New high-rise in Brickell causes public park closure, sparking outrage from residents

Residents in Brickell are upset because city executives closed a inhabitants park to make way for a new high-rise s Heather Walker investigates Brickell is busy with lots of people and pets but one thing the area is lacking is parks Isabel Quintero Brickell resident It s so sad Which is why when the Southside Park closed residents like Isabel Quinetro were angry Isabel Quintero I was extremely upset when I exposed out because this is the only park that we have in this area of Brickell The park is located near The Underline off of Southwest th Street But as you can see the playground basketball courts and the rest of the park is fenced off A developer has put a sales office for a new high-rise here Isabel Quintero No park for the dogs my poor baby So a great number of people have dogs and so countless kids also That was a park that belonged to the district Who gave them the right to take it Investigates went to the city for answers City of Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo We have not given the park to a private developer That park will be developed by the private developer Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo represents this area He declared the park closure is temporary It is part of an agreement between the developer and the City of Miami Joe Carollo They have the right to be upset and be angry because they don t have the use and haven t had the full use of that park for particular time But he says the deal was made with residents in mind In order to build here the developer agreed to put millions of dollars into park renovations including a new playground dog runs and basketball courts For residents like Isabel that will be nice But the developer says it won t be done until Isabel Quintero So now what do we do Heather Walker Is there any way for a portion of the park to be open during this process Joe Carollo I have been looking at that and I hope that in the next several weeks I ll have an answer for you Investigates will be following up Heather Walker News