FYI Miami: July 3, 2025

 AIR FREIGHT RISES: Total air freight through Miami International Airport rose 13.49% during the first four months of this year to 963,022 tons, figures from the county’s Aviation Department show. The gain was entirely international freight, which was up 16.78% to 797,496 tons, while the much smaller domestic freight component fell 2.37%. For April alone, international air freight tonnage increased 26.82% from April 2024 while domestic freight was down 6.71%. 

DOWNTOWN HOUSING BOOM: Downtown Miami will be the location of nearly 30% of all new multifamily housing units in Miami-Dade County this year, a new market report from Marcus & Millichap forecasts. Average rent in multifamily units in the county is expected to rise to $2,670 per month during the year, the ninth-fastest pace of increase in the nation, the report says. Development of multifamily housing has focused recently on downtown Miami and the northern communities in the county, although added construction of housing in the Aventura area is expected to ease, the report said. The county’s multifamily housing supply grew 3.5% in the 12 months ended in March, a two-year high, the report says, but that growth slowed markedly in the first quarter of the year. Downtown alone added 2,600 units of multifamily housing in those 12 months, adding 3.7% to its total housing supply. 

ORANGE BOWL, PARK LINK: With a unanimous county commission vote last week, the Orange Bowl and Miami-Dade will share the cost of a new artificial turf football field and scoreboard in a park built in 1990 by the Boys & Girls Club of Miami-Dade at 9475 N Kendall Drive. The football field will be rebranded Orange Bowl Field at Kendall’s Boys and Girls Club. The county and the Orange Bowl are each to put $1.15 million into the project, which will also include a scoreboard. The club committed $2 million for the first five years to manage and maintain the field and an additional $1 million when it renews its management contract. The club also will upgrade field lights, refurbish an indoor basketball gym and more. 

JOBS FUNDING DELAYED: A county award of Targeted Jobs Incentive Funds to a Texas-based developer of space-based broadband technology that plans to hire 235 workers for a new manufacturing plant in Homestead was deferred last week by the Miami-Dade County Commission without explanation. The Beacon Council says the unidentified company plans to invest $25 million in a 90,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and is in line to receive $594,000 in county incentives payouts when the plant is built and the workers are on the job. 

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