At Southeast 10th Street and Brickell Plaza, a mature banyan has stood behind chain-link since the July 4 weekend. The quarter-acre lot around it, Allen Morris Brickell Park, sits among some of the tallest buildings in the financial district. Its canopy of palm, banyan, black olive and gumbo limbo has outlasted every tower that went up around it.
A few blocks west, Southside Park at 140 SW 11 Street is also closed. The City of Miami's parks directory lists it as "closed until further notice."
Neither closure is on a parks department schedule. Each one now depends on a private real estate deadline. At Allen Morris, it is a restaurant permit that comes up for renewal every year. At Southside, it is a foreclosure fight and a financing deal that has been reported as close since June.
The Lot at Southeast 10th Street Has a Permit Calendar
The land under Allen Morris Brickell Park was a gift. The Real Deal reported that L. Allen Morris Sr. donated it to the city in 1974 on condition that it stay a public park. If it was ever used for anything else, ownership would go back to his family. In 2014 the Allen Morris Company sued after the city allowed the neighboring Perricone's to use part of the park for seating. An appeals court sided with the developer in 2023. The city then settled, transferred the property back and rezoned it.
The near-term plan for the site at 25 SE 10th Street is Gavina, a 3,000-square-foot restaurant led by Stefano Secchi, the Michelin-starred chef behind New York's Rezdôra. The renderings show a wooden building with patios set among greenery and built around the large banyan. The developer plans to remove five other trees and plant six new ones, according to the Miami Herald. The Sierra Club planned to appeal the tree-removal permits. The Real Deal reported in August that the permit remains in place.
The permit is where the deadline comes from. The City approved a temporary-use permit for the restaurant in April 2026. These are its terms as The Real Deal reported them:
- The site may operate as a food service establishment for one year from the April 2026 approval.
- The zoning administrator can renew it once a year for up to three years.
- Any extension beyond that needs a vote of the Miami City Commission.
- Occupancy is capped at 132 people, staff included, and the restaurant may run daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Javier Fernández, the developer's attorney, told The Real Deal he expects the restaurant to run for "the better part of the next five years" before the company decides what to do with the property long term. A five-year run would go past the point where the zoning administrator can renew on their own. That means the restaurant's future at this corner is likely to reach a public City Commission agenda at some point. The first renewal comes up in April 2027.
"The restaurant is not the final plan. Certainly there is an interest in doing something else with the parcel."
Fernández said that to The Real Deal. The zoning allows 48 stories, plus up to 32 more in exchange for qualifying public benefits. One rendering carried the label "Brickell Park – Future Supertall Sales Center." Fernández called a sales center "not imminent" but "not off the table." He also told the Herald he "wouldn't foreclose" a park on the site in the future.
One zoning question was already decided in the park's favor. Miami Today reported on August 12 that Miami-Dade County commissioners removed the park from legislation that put two other properties, including Mary Brickell Village, under new high-density transit zoning controlled by the county.
The latest reports, from August, put the site behind fencing with no announced opening date for Gavina.
Southside Park Is Waiting on Someone Else's Loan
Southside's closure has a different cause. In 2020, JDS Development Group bought city-owned land along Southwest Second Avenue for $23 million to build One Southside Park. The 67-story tower was planned to include condominiums, a boutique hotel, offices and a modernized two-acre public green space. In early 2024, JDS added Mercedes-Benz branding to 791 condominium units.
Under the public benefits agreement, the developer had to build a replacement Fire Station No. 4. Fire-rescue personnel moved to a temporary station on Southside Park during construction. The three-year deadline for the new station passed on March 15, 2026. On April 23 the City Commission voted unanimously to authorize legal action to enforce the agreement, Miami Today reported.
