Urban Design




Museum Park (Bicentennial Park) Master Plan

Bicentennial Park is located in Downtown Miami just south of the I-395 expressway and east of Biscayne Boulevard. Conceptual Design
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. Museum Park

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.

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 was unanimously approved. At this time, the first phase of the park construction has entered the construction documents and implementation phase, being managed by the Department of Capital Improvements (CIP). For more information please call John DePazos at (305) 416-1094.

 

Please direct any questions or comments regarding the Musueum Park (Bicentennial Park) Master Plan to the City of Miami Planning Department via planning@ci.miami.fl.us.

Unable to email? Send us a letter or fax to:

City of Miami, Planning Department
RE: Museum Park (Bicentennial Park) Master Plan
P.O. Box 330708
Miami, FL 33233
Fax: (305) 416-2156
Last updated on December 11, 2008