City board tells Freedom Park to break up vast 4,900-car garage

Miami Freedom Park, which will rise next door to Miami International Airport and be home to the Inter Miami CF soccer team, has earned its first of many needed City of Miami approvals from the Urban Development Review Board.

The board was presented the first site plans and new renderings for Miami Freedom Park, which when completed is to have a Major League Soccer stadium, a 58-acre public park, a sweeping commercial complex, and a 750-key hotel.

The major development is being constructed on what today is the Melreese Golf Course. The city owns the land and in April the city commission approved a 99-year lease of most of the site to Miami Freedom Park LLC; David Beckham, and partners Jorge and Jose Mas.

The partnership plans to remediate the contaminated site and make it home for the professional soccer stadium, sports park and commercial development.

The site plan presented to the board in June showed a long linear three-level parking garage on the western edge with room for 4,900 vehicles.

While review board members had plenty of praise for the overall master plan and design of the stadium and park, several said the proposed garage is massive and should be redesigned into two structures.

The board’s final vote was on a motion to recommend approval of the first components – the stadium, garage and 58-acre park – with one condition: to reconsider breaking up the mass of the parking structure.

Board member Dean Lewis, who made the motion, explained he wants the development team to consider two buildings and articulate a real pedestrian experience, such as a pedestrian passage or paseo between the two separate buildings.

Board members who agreed with his condition explained that bridges could be built into the design to connect the two buildings and allow for pedestrian and vehicle flow. The motion was approved 5-0.

Board members were presented with a 101-page document entitled “Miami Freedom Park Special Area Plan Concept Book,” packed with new drawings, site plans, and many new details of the major mixed-use development.

It says the Master Plan Design Vision includes:

■Create a public park that fronts the neighborhood and welcomes pedestrians.

■Pedestrian flow from the neighborhood is seamless into the park.

■Create a western buffer with parking against the high traffic boundary and elevate recreational fields to increase the active green area.

■Integrate a village of retail, dining and entertainment that frames a promenade.

■The stadium design opens to the park and the soccer village creating an extension of the activities into the development.

■Integrate connectivity to the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) to promote mass transit and reduce vehicle reliance and traffic.

The book says the new 58-acre park will be environmentally safe, remediated and publicly accessible, with a one-mile fitness loop with integrated lighting; fully integrated with existing Grapeland Park for a total of 78 acres; have improved signalized crosswalks for neighborhood access; offer community accessible soccer fields and courts; have soccer fields, tennis, and basketball courts open to City of Miami residents 16 and younger for community and recreational use; and have a boardwalk loop for exercise and training.

Perhaps the star of the show is the 25,000-seat MLS stadium, home to Mr. Beckham’s Inter Miami CF team.

The plan is to bring the world’s most popular sport to Miami, the book said, and there are already more than 250 Inter Miami CF fan clubs throughout the world.

The master plan includes a soccer village integrating shopping, dining, and entertainment as an extension of Miami Freedom Park recreation and Inter Miami CF.

The overall site is to include a tech hub and hospitality.

“The tech hub integrates office and hospitality uses to complement Miami Freedom Park and create a more synergistic and resilient development, and be an economic engine for the area (plus) well connected to infrastructure,” the book reads.

Attorney Iris Escarra’s presentation to the board noted the project has been years in the making.

“Because of our proximity to Miami International Airport, we’re in the outer safety zone, so we’re in certain flight path zones. From a height perspective, our height goes from 150 feet all the way to 160 maximum on the site. We can’t build any taller than that because of our proximity,” she said.

“In addition to that, in the 1950s and ’60s this site was used as a garbage incinerator site, so we can’t go below either because we have a contaminated site that we are remediating,” she said.

She said the development team will be responsible not only for building the 58-acre public park but for maintenance of the roads, lighting and more.

“We’ve been working with the community here and we’ve had several community meetings and we still have a few more to go,” Ms. Escarra said. “One of the things we’ve heard continuously is that they appreciate the opening of the space.

“The one-mile wellness loop is something we had to put in because they like to walk. And they appreciated being able to get access to the space that today is not accessible,” she told the board.

Board members asked about public access points, for pedestrians and vehicles.

One major connection point is to be a direct link to and from the park and stadium into the Miami Intermodal Center (MIC) north of the site. The MIC is the central transportation hub for air travel, the South Florida Tri-Rail system, and the Miami-Dade Metromover and Metrorail systems.

The plan says, “It is a 7-minute walk from the MIC to Miami Freedom Park. The MIC connects the East Coast of Florida. A proposed mass transit connector will provide direct access from the Miami Intermodal Center to Miami Freedom Park.”

Mr. Lewis said, “I hope they use it. That’s great.”

Alejandro Gonzalez of Arquitectonica offered details of the large parking structure, which is meant to have mixed uses as well.

“This is a three-story structure, so on that roof structure are additional fields … it has a huge flex component on the roof. We have soccer fields on the side of the roof … This was in conversations with the city, the mayor’s office, the idea of having additional green space that could be used for recreation was something that was encouraged, and something we encouraged,” Mr. Gonzalez said.

Board members pushing for the parking structure to be in two buildings said that redesign wouldn’t prohibit the green space and recreational uses on the roof.
Board member Anthony Tzamtzis said, “It’s a wonderful project. Very much needed. I admire the way it’s been designed. It’s very well done.”

Board member Ligia Ines Labrada said, “Thank you for this thorough walkthrough. While the community is losing a golf course, they are gaining an incredible park. The way you guys tuck in the program is very respectful to the residents around the area.

“I think it’s important to activate this park outside of the in-season schedules. To make sure we activate it and keep the community using it,” she said.
Ms. Labrara said the stadium’s layout, transparency in design and low profile are “fantastic.”

Chairman Ignacio Permuy commended the development team for an exceptional job.

He said, “This will be an immediate great addition to the city of Miami. It will take Miami into the future, and it’s very much needed.”