After decades of dashed hopes, county commissioners are to vote to work toward a nearly three-acre public open space behind the Kaseya Center basketball arena on Biscayne Boulevard. Funding sources are unknown.
A public space behind the arena where the Miami Heat plays was envisioned in the 1990s when the county approved the development agreement for the site, but since the arena opened the space has been used as a staging area for arena events as its primary purpose.
Last week, however, the county’s Appropriations Committee unanimously approved conceptual plans for Dan Paul Plaza, as the site is named, with publicly accessible open space, authorizing the mayor to seek grants to fund its reconstruction, because the county has no money to do it. The final vote would come before the full county commission Sept. 3.
“It gives us the ability to have the space,” said Commissioner Keon Hardemon, who was pivotal in working with the Miami Heat to hammer together an agreement to finally get formal public use for the site. Materials seeking voter approval in 1996 of the arena deal with the Arison family, the Heat owners, showed the area as parkland, including soccer fields, which never materialized.
“I don’t want to delay this any further,” Mr. Hardemon said. “I don’t want to delay what the community deserves to have, which is the open space. And I certainly don’t want it to be used as a chip to bargain with. What this is is saying the Miami Heat commits to provide the space. Everything moving forward is a completely different conversation.”
The stadium lease to Basketball Properties Ltd. took effect Dec. 31, 1999, and is to expire June 30, 2030, with any new lease requiring commission approval.
“This was a symbolic gesture that they are willing to bifurcate this issue from the main issue of lease agreements and furtherances with this project,” Mr. Hardemon said. The company will move forward on the public site use no matter what, he said.
Commissioner Raquel Regalado said the formal creation of Dan Paul Plaza would have no fiscal impact on the county. The documents say funding is to come from grants and sponsorships.
An attorney for the Heat interests said the agreement is actually for joint use with the arena of the plaza site. The west side of that site is to be paved and still used as a staging area for the arena events, while the portion nearest Biscayne Bay is to be developed as the public space.
The resolution to come before commissioners seeks conceptual plans to reconstruct Dan Paul Plaza for public use “and serve as a flexible venue for special community events scheduled on an event-by-event basis, including those held with the Kaseya Center.”
If commissioners vote to approve, the mayor’s team is to negotiate with Basketball Properties Ltd. “a public-private partnership arrangement to support the improvements and maintenance of the plaza” and then present that agreement once again to commissioners for approval, a memo from Mayor Daniella Levine Cava says.
In the conceptual plans for the plaza are open green spaces, a playground, waterfront promenade, kayak launch, public art installation and expanded viewing areas.
The mayor’s memo says the county has collaborated with the Downtown Neighborhood Alliance to see what kind of programming its members want on the site.
The mayor under the resolution would negotiate a public-private partnership with Basketball Properties Ltd. to support the design, reconstruction and long-term maintenance of the plaza.
In recognition of downtown outcries after the City of Miami approved mega-billboards in its downtown parks, the mayor’s document says “the construction of billboards and any similar outdoor advertising facilities will not be part of the reconstruction plan.”
The county’s resolution to develop the plaza is the latest in a long line of wishes to make use of the county-owned land behind the arena. Other proposals included retail stores, an amphitheater that was to be developed by Basketball Properties, and a Cuban Exile History Museum.
The mayor’s memo warned commissioners that to implement its plan for the plaza the county must “confirm the status of all impacted roadways and adjacent public rights-of-way” and “it may be necessary to initiate formal road closures or vacation procedures” to “eliminate legal encumbrances.”
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