs at the Equestrian Center.

The Miami Obedience Club is another volunteer club that used to put on dog shows at the Equestrian Center. While the Kennel Club members would compete for best breed characteristics of their dogs, the Obedience Club focuses on skills — how well a dog follows instructions, runs through obstacles and heels on a leash.

Last fall, Club President Patti Lieb sent out an email to vendors and others with bad news: The Obedience Club was canceling its October show at Tropical Park because the price soared — from about $2,600 for a three-day event to $4,000 just for one day in the Equestrian Center.

“The total cost of our last December and March shows combined don’t even come close to what just one day of rental would cost,” Lieb wrote in an Oct. 8 email that she shared with the Herald. “Unfortunately, there is no other suitable area in Dade County to hold our trials.”

A week after that email went out, Loud and Live President Tony Albelo did reach out to Lieb in an effort to save the fall dog show. Albelo was following up on a meeting he had with Lieb to talk about discounts for the Obedience Club.

“Although the county-approved rate is $2500 a day for the use of the arena, we are willing to comp you two days,” Albelo wrote, outlining a discount worth about $5,000 to the club. “We are standing by for your decision.”

Lieb told the Herald it was too late to undo the cancellation notices the club sent to vendors and others. She also said Albelo told her in a phone call that the discount was a one-time break and that Loud and Live would try to work with Miami-Dade to come up with a pricing package the Obedience Club could afford.

Lieb said she’s inquired about lower prices since then but hasn’t been able to secure the kind of rates the Obedience Club could absorb.

“Our club has always loved working out of Tropical Park. We have provided dog training classes and dog shows at Tropical for residents for over 20 years,” she wrote in her Oct. 13, 2025, response to Albelo. “We are hopeful that arrangements can be made so that we can continue serving the dogs/residents of Miami-Dade County at Tropical Park moving forward.”

Lieb said her club hasn’t come up with a plan yet for holding the shows elsewhere, given the limited options for venues that are affordable and have the kind of sand-and-dirt floors found at the Equestrian Center that kept dogs safe during jumps and agility demonstrations.

South Dade Kennel Club volunteers said they might try to move their show to Broward County, where they’ve found a venue with more affordable rates. Perlmutter, the Kennel Club’s secretary, said her members would rather return to the Equestrian Center if Miami-Dade could find a way to make it affordable again.

“It is like they’re pricing the community right out of our park,” she said. “It’s so sad. Because we loved that park.”