Amid Pushback At Melreese, David Beckham To Apply For Inter Miami FC Stadium Approval At Overtown Assemblage

The advancement of plans to build a stadium for Miami’s newest professional sports team, Inter Miami FC, is not going well amid pushback over the referendum to allow major developers to redevelop Melreese Golf Course into an office pack with a soccer stadium. At least 2 city commissioners are now fully against the redevelopment bid, known as Freedom Park, which would see one of Miami’s last public parks and public golf courses redeveloped into a $1 billion mixed-use development including office space, retail and commercial space. David Beckham and his partners will now move ahead with one of their original plans to purchase county-owned land in Overtown. The sale of the land was originally contested as well as the land was sold based on the state of Florida's Economic-Development Law as a no-bid sale and was never offered to other buyers. The group is now working to close on the Overtown land and obtain approval for a stadium there via a lengthy and expensive process which will require the developers to outline of stadium use and job creation.

Beckham Turns His Sights To Redevelop Melreese Golf Course Into Office Space Masking Proposal As "Public Park"

Be careful what you wish for. Activists who brought lawsuits against David Beckham's Overtown Soccer Stadium proposal may have derailed that initiative which would have energized the Overtown community. The developers of a proposal led by David Beckham known as Miami Freedom Park now seek to remove one of Miami's last affordable public golf courses, Melreese Country Club, home of "The First Tee Miami,"one of the most respected youth golf organizations in South Florida serving individuals of all ages, capabilities, and backgrounds; in exchange for developing over 1 billion SF on the site if the proposal passes. The proposal includes 400K SF of office space and 600K SF of  restaurant, retail and entertainment space; along with 750 hotel rooms and a 25,000 seat soccer stadium with only 3,750 parking spaces. A 400,000 SF office park would be one of the largest office parks in the United States of America. 

Mayor Francis Suarez has received both praise and backlash on Twitter after his tweet:

"Wow. A beautiful vision! 110 acres of true green public space open and accessible for our neighbors! This will be a vibrant park, entertainment complex, and soccer facility for ALL Miamians. #FutbolMiami" - @FrancisSuarez

Many of the proponents of the proposal are backing the soccer aspect of the proposal, but do not mention that the 110 acres of true green public space. Other bring to attention that the proposal is an office park, not a public park as Mayor Suarez had stated. Additionally the sit is a former waste dump and is only maintained to keep golfers safe but not for real estate development. The costs to clean the land would be astronomical to the city. What would happen should the proposal go through would be the city would lose its biggest public park (Melreese Golf Course), traffic would build up around the airport and the city would get hit with massive bills in which they would issue debt to cover as the $20 million contribution from the development is paid over 30 years and has a net present value near $4 million. The partnership of developers is in a rush to try to get the public to vote by pushing the potential of bringing pro soccer to Miami without even having a full developed plan to move forward with the proposal and would remove any leverage the city would have. ‏The project is expected to cost over $1 billion. 

Atlantic Pacific Communities' Bermello, Ajamil & Partners-Designed Proposal Chosen For Downtown's Block 45

The Miami-Dade county-owned Block 45 is nearing redevelopment as the proposal by Atlantic Pacific Communities which was designed by Bermello, Ajamil & Partners & Corwil Architects has been chosen as the winning design by a Miami-Dade selection committee. The county is now negotiating a 90-year ground lease and once complete the proposal requires a final commission vote. If approved construction will begin Q1 2019 and is expected to be completed Q3 2020.

The developers proposed a transit-oriented mixed-use project which would feature two 317' rental towers offering 600 rental apartments, 23,000 SF of retail, 645 parking spaces, and an entertainment component known as Overtown Laughs. 60% of the apartments would be affordable and workforce housing. Overtown Laughs would consist of a comedy club, event space and a farm-to-table restaurant known as Grown. 

David Beckham's Plans for MLS Stadium Not Going Smoothly

MLS has wanted a stadium in the heart of Miami since the 90s to build its Latin and youth fan base. There have been several incarnations of professional soccer teams in South Florida, but none managed to navigate the political waters of Miami successfully. 

Marcelo Claure, CEO of Sprint and Beckham’s partner said, “We have to put the team where it is accessible to them. So many Latin Americans and Europeans live here, it doesn’t seem right that we don’t have a soccer team.”

Beckham partnered with Claure, Jorge and Jose Mas, and Simon Fuller (creator of American Idol) to launch the franchise in January. They face a number of challenges before they can open the stadium, whose opening is scheduled for 2021. 

