Move now to decide future use of historic Miami City Hall
Miami is on the brink of losing a pivotal part of its history. If you want to see it, visit Coconut Grove’s Dinner Key and take a look at historic Miami City Hall. Two years from now the building might not be there, which would be a crime.
No decision has been made about what to do with City Hall once a new administration building opens on 37th Avenue in two years, but the new building was topped out in July and soon commissioners will link sagging city finances with Coconut Grove’s soaring ultra-luxury condo market and welcome deals for City Hall’s prime bayfront.
That’s all but inevitable if voters in November approve a state constitutional amendment that would expand homestead exemptions in two stages over two years. Approval would slash city tax revenues but not touch spending needs, and commissioners would rush for the lifeboats by selling off city assets.
It’s not as though there weren’t precedents galore. Miami has been a terrible steward of its property assets. You don’t have to look too far, either in time or geographically.
The new city administration building sits directly beside Miami Freedom Park, a multi-use development on land leased for 99 years on what had been the only golf course in Miami, Melreese. The golf course was in use, but its land was valuable and developers wanted it even though it wasn’t on the market.
That’s going to happen again at city hall: developers are going to want it and, as at Melreese, they’ll make a below-value offer that commissioners are likely to grab for.
It is perfectly true that the new administration building will have better commission chambers, better offices and far more parking than the current City Hall, which was built as a terminal for Pan American World Airways’ famed clipper seaplanes. We wouldn’t argue against moving commission meetings there from Dinner Key. It’s more efficient.
But moving city operations inland is not the point. The issue is a historic structure that has been pivotal in both aviation and Miami’s history, because they are firmly linked. What, after all, would Miami be without aviation as a lifeline? We’re an international community only because more than 12 million people fly here yearly from abroad.
Put it into perspective. During World War I, Dinner Key became a naval aviation base. The Coast Guard put a seaplane base there in 1932. Then the New York, Rio and Buenos Airlines Airline convinced the city to convert Dinner Key to a commercial air base.
The next year, Pan American Airways System bought out competitor New York, Rio and Buenos Aires and built a terminal for its clippers that flew between New York City and Latin America. Monthly, 100,000 people came to Dinner Key just to watch Pan American clippers, and Miami’s future as an aviation capital was assured.
The terminal’s fame was huge but short-lived, as was the role of the seaplane. The airline outgrew its terminal in 1945 as Latin American nations built airports to serve planes arriving from what is now Miami International Airport. The city bought the terminal in 1946 and made it city hall in 1954, retaining the aviation motif.
Dinner Key was never large enough to be an ideal seat for government of a rapidly growing city. The city’s administration has long been in more modern Miami Riverside Center, which itself was declared functionally obsolete in 2015 and will be handed to the developer of the new administration building opens when it opens. Riverside Center is just an office building with no soul; the city got it from FPL when the utility abandoned Miami as its home.
City Hall, on the other hand, has an illustrious history and for more than 50 years has been on the National Register of Historic Places. It deserves an illustrious future, not just a plaque at the site of a new 60-story waterfront condo or whatever a developer decides is the site’s “highest” use.
What is needed right now is formal public consideration of the site. It will be a trade-off: should money or heritage prevail? Or is there a way to combine both, by retaining and enhancing the historic air terminal?
There will be no shortage of ideas.
City officials should not dawdle pondering the issue, lest some developer come with an offer that will leave the city no time to decide. That generally happens when Miami’s city assets are dealt away, just as Manhattan was swiftly swapped for a mess of beads.
Ideally, Mayor Eileen Higgins will get in front of this in public, not in private. This is going to be a major decision of her term as mayor, and one where she can leave a mark of leadership.
Past city administrations dealt away Miami International Airport and PortMiami to the county, the Orange Bowl for a baseball stadium, Melreese for an office park-hotel-stadium complex and more. Pray that Mayor Higgins chooses a good way to hold onto the city hall site for Miamians.
Harry E. Gottlieb
August 5, 2026 at 8:57 am
Reasons Why Miami City Hall Should Be Relocated To Downtown and the Opportunity of Repurposing Our Cherished Historic Pan Am Terminal
It’s long overdue, that we correct the travesty of Miami City Hall hijacking Coconut Grove’s Historic Pan Am Terminal.
I know of no other municipality that provides million dollar waterfront views to public servants.
It’s time for City of Miami Mayor, Commissioners and Administrators to be relocated elsewhere.
Preferably in Downtown, where the public will have better access to arriving via MetroRail, MetroMover, MetroConnect, Buses, Trolleys and walking.
Establishing City Hall in Downtown will also help our local leaders and administrators become more familiar with the conditions of our streets, traffic, sidewalks, businesses, litter, flooding, panhandlers and unhoused.
I suggest that the residents of Coconut Grove should be the ones to determine the future best use of our Historic Pan Am Terminal.
Several Repurposing Opportunities:
Air Museum: Celebrating the history of flight and the contributions made in South Florida, featuring Curtiss, Pan Am, Eastern and National.
Seaplane Terminal: Offer flight to service Florida and Caribbean.
Ferry Terminal: Water Taxies and perhaps Car Ferries to service Key Biscayne, Bayside and Miami Beach.
Seaplane / Ferry Terminal Combo: The best of both worlds like Seattle and Vancouver.
Community Center: To provide more activities in Regatta Park.
Farmers Market: Like San Francisco’s Fisherman Wharf.
Let’s finally bid farewell to Miami City Hall and seek a new and exciting future for our cherished Historic Pan Am Terminal.
Elvis Cruz
August 5, 2026 at 10:22 am
Miami City Hall should be turned into a tribute to its origin; a museum for Pan American World Airways and Coconut Grove history. Perhaps a restaurant on the second floor overlooking the bay.
It should most certainly NOT be sold or leased out for high-rise condos. Sadly, Commissioner Damian Pardo sponsored an item to do just that for public land on Watson Island, soon to be 48-story high rise condos.
Miami does not always have to be a whore for developers. We, the people, must push back against the developers who’ve bought so much influence with their campaign contributions.
Jose Pepino
August 5, 2026 at 11:11 am
Miami politicians have shown little or no respect for history. Worse, Miami politicians seem to make decisions solely to please whoever gives money to their election campaigns. “Pay To Play” is the Miami motto.
Ronald Nelson
August 5, 2026 at 11:56 am
Miami City Hall should become the urban headquarters for Biscayne National Park. The current location east of Homestead simply does not get the visitation numbers to warrant its existence. National Parks would most certainly pay tribute to Pan American World Airways, honor local history, and bring much needed attention to the plight of Biscayne Bay and our reefs.
Imagine Having a National Park arrow on South Bayshore Drive and the excitement that brings. People from all over the world coming to see our National Park in the sea, and supporting our local businesses.
It is a natural fit with the historic seaplane hangars, Shake A Leg, and Kennedy Park to the east, Dinner Key Marina and Biscayne bay to the south, Regatta Park to the north, and Peacock Park, Barnacle State Park and Coconut Grove’s village center to the west.
We do not need another Condominium.
David Diez
August 18, 2026 at 8:01 pm
I agree with the sentiment of this thread. The city hall property and the waterfront as a whole must remain a public property converted into a point of interest for throngs of visitors both local and beyond. If Miami truly wants to be a “world-class” city that it claims to be, then it should follow those truly world-class cities which preserve swaths of public land, especially the waterfront, to be public parks and visitor destinations.
All the aforementioned suggested ideas are terrific, especially Mr. Gottlieb’s and Mr. Nelson’s.
I believe that the great majority of the residents in Miami, especially in the Grove area, where I grew up, would favor the City Hall to be preserved as part of a public park.