MIAMI (WSVN) - City of Miami commissioners have postponed a vote to approve or deny the contract for Miami Freedom Park, the proposed site of Miami’s Major League Soccer stadium.
The vote was postponed just after 4:30 p.m. Thursday after Commissioner Manolo Reyes suffered a medical issue and was taken to the hospital.
Despite the medical issue, everyone remains in their corners as to whether or not to approve the contract to Inter Miami CF, which is co-owned by David Beckham.
“I think it’s an attempt to try and embarrass the team and the process and the city by commissioners who simply don’t want the deal,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said.
The feud brewing at Miami City Hall in Coconut Grove centers around the proposed site of Miami Freedom Park, a $1 billion soccer stadium and commercial complex.
Some commissioners, such as Reyes, are not on board to approve the contract out of fear the city might agree to a bad deal.
Reyes was one of the commissioners behind the vote to, he said, force a discussion on converting Melreese Country Club into the proposed venue. He claims if the deal goes through, the city could lose out on millions of dollars.
“If they sell, we would only get 1%,” Reyes said. “After that deal has been completed and if everything is built, that is gonna cost– I mean, that’s gonna be worth billions of dollars. Let’s say that it’s $2 billion, how many millions are we going to get? Twenty.”
Mayor Suarez said there is no deal to point to because contract negotiations are far from over.
He added that several studies are currently underway that should be completed before the end of the year and used to help negotiate a lease agreement that will protect the city’s interests.
“I think it’s sort of disingenuous because the commissioners have put a bunch of obstacles to progress,” Suarez said. “Residents of the City of Miami clearly spoke on this. Sixty percent of them in all five commission districts decided that they wanted us, in good faith, to negotiate.”
Because the vote was postponed, city leaders are trying to find out when to bring the issue back up to the commission for a vote.
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