Miami City Hall is set to move to soccer stadium site. But there’s a backlash forming

To Miami residents all too familiar with the drama that plagues city politics, the words “Save City Hall” might suggest something theoretical, like rooting out corruption and dysfunction.

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But as the city prepares to relocate its operations — including commission chambers and offices for the mayor and the city’s five commissioners — to the up-and-coming administration building at the Miami Freedom Park site, the phrase has taken on a more literal meaning.

With about a year and a half before the new administration building is expected to be fully operational, one city commissioner and a former mayor are pushing back on the planned move.

“I think in an era where there is so much change throughout our entire city, holding onto those things that are significant historically, culturally, are very, very important,” Commissioner Damian Pardo told the Miami Herald.

Pardo is planning to put forward legislation at the next commission meeting on Sept. 10 that would keep City Commission meetings, as well as elected officials’ offices, as-is in the former Pan Am seaplane terminal on Dinner Key.

Commission meetings have been held in the iconic waterfront building in Coconut Grove for decades. The city purchased the land and the building from Pan Am in 1946 and converted the terminal into City Hall in 1954. The 1931 building was later listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

“It’s a special building. It’s a very ‘Miami’ building,” Pardo said. “The Pan Am’s history is so rich, and right here on the water.”

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The current City Hall setup isn’t without issue, however. For commission meetings that draw large crowds, residents who don’t get a seat in the packed chambers have to stand in line outside as they wait their turn to speak before commissioners — sometimes in sweltering heat. The elected officials are also splintered off from the city administration, which operates off-site at the downtown Miami Riverside Center. The new administration building, on the other hand, would bring everyone under one roof.

Pardo acknowledged those shortcomings but said the heat aspect can be managed by setting up tents and cooling units for people waiting outside and also allowing them to speak before those sitting inside. He also said being physically separated from the administration hasn’t been a major issue, especially with the option for Zoom meetings.

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While the details of Pardo’s legislation haven’t been finalized yet, he emphasized that any plans for the future of City Hall should involve community input and be discussed “well in advance.”

“None of that has happened as far as City Hall or any of these commission offices,” Pardo said.

Pardo isn’t the only Miami politician advocating for City Hall to stay put. Former Mayor Xavier Suarez has recently been organizing around the issue.

Suarez, who was mayor from 1985 to 1993, and again from 1997 to 1998, described the current City Hall as “historic, picturesque, accessible.”

“And by the way, it’s just a really nice place to go,” Suarez told the Herald. “It’s almost like you’re on vacation when you go there.”

Suarez contrasted it to the new administration building, located about six miles northwest, near Miami International Airport. The sprawling development site, which includes Inter Miami’s Nu Stadium, could also be the future site of a new public safety building included in a $450 million bond going to voters in November.

“I just think Freedom Park is the worst possible site,” Suarez said. “… Tons of trucks. Tons of rental cars. Just a lot of non-neighborhood-type traffic. Compared to when you turn off South Bayshore [Drive] right onto Pan American Drive, you feel like you’re in the Caribbean, and the views are spectacular.”

City officials said there are no current plans for the future of the Pan Am building, such as potential tenants or the possibility of selling the property. Suarez said he has concerns about the fate of the building should City Hall relocate.

“Somebody might be counting dollars somewhere thinking [of] what we can put there,” the former mayor said.

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