Miami is bending toward Beckham.
The retired soccer megastar is now one vote away from beginning construction on a new $1 billion stadium complex for Inter Miami CF after clearing a major municipal hurdle last week, according to reports.
Dubbed the Miami Freedom Park, the billion-dollar project includes a 25,000-seat stadium, a luxury 750-room hotel, a retail center and an office park.
Miami city commissioners voted to preliminarily approve a “special area” on the current site of a golf course to accommodate the proposal.
That arrangement would allow the group to avoid zoning restrictions in exchange for the provision of public benefits like parks and funding for municipal projects.
Beckham, who boasts a $24 million penthouse in Miami along with his wife Victoria Beckham in the elite One Hundred Museum building, co-owns Inter Miami along with billionaire Jorge Mas.
The British sports icon and his business partners are now a single vote away from being able to break ground on the complex, according to the Miami Herald.
As part of the deal, which has drawn significant opposition, Inter Miami has committed to providing $20 million for Miami to use on park improvements and a “living wage” for future employees at the site, the outlet reported.
Critics have argued that Inter Miami’s no-bid, 99-year lease hands over the parcel for below market value and that the team has not been adequately specific about public benefits that will flow from the project.
Others have decried the demolition of the existing public park and golf course to make way for the development.
In addition, Commission Chairwoman Christine King cautioned last week that she will seek to delay the approval process unless ownership commits to a percentage of businesses at the site that will be minority owned.