Miami moves to put millions from Beckham stadium rent into housing fund
Miami commissioners moved to direct at least $1 million in future annual rent revenue from Miami Freedom Park toward a new affordable-housing trust fund.
On Thursday, the commission unanimously gave initial approval to the creation of the fund using 25% of rent revenue from the planned $1 billion complex, which will replace Melreese golf course with commercial shops, a soccer stadium, a hotel, offices and a 58-acre park.
The plan requires a final vote before administrators can open the trust fund. The fund would allow the city to provide financial assistance to developers, homeowners and first-time home buyers.
Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Joe Carollo sponsored the trust fund plan, which will see a final vote in October.
Zoning regulations prevent housing from being built on the Melreese property, a restriction acknowledged by Suarez on Thursday in a statement calling for the city to use publicprivate partnerships to address the need for more housing.
“Although affordable housing cannot be built at the site, we have allocated the generated revenue to assist the housing needs of our residents,” he said. “We will continue to explore and unlock the many opportunities presented by the [Miami Freedom Park] project to better improve the quality of life of our residents.”
The city will begin collecting a reduced-rate rent from Freedom Park’s developers after the property is vacated by operators of the Melreese golf course in order for construction to begin, which could happen in the coming months. The 99-year lease requires Inter Miami’s owners to build the 25,000-seat stadium and the adjacent park first. The full rent, which will be a minimum of $4.3 million annually, will not be due until the city allows the stadium to be occupied. Owners hope to start hosting games there by spring 2025.
A separate proposal was made to steer another 25% of the Freedom Park rent toward the city’s antipoverty
initiative, a $2.7 million program that allows elected officials to allocate funding for nonprofits, community groups, food-distribution organizations and other private interests. The proposal
also passed unanimously without discussion.
If recent history is an indicator, the anti-poverty funds are essentially discretionary funds. Commission approval is required for proposed spending of
anti-poverty dollars — and anti-poverty proposals are regularly approved unanimously and without much, if any, debate.