A $30 million pedestrian bridge in South Beach has been canceled. What happened?

A much-ballyhooed pedestrian bridge promised at the entrance to Miami Beach by the developer of the city’s tallest condominium tower has fallen through — and city leaders want to know whether it truly can’t be built as designed.

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The candy-colored, two-span, 158-foot bridge was supposed to rise over Fifth Street and Alton Road, making the busy intersection safer to navigate for pedestrians and bicyclists in the neighborhood bordering Biscayne Bay.

The proposed $30 million pedestrian bridge was heavily marketed as part of the 48-story Five Park Miami Beach luxury condos, which now sell for about $4 million.

In 2019, city leaders approved the massive tower at the site of the old South Shore Hospital and designated public money for the project, to be built by Coconut Grove-based Terra. The publicly funded bridge became part of the project.

Now, with the Five Park tower completed and occupied, Terra advised the Miami Beach City Commission in an Aug. 21 letter that it could not build the bridge because underground Florida Power & Light utilities, encountered 30 feet below ground in October, preventing the bridge’s foundation from being built, as designed, on a triangular piece of public land. For now, Terra says it hasn’t found a solution.

At last week’s commission meeting, angry Five Park residents accused Terra of breaking its promise to build the bridge after using it to help sell units in the Arquitectonica-designed, 519-foot-tall tower with views of the Miami and Miami Beach skylines.

Some asked the commission to put pressure on the developer.

“There is a lot of mistrust between the Five Park residents and the developer,” said resident David Fox, describing the change in the developer’s approach to the bridge as “sneaky and underhanded.”

Another Five Park resident, Nick Ivanovich, told commissioners that the promised pedestrian bridge was a major selling point for buyers like him and called the tabling of the bridge “a broken promise.”

Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner, who put the issue on the agenda, made it clear he was not prepared to simply accept the developer’s conclusion.

“If we find that they can do it, we’ve got to force their hand,” Meiner said.

The commission voted 7-0 for an independent engineering assessment of the bridge’s feasibility and whether the developer’s claim is based on an actual engineering obstacle or higher construction costs.

Terra CEO David Martin disputed the suggestion that his company simply walked away from its commitment.

“Our team set out to execute the city’s long-held vision for a seamless pedestrian connection along the Miami Beach waterfront,” Martin said in a statement. “We have provided the city with engineering reports documenting underground utility conflicts affecting the proposed bridge.”

The engineers, he said, advised Terra not to proceed with the design because of risks to construction workers and critical power infrastructure.

“Protecting the workers who would build this bridge, safeguarding the public, and preventing damage to essential infrastructure must come first,” Martin said.

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Terra said it has been unable to identify a safe alternative for building the bridge as designed and shares the community’s disappointment. The company said it looks forward to the city’s independent analysis.

The bridge project originally broke ground in 2025, and Terra held an event. The bridge was expected to open in the second half of 2026, but construction was eventually halted.

Last month, Terra finally notified the city it could not build the bridge. Some residents wondered why it had taken years to determine the project was not feasible.

The costs now would be much higher than the estimated $30 million, with roughly $12 million coming from a Miami Beach bond and the remainder from development partners. Already, $2 million in public money has been spent on the bridge project.

Residents told commissioners the bridge was marketed alongside the luxury amenities that helped sell Five Park: more than 50,000 square feet of amenities, a private club, private dining, a bar and lounge, library, wellness and fitness areas, screening rooms, pools and outdoor spaces. Developers also delivered a green space, Canopy Park on West Avenue, for the neighborhood.

Five Park’s promotional material still describes the bridge as an “art-inspired Canopy Bridge” connecting neighborhoods.

City staff told commissioners that the development agreement obligates the developer to build a bridge. The city attorney said the developer can get out of that obligation only if it cannot obtain a building permit, but cost alone is not an excuse. So far, Terra has been unable to obtain a permit.

The dispute has become a test of something larger than one bridge: Can Miami Beach make developers deliver the public benefits they promise residents in exchange for permission to build major projects?

City Commissioner Laura Dominguez said the experience exposed weaknesses in the city’s development agreements and has prompted her to introduce legislation to ensure developers keep their promises.

“For the future, the plan is to include language that a certificate of occupancy can’t be issued until any public benefits have substantially been completed or completely done.”

She also wants stricter deadlines for developers to begin work, with automatic expiration dates if they fail to meet them.

“While our current development agreements have some protections, they are not strong enough,” Dominguez said.

The city will now seek the independent engineer’s report before deciding its next step. Meiner hinted the city might have to take legal action to settle the bridge issue.

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This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 5:00 AM.