Please note
that the latest round of public meetings
have resulted in a revised, improved, and
value engineered park design presented at
the Miami Science Museum on January 17,
2008. Please access the presentation in the
link below.
The new
park design was presented to the Miami
City Commission on March 13, 2008 and
approved. At this
time, the park project
will enter the construction documents and
implementation phases to be managed by the
Department of Capital Improvements (CIP).
For more information, please call John DePazos at (305) 416-1094.
Background:
Bicentennial Park is located in Downtown Miami
just south of the I-395 expressway and east of
Biscayne Boulevard. The park consists of a total
of approximately 30 + acres of City-owned
upland. It includes approximately 2,600 feet of
Biscayne Baywalk and FEC (Florida East Coast
Railway) slip walkway with views of downtown
Miami, the Port of Miami and Watson Island.
The City held a “Bicentennial Park Charrette,”
and numerous public meetings regarding the
future of Bicentennial Park. The effort to
redesign Bicentennial Park reflects a growing
public movement to preserve and enhance public
parks in the City and was initiated by the Urban
Environment League (UEL) shortly before the
community and City commissioners engaged in
public discussion with the Florida Marlins owner
to keep the baseball stadium out of Bicentennial
Park and reclaim it as South Florida’s premier
public park.
The Miami City Commission committed itself to
the underutilized Park’s revival on April 2,
2000 when it passed a resolution to renew
Bicentennial Park as a “premier public park.”
During that time, the Miami Museum of Science
and the Miami Art Museum completed a multi-year
site and funding analysis for the development of
new, world-class institutions at Bicentennial
Park. In July 2000, the trustees of both the
Miami Art Museum and the Miami Museum of Science
adopted a joint resolution establishing the
collaborative goal of creating “Museum Park
Miami” in Bicentennial Park.
The Miami City Commission created the
advisory Bicentennial Park/Waterfront Renewal
Committee and, in conjunction with the City’s
Planning Department, hired the urban
design firm Dover, Kohl and Partners (Dover
Kohl) to propose three options for the Park
based on public input: the Bicentennial Park Charrette.
On February 10, 2001, more than 350 people
showed their support and participated in the day
long charrette/public design workshop led by
Dover Kohl.
Dover Kohl presented to City Commission the
outcome of the Charrette; three development
options for the park that reflect the citizens'
vision for public park land; one of purely open
space, a second as a cultural park with two
museums and a third of mixed uses including
retail.
In preparation of Bicentennial Park’s
redevelopment as Museum Park, the City
Commission in October 2001 proposed a citywide
referendum for the $255 million Homeland
Defense/Neighborhood Improvement Bond issue. The
bond program specifically includes $10 million
for Bicentennial Park infrastructure
improvements and $3.5 million for each museum as
a challenge grant for planning and
pre-development costs. The bond referendum was
approved by City voters on November 13, 2001.
The resolution adopted on July 25, 2002
designates the City commission’s choice of the
third option, “A Cultural Park” also known as
Museum Park Miami as the official design
development option for Bicentennial Park.
The design team led by Cooper, Robertson &
Partners was chosen to design the park and
to site and prepare planning guidelines for the
two museums.