Now, David Beckham is facing opposition not from the city, but from activist and landowner Bruce Matheson. Court records indicate that Matheson sued the county to block the proposed stadium in Overtown, and is now appealing a judge’s ruling that threw out his lawsuit in October. He alleges that Miami-Dade County gave Beckham “a secret discount from the taxpayers” in their no-bid, $9 million deal for three acres of county-owned land. 

Beckham’s deal, which was based on appraisals from late 2015, but was approved in 2017, comes out to about $74 a square foot. In 2016, land was selling for $142 per square foot. Commissioners approved the deal, on the condition that Beckham and his partners spend $175 million on the stadium’s construction. Beckham and his partners have yet to close the deal and to secure land-use changes and new zoning.

The residents of Overtown are uneasy in light of community activists posting fake eviction notices in the neighborhood. The notice was actually an ad for a community meeting to discuss the future of public housing around the stadium. Public Housing Director Michael Liu said, “There are no plans to evict. We want to have the best possible housing for people in public housing.” Residents are skeptical, though. The future of Beckham’s MLS Miami stadium is uncertain. 

Article by Katya Demina

Check Out Miami Worldcenter & Miami Innovation District's Pitch To Transform Downtown Miami Into Amazon's HQ2 Supercampus

Miami Worldcenter and Miami Innovation District have teamed up to offer Amazon a massive opportunity in Downtown Miami's Park West neighborhood for their highly anticipated HQ2. Last week Amazon narrowed the potential cities down to 20 finalists, who are competing to to secure an expected 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment. The Miami Worldcenter and Miami Innovation District's pitch is already shovel ready with buildings already under construction regardless of the outcome of Amazon's choice. The proposal is one of eight offered to Amazon in Miami-Dade including 3 within city limits. Other highlights include high zoning density which offers a live, work, play opportunity as well as over 23 million SF of office, residential, retail and hotel space already in the works. Additionally, as the proposed site is within Overtown Community Redevelopment Area boundaries, the projects would be eligible for Tax Increment Financing which could exceed over $1 billion in value.

Miami Worldcenter will feature a 500,000 SF Hines office tower which is expected to break ground Q2 2018, a currently under construction Marriott Marquis Hotel with 1,800 keys, 500,000 square feet convention space . MiamiCentral will feature retail, office, residential and transit. Museum Park features the Frost Museum of Science, Perez Art Museum and luxurious residential towers such as Zaha Hadid's One Thousand Museum, Ten Museum Park and Marquis. The Arsht Center for Performing Arts is also nearby. The campus would also have strong transit connectivity, with four different rail services including the Brightline high speed rail service connecting Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Orlando; the Tri-Rail to Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, Metromover through Downtown and Brickell; and the Metrorail, including airport access. Highways include easy access I-95 via 395. 

McKENZIE Reveals Tribe, The Newly Completed Transformation Of Overtown's Historic New Providence Lodge Into Co-Working Space

McKENZIE, a boutique design, build and custom fabrication firm, has transformed the historical New Providence Lodge building in Overtown into Tribe Urban Innovation Lab and Cowork, a new co-working space that will primarily focus on serving local, African American youth. Tribe will be an innovation hub focused on serving local African American youth along with the greater South Florida entrepreneur community. The historical New Providence Lodge building, located at 937 NW 3rd Avenue, once housed a Freemason chapter during the Jim Crow era and is owned by real estate giant Michael Simkins. Tribe is owned by Felecia Hatcher and Derick Pearson who are both successful entrepreneurs working to provide opportunities for African Americans to thrive in the tech industry. Simkins partnered with Tribe to successfully obtain a City of Miami CRA grant to commission McKENZIE to design and build-out the space. In addition to office space, Tribe will house Code Fever and BlackTech Week, two nonprofit organizations founded by Hatcher and Pearson that help build and diversify startup ecosystems and support African American entrepreneurs, as well as several black-owned businesses. 

The Allapattah-based McKENZIE managed the design and construction of the adaptive reuse project transforming the two-story, 3,700 SF venue into a modern, open-design concept that promotes creativity and idea sharing. McKENZIE preserved many of the original design elements in honor of the building’s history. The original wood ceiling and steel beams were purposely left exposed to provide visual contrast to the collaborative workspace’s more clean and modern finishes. Tribe features design elements that are in tune with the evolving workplace and the needs of today’s entrepreneurial workforce. The multi-use space features seven offices, several conference rooms, classrooms, a library, common area, collaborative event and hangout spaces, maker lab, and a kitchen built by McKENZIE’s Craft division.
 
“Proper design is crucial for co-working spaces as today’s employees are looking for a work environment that’s vibrant, inspirational and dynamic, not your standard office space,” said MCKENZIE’s Design Officer Jose Ortez. “Our design of Tribe creates this atmosphere while maintaining a flexible work space that can evolve with time and continue to serve the local community for years to come.”