Miami Beckham United (MBU), David Beckham's ownership group, is heading a road bump in its mission to bring a Major League Soccer franchise to Miami. This obstacle is being linked to a change in the previously considered location in Marlins Park in Little Havana, with an entirely different location now on the table, Curbed Miami reports.
In a report by Miami Herald, representatives of MBU shares that what was going as a promising negotiation is now being challenged by small private property owners, apartments and businesses by demanding "astronomical payments".
"We have been communicating with the property owners in good faith, offering several millions of dollars above market value, but we will not agree to completely unreasonable prices," says Neisin Kasdin, a lobbyist representing Beckham, in a statement.
However, some homeowners are claiming that they are yet to receive an offer. "Nobody has come to talk to us. It's something strange," said Maria Linares, who lives in the area of the proposed stadium footprint.
In order to do away with property taxes, a partnership with Miami-Dade schools has been on the works. But the school board has not yet come to a consensus while time runs out. The team says they have no qualms paying Miami for its land, as well as providing $1 million worth of perks for the district's school kids.
Then Miami Beckham United partner Tim Leiweke talks to CNBC Tuesday discussing a possible new location.
"I think we have found a site," Leiweke said. "It's probably different than what people think we're doing, but we're going to know in the next several days." The "Plan B" site has not been revealed; previously, an unnamed site in Overtown was rumored to being considered as an option.
This declaration comes just days before a decisive meeting with the Major League Soccer Board of Governors with a publicly backed deal to build a stadium worth $200 million in Little Havana.
With the negotiation still up but barely alive, Miami City Manager Daniel Alfonso announces that the stadium deal is still on the table for the commission to decide comw the December 10 meeting.
