David Beckham and his business partners have "released the first image of a proposed stadium complex and park that would replace a city-owned golf course" near Miami Int'l Airport and provide a home for a future MLS franchise, according to Joey Flechas of the MIAMI HERALD. An image and video shared yesterday by the group comes "less than a week before a City Commission meeting where Miami's elected officials will consider putting the proposal to a referendum in November." The group also "released a summary of its vision with some new details, which includes a 25,000-seat stadium, restaurant and retail space, and office park, hotels, soccer fields, a public park and a 'golf entertainment facility.'" The group said that the "redevelopment plan" will cost $1B. Miami Beckham United co-Owner Jorge Mas "shared the new image and video with the Miami Herald and tweeted it out" yesterday afternoon. The redevelopment site is "being called Miami Freedom Park." Mas and Beckham on Thursday will ask commissioners to "hold a referendum in November so voters can decide if they want to lease the public land to the soccer group, who would privately fund construction of the complex." The team owners would pay $4-5M in "rent to the city annually and pay state, county, city and school board taxes on 73 acres of rezoned land," an estimated $44M in "new annual taxes across all jurisdictions" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/9). In Ft. Lauderdale, Dave Hyde writes the redevelopment plans "pass the first test." They "promise no public money will be spent and they demand your interest." Hyde: "Mas has everyone's attention. We'll see where it goes now" (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 7/9). But Miami-based WZAB-AM's Grant Stern tweeted, "Sending the entire issue to a referendum this Thursday without any time for the public to vet the plan and the details is not fair to residents who deserve the time to evaluate such a consequential decision. ... There is ample room to call the @CityofMiami's history of real estate deals to be less than stellar" (TWITTER.com, 7/8).
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AMENITIES PROPOSED FOR MIAMI FREEDOM PARK, SURROUNDING COMPLEX
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25,000-seat stadium
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600,000 square feet of entertainment, restaurant and retail space
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400,000 square feet of office space
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Golf entertainment facility
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3,750 parking spaces, most of them underground, under 23 acres of public soccer fields
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750 hotel rooms
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110 acres of open green space
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