Inter Miami CF has unveiled new Miami Freedom Park renderings, showing a vision for a new soccer-specific stadium and surrounding amenities.
Set to begin MLS play in 2020, Inter Miami CF is an expansion club backed by a group that includes David Beckham. Along with Beckham, the group also features prominent local businessmen Jorge and Jose Mas, American Idol founder Simon Fuller, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.
The long-term facility plan for Inter Miami CF centers around Miami Freedom Park, a proposed redevelopment of the city-owned Melreese Country Club near Miami International Airport. Discussions over that proposal with city officials are continuing, but the club provided an updated look at the plans through recently released renderings.
Miami Freedom Park would be anchored by a 25,000-capacity soccer-specific stadium, with surrounding amenities expected to include 58 acres of public parks and green space, a hotel, tech hub, dining, retail, community soccer fields, and more. The total cost of the privately funded development has been estimated at $1 billion.
While the new renderings detail how the stadium would be incorporated into the development (shown at the top of the page), they also highlight the amenities planned for the facility itself. Video displays are shown inside and outside the stadium, and gathering spaces are also highlighted.
The earliest the new stadium within Miami Freedom Park is expected to open is 2022, but Inter Miami CF still has some major political hurdles to clear before the effort can move forward. While Miami voters approved a referendum in November that allows the city to negotiate a 99-year lease for the project, that did not finalize the plan. The city and Miami Freedom Park, LLC still have to negotiate a 99-year land lease for the site, an agreement that will require approval from four of Miami’s five city commissioners–and it remains to be seen if the club can reach that threshold.
It should be noted that Miami Freedom Park is one of two facility initiatives Inter Miami CF is planning, as the club is also working to finalize the redevelopment of Fort Lauderdale’s Lockhart Stadium site with a project that includes a new training academy and 18,000-seat stadium. If the Fort Lauderdale proposal can be finalized, the club will play at the stadium for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. The stadium would also host a USL club on a permanent basis. While that agreement is not finalized,Inter Miami CF did get approval from Fort Lauderdale officials recently to begin demolition work on Lockhart Stadium and the adjacent Fort Lauderdale Stadium.
All renderings via Intermiamicf.com.
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