Voters will decide in November if Miami should allow the Beckham group to develop 131 acres of public landGETTY IMAGES
Miami commissioners yesterday "voted to hold a November referendum to ask voters if the city should negotiate a no-bid lease" with David Beckham’s MLS ownership group to build a $1B "commercial and soccer stadium complex on the city’s only municipal golf course," according to a front-page piece by Joey Flechas of the MIAMI HERALD. Voters will decide if the city should "make an exception to its competitive bidding law to allow the administration to negotiate the no-bid deal with the Beckham group, a for-profit private entity, to develop 131 acres of public land" on the Melreese Country Club. The Beckham group wants to "lease 73 acres of Melreese to build 1 million square feet of office, retail, and commercial space, 23 acres of public soccer fields, a 10.5 acre 25,000-seat soccer stadium and 750 hotel rooms." Miami Beckham United co-Owner Jorge Mas said that his group would also "pay to clean up the contaminated soil." Mas estimates that the cleanup will "cost less than his budget" of $35M, although others "fear it could be significantly more." A new 58-acre public park would be "built on the rest of the site," and the Beckham group would give the city $20M in "annual installments over the course of 30 years to make improvements to that park or any other park space in the city." If the referendum "passes in November, Beckham’s odyssey will continue." The City Commission would "still have to approve a no-bid lease with the Beckham group with a supermajority vote, meaning four of five commissioners" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/19).
TURN TO THE PEOPLE: In Miami, Greg Cote notes had this measure "failed to get on the November ballot, the Beckham group might have turned to Doral, except MLS wanted the stadium in the city of Miami proper." The whole idea of "top-level soccer here might have collapsed" if City Commissioner Ken Russell "hadn’t turned agreeable" yesterday. Public support in November "is anticipated." Based on the Beckham group’s internal polling, Mas said, "We’re at 70 percent." The city and county were so "burned by the Marlins Park deal that egregiously favored" former Marlins Owner Jeffrey Loria that there will be "exaggerated due diligence on this." That is even as Mas "keeps repeating that no taxpayer dollars will be involved" (MIAMI HERALD, 7/19).
