Miami voters to decide David Beckham MLS soccer stadium

MIAMI (AP) — Miami voters will get a chance this fall to decide whether David Beckham’s group can build a major league soccer stadium, park and adjacent retail and restaurant complex in the city.

The Miami City Commission voted Wednesday to place a referendum on the November ballot that could pave the way for the privately-funded complex on city land now occupied by a golf course. It would include a 25,000-seat stadium, a 58-acre public park, 23 acres of soccer fields available to residents, retail outlets and offices, restaurants and a 750-room hotel.

Mayor Francis Suarez said the Miami Freedom Park plan is favorable to taxpayers, would create hundreds of jobs and preserve green space in a city with a dwindling amount of that.

“If that is what our residents want, they should have a right to decide that,” Suarez said.

Eventually the plan is to bring a Major League Soccer team to Miami under a partnership between retired British soccer star Beckham and Miami businessman Jorge Mas. It includes a requirement that the partnership spend an estimated $35 million to clean up toxic soil under the existing golf course near Miami International Airport.

The Beckham group would pay the city a minimum of $3.5 million in rent in a lease that could last up to 99 years. In addition, the group will pay $20 million in installments for construction of the park and another $5 million for additional amenities. They also committed to eventually paying a “living wage” of at least $15 an hour plus health benefits for workers hired at the complex.

“You have our commitment that our on-site employees and people who are part of this will be covered under a living wage,” Mas told commissioners.

Beckham did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, but at a session last week he promised the stadium project would benefit Miami and its residents.

“It’s been great to hear everyone’s opinions, whether they agree or disagree,” Beckham said. “I want to do the right thing for your children, and your children’s children, because in the end that’s what it’s all about.”

The referendum technically would ask voters to change Miami’s competitive bidding laws to allow for a one-time, no-bid deal with the Beckham group for the project. That did not sit well with Commissioner Manolo Reyes, who pushed to require more study and the chance for others to bid on the golf course land.

“Don’t circumvent our own laws. That’s why people don’t trust us,” Reyes said.

Hanging like a dark cloud over the Beckham project is the 2009 decision to use taxpayer dollars to fund a $515 million stadium for Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, which continues to have political fallout and is widely seen as a big financial mistake. Mas said earlier in the negotiations the Beckham group would take a different route.

“The first thing that I said is we are not going to do anything like that,” Mas said last week.

Ultimately, the commission voted 3-2 in favor of the voter referendum. The Beckham group has tried for about five years to reach a deal on a soccer stadium and bring a team to Miami, with a number of different locations proposed and rejected for a variety of reasons.

Another critic, Commissioner Ken Russell, asked dozens of questions but decided he was willing to move the project forward. If the referendum is approved by voters, the city would still negotiate a final deal with the Beckham group that could include more changes. A lawsuit has also been filed challenging the deal.

“I remain skeptical and will continue to look at this. There’s so many places this can die along the way,” Russell said. “I’m OK to see us move forward to the voters.”

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Anderson reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.