Plans for the renovation of the Miami Marine Stadium are up in the air and the non-profit group behind the project is taking heat for the way it’s handled the process, most notably from Gloria Estefan.
In mid-November, Estefan arrived via yacht at the Miami Marine Stadium to announce the venue would be home to the 2016 Boat Show. Less than a month later, the singer is expressing her dismay after learning more about the plan presented by the Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium at a Nov 20th commission meeting.
In a letter to City of Miami Officials, Estefan said she was "shocked to learn FMMS's intentions were not simply to restore the Stadium, but also to extensively develop the site to add an exposition center, dry dock storage, retail and restaurants."
Co-founders of the non-profit organization, FMMS, said the plan has been presented before the commission and a committee 3 times since 2010. They also say these renderings were on display at a January 2014 event.
"The overall plan was absolutely public whether it was detailed to her or not, there's a difference of opinion," said Jorge Hernandez, co-founder Friends of the Miami Marine Stadium.
Estefan, as well the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, also expressed disappointment because the proposal included a fee awarded to architects Jorge Hernandez & Hilario Candela, who are members of the FMMS board.
The President of the National Trust said, "We expected some continued involvement by both Hilario and Jorge, but we assumed it would continue to be—as it has for the past five years or longer—on a volunteer basis."
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"Going forward the work that needs to be done, it involves not just the 2 of us. It involves 10-12 different disciplines," Hilario Candela, the architect who designed Marine Stadium said.
"You can advocate for it, you can preserve it, but you don’t restore a building the size of a football field with this degree of complexity that's now a nationally recognized historic treasure- you don't do that on volunteerism," Hernandez said.
City of Miami commissioners are expected to take on this issue again on Jan 8th. However, one commissioner told NBC 6’s Laura Rodriguez it's possible they may take on the issue sooner.
