Plan to build Cuban museum on waterfront site behind AmericanAirlines Arena scrubbed

Nonprofit behind the $80M museum failed to raise enough money

Renderings of the Cuban Exile History Museum and the park
Renderings of the Cuban Exile History Museum and the park

A proposal to build a Cuban Exile History Museum on the waterfront site behind the AmericanAirlines Area has been abandoned.

In its place, property could become what it was originally intended for more than 20 years ago: a waterfront park. 

The Miami-Dade County Commission was slated to vote this week to lease the land and build a privately funded Cuban museum, but the proposal was pulled from the commission agenda, according to the Miami Herald. Commission chairman Esteban “Steve” Bovo was its main sponsor.

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As part of the 1996 referendum campaign to build the area, the Miami Heat planned to develop the land, known as Parcel B, into a public park. But after failing to do, the Heat gave the property back to the county in 2003.

Plans for the three-story, nearly $80 million museum included a soccer field. The proposed agreement required museum organizers to raise $3 million in cash and $4 million in pledges, but the charity behind it raised little money, according to the Herald. [Miami Herald] – Amanda Rabines