"I look at what we have for green space in Brickell, and it just continues to narrow."
Casey Piket said that to the Miami Herald in August. He is a Miami history blogger and longtime Brickell resident, and he once helped move a black olive tree into Allen Morris Brickell Park from the lot next door that became the citizenM hotel. That tree is now one of five the city has permitted for removal.
The park at Southeast 10th Street and Brickell Plaza has been fenced and chained since the July 4 weekend. Two blocks west, the City of Miami lists Southside Park at 140 SW 11th Street as "closed until further notice." Both closures came from the same kind of arrangement. Each green space depended on a deal with a private party, and each deal allowed the land to be used for something else. Most of the shade still open to the public this fall sits at Brickell's edges, on the bay, under the Metrorail, and in the hammock south of the towers.
A park that came with a reverter clause
Allen Morris Brickell Park was never city land in the usual sense. The late L. Allen Morris Sr. donated it to Miami in 1974 on the condition that it remain 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 the city after it let the neighboring Perricone's Marketplace & Cafe use part of the park for seating. An appeals court sided with the developer in 2023. The city then settled, handed the property back, and rezoned it for buildings up to 48 stories, with as many as 32 more floors available in exchange for qualifying public benefits.
The near-term plan is a restaurant called Gavina, led by Stefano Secchi, the chef behind the Michelin-starred Rezdôra in New York. The renderings show a wooden building with patios surrounded by greenery, built around the lot's mature banyan. The developer's attorney, Javier Fernández, said six new trees will be planted to offset the ones coming out. The city approved a temporary use permit in April. Here is what it allows:
- Food service for one year, renewable each year by the zoning administrator for up to three years
- Any extension past that requires a vote of the City Commission
- No more than 132 people on site, counting employees and guests
- Daily hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Fernández told The Real Deal the restaurant is expected to run for "the better part of the next five years" before the company decides what to do with the parcel long term. He also said that "the restaurant is not the final plan." Community advocate Elena Kasparis, whose petition has drawn nearly 2,000 signatures, received a rendering with small type in one corner that read "BRICKELL PARK - FUTURE SUPERTALL SALES CENTER." Fernández said a supertall had been discussed but had faced