The money behind the tower is now in court. On April 1, CWRE SSF Flamingo Capital, an affiliate of the Cottonwood Group that bought the debt, filed a foreclosure suit over a bridge loan. Miami Today put the loan at $86 million, grown to roughly $100 million with interest. JDS countersued in May, according to The Real Deal. In June, The Real Deal reported that JDS and Fontainebleau Development were nearing a partnership and a $1.06 billion financing package. The deal had not closed. If it did, it would resolve the Cottonwood litigation and let the project resume. On October 21, the South Florida Business Journal described the developer as nearing new financing and a new partner. It reported that the developer must first resolve its troubled fire-station deal with the city.
The promised two-acre green space sits at the far end of that sequence, behind a fire-station settlement, a financing close and a construction restart, and no public date is attached to any of them.
The Two Closures Side by Side
| Allen Morris Brickell Park | Southside Park | |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 25 SE 10th Street | 140 SW 11 Street |
| Who controls the land | Allen Morris Companies, after the reverter-clause case | City-owned park, with a temporary fire station on it |
| What comes next | Gavina, a restaurant on a temporary-use permit | A redesigned two-acre public green space under the One Southside Park agreement |
| What it depends on | Annual permit renewals starting April 2027, then a Commission vote for any extension past three years | Settling the fire-station default and closing new financing |
| Public access in the meantime | Fenced since July | "Closed until further notice" |
Neither row has a date for when the public gets back in. That's why the city's other parks matter more right now.
The Shade That Isn't Waiting on a Deal
The Herald lists Brickell's other green spaces as Mary Brickell Park and Simpson Park Hammock. Add The Underline's Brickell Backyard, and these are the places whose hours are set by public agencies, with no permit or loan deciding whether they open.
- Simpson Rockland Hammock Preserve Park, 55 SW 17 Road. This is more than eight acres of old-growth tropical hardwood hammock and one of the last remnants of the original Brickell Hammock. The City of Miami counts more than 162 plant species here, at least 96 of them native, including live oak, strangler fig, gumbo limbo and lignum vitae. It also lists 15 endangered species and 9 threatened species. Hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and dogs are not allowed. Free naturalist-led walks run every Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The City posted a closure through October 26 while it prepared its annual Halloween event. The trail also closes when weather alerts are in effect, and the park's line, 305-533-3577, carries updates.
- Mary Brickell Park, 501 Brickell Avenue. The Herald describes it as a two-acre bayfront park. The Miami Downtown Development Authority describes a tree-lined path running from Brickell Avenue to Biscayne Bay.
- The Underline's Brickell Backyard, Miami River to SW 13th Street. The Underline divides this stretch into the River Room, the Urban Gym between SW 7th and 8th, the Promenade, the 11th St. Plaza and the Oolite Room. The Urban Gym has a fenced Flex Court, mini-pitch soccer, body-weight equipment, a running track and spectator seating. The whole route is dog-friendly.
The Underline's November calendar includes two free classes. UYoga meets Saturday, November 7, from 9 to 10 a.m. at the Urban Gym, 700 SW 1st Avenue, and requires registration. Brickell UPilates follows on Wednesday, November 11, from 6 to 7 p.m.
The Next Public Dates for Each Space
The parks with no development tied to them are also getting work. The City's Brickell Bay Drive project covers a new seawall, baywalk, roadway and stormwater improvements from SE 14th Street to SE 15th Road. As of the City's June 2026 status update, construction is estimated to run from February 2027 through January 2029.
That puts the dates to watch this way. The City's Historic and Environmental Preservation Board meets next on November 3. Gavina's first permit renewal comes up in April 2027. Southside's next step is whatever settles the fire-station dispute and closes the financing. Brickell Bay Drive work is scheduled to start in February 2027. You can follow the wider picture on our Brickell and Brickell Key neighborhood page and in our look at how Brickell Key changed this year.
If you live near Southeast 10th Street or Southside Park, the open space next to your building can change depending on how these permit and financing deadlines play out. Shayna Hanson follows these Brickell sites closely and can walk you through what each milestone could mean for your address. Request a Private Consultation.
