"New Miami park/soccer village/tech hub will be privately funded with NO public dollars for stadium," Mas tweeted on July 5, 2018. "Will be unique paying fair market value for land and property taxes. Diametrically opposite of egregious Marlins deal! Plus we want the voters to decide!"
Notwithstanding the Major League Soccer club's assurances, the team's project will now be padded by several million dollars from Gov. Ron DeSantis for infrastructure improvements around the site.New Miami park/soccer village/tech hub will be privately funded with NO public dollars for stadium.Will be unique paying fair market value for land and property taxes.Diametrically opposite of egregious Marlins deal! Plus we want the voters to decide!!#miamimls #futbolmiamimls
— Jorge Mas (@Jorge__Mas) July 6, 2018
On Thursday, flanked by Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez and Florida's secretary of commerce, Alex Kelly, at Inter Miami's temporary home at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, DeSantis announced that the state will allocate $8 million for Miami Freedom Park. The project is a planned 25,000-seat soccer stadium and commercial complex at the site of the former Melreese Country Club.
The governor said the state will grant the money to Miami-Dade County to build new roadways for the stadium to help with traffic flow.
A site map shows the multimillion-dollar funding is bankrolling a street that will run through the heart of Miami Freedom Park. The grant application describes the road as the property's "main artery."
New Times reported in December that Mas' assurances — that the project will be "privately funded with no public funding for the stadium" — appeared to be contradicted by the Miami-Dade County Commission's resolution seeking millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements for the project. At the time, the public dollars were requested to help clean up arsenic-contaminated soil, improve drainage, and install electrical components at the project site.
Mas touted the project at the media conference Thursday, saying the stadium will create 13,000 direct and indirect jobs and generate $40 million in local and state tax revenue annually. He maintained the "stadium is 100 percent privately funded."
In 2022, the City of Miami Commission approved a 99-year lease with Inter Miami co-owners David Beckham and Jorge and Jose Mas, which included the development of the soccer stadium and a mixed-use complex to include a large hotel and a 58-acre park.The Freedom to Dream continues 💫 pic.twitter.com/IShjPB0qZ3
— Miami Freedom Park (@miafreedompark) August 9, 2024
As previously reported by the New Times, the Miami Freedom Park has been heavily criticized by Miamians who say city officials are bending over backward for wealthy developers and giving them a sweetheart deal without sufficient benefits to taxpayers.
Before the 2022 commission vote, documentarian Billy Corben released a mini-documentary slamming the controversial deal narrated by none other than former Miami Marlins president David Samson. (He notably convinced Miami-Dade County to issue $500 million worth of bonds to build LoanDepot Park.)
"Melreese giveaway is so bad it would make the Marlins stadium deal look good — take it from me," Samson said.
DeSantis claimed the state funding will bolster the local economy and make accessing the stadium more efficient.
"Today’s award will significantly boost job creation and attract businesses to South Florida," DeSantis said. "This investment in roadway and transit infrastructure will ensure a greater capacity of people can travel efficiently through Miami as new projects like the Miami Freedom Park reach completion."
The Florida Job Growth Grant Fund, whose awards are reviewed by the Florida Commerce Department and controlled by the governor, is the source of the money for the Miami Freedom Park roadway construction.
The fund granted money to 38 projects in fiscal years 2021 and 2022. Recent awards provided funds for Miami Dade College's Construction Trade Institute and a planned mixed-use development in Cape Coral with a hotel, veterans housing, and medical office buildings.
