Homestead has greenlit an 80-year lease agreement for a privately funded sports and recreational complex, advancing plans for a $300 million development dubbed the Sports Performance Hub (SPH) of Miami-Dade.
With Mayor Steven Losner’s support, the City Council unanimously OK’d a resolution Wednesday approving the project without requiring direct financial contributions from the city.
The SPH is slated to rise on county-owned land near the Homestead Air Reserve Base and feature a 10,000-seat multipurpose stadium, sports-themed hotel, youth sports academy and a range of amenities, including a professional training academy, youth boarding school, and public sports and recreational facilities.
According to project materials, the SPH will serve as home to professional sports teams, the historic Homestead Championship Rodeo and other community events.
The developers estimate the project will create more than 4,300 construction jobs and 610 permanent jobs upon completion.
Several former pro athletes — including ex-soccer players Darío Sala and Juan Sebastián Verón, former NBA players Manu Ginóbili and Juan Ignacio “Pepe” Sánchez, and former tennis players Juan “Pico” Mónaco and Mariano Zabaleta — co-founded the project with serial tech and sports entrepreneur Emiliano Fernández Balague, founder and former CEO Gastón Remy and Riccardo Silva, the founder of Silva International and Miami FC.
The group, operating jointly as VSGS Facilities LLC, has emphasized that the venture will not require public funding and aims to support youth athletics, education and local economic growth.
In November, the Miami-Dade Commission approved negotiations with VSGS for a 99-year lease on 20 acres of county land that had previously been tied to a stalled deal for a steel mill involving U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez’s son.
Some Commissioners and local stakeholders raised concerns at the time over the speed of the approval process and a lack of community input in the no-bid land deal.
Commissioners Danielle Cohen Higgins and Raquel Regalado said they’d received complaints from South Dade officials and organizations complaining they were blindsided by the proposal, which Commissioner Kionne McGhee sponsored.
That included Losner, who said there had been “no public input whatsoever” and advocated instead for a job-creating project focused on aerospace, which would utilize the nearby base.
Political donations linked to the project drew attention late last year after the Miami Herald reported that VSGS and its principals contributed more than $65,000 combined to political committees connected to County Commissioners, including McGhee, Commissioners Oliver Gilbert and Anthony Rodriguez, and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, whose principal political consultant, Christian Ulvert, was hired by VSGS for public affairs work.
Regalado and Commissioner Micky Steinberg voted against McGhee’s measure in November.
Losner has since fully reversed course, lauding the SPH as representing “a vision for Homestead that puts forward a strong public-private partnership that activates an area for our community that delivers new opportunities.”
“Sports continues to be a strong economic driver and equally a unifier for neighborhoods, and the plan presented by the Sports Performance Hub offers new programming for Homestead residents to access and enjoy,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to our continued work together to bring this impressive vision to life.”
Sala said VSGS is “deeply grateful” that Losner and the City Council supported his group’s “bold vision for Homestead.”
“SPH is not just a facility; it’s a movement for community transformation, athletic excellence, and social inclusion,” he said in a statement. “We’re honored to lead this initiative and excited to begin this historic journey.”
Homestead’s agreement is separate from the county’s negotiations.
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