Homestead to borrow $26M for downtown upgrades

Last month, Homestead residents approved a plan to borrow $26 million in general obligation bonds, which locals hope will reinvigorate its downtown.

Some $18 million will be spent on a new police headquarters, with another $3 million earmarked to spruce up a city sports complex, which the police department will occupy until its new facility is built.

Downtown’s Seminole Theatre will see $5 million of the funds for a renovation project. Over the past 15 years, the city spent more than $1.8 million on upgrades to the theater, but the project was never finished, according to the Miami Herald.

There are even proposals for a new City Hall, a 556-foot observation tower, a parking structure at the current police station site and a new county library.

“Each piece individually may not be enough to bring life back to the downtown, but six of them might,” said Rick Ammirato, the executive director of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. [Miami Herald] – Christopher Cameron