Miami Commission Vote Stalls David Beckham Group's Soccer Stadium Plans
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Miami commissioners have voted to deny moving forward with a lease agreement presented Tuesday that would have allowed the re-development of the city owned Melreese golf course, the site where soccer star David Beckham and partners want to build a $1 billion retail, hotel and Major League Soccer stadium complex.
The commission decided that they will continue to work on the agreement and will consider a revised agreement on December 12th. They hope by then a traffic survey, land appraisal, and other studies will be completed so that they can make a more informed decision.
Before the commission voted, dozens spoke out both in favor and against moving forward.
"I'm concerned about the phase of construction and then afterwards use. Commissioner, you've always supported green space yet you would vote to remove the one and only City of Miami golf course," one resident said.
"I'm here to speak in support of the Miami Freedom Park project. First and foremost it's an amazing financial deal for the city, the revenue it brings in and more importantly jobs," said another resident.
The proposed complex called Miami Freedom Park includes a 25,000-seat stadium for home games played by Inter Miami, a soccer team co-owned by David Beckham. The group hopes to lease the Melreese golf course property for 99 years to build the complex.
Before the vote, Mayor Francis Suarez said there isn't enough concrete information to move forward with it.
"The first one is an incomplete contract. I can't imagine the commission could vote it up because I don't even know what they would be voting on. There are inconsistent ground leases. It's a violation of procedure," he said.
Four of the five commissioners were needed to vote yes for the Inter Miami CF to be able to build.
The team is already building a stadium in Fort Lauderdale for its first two seasons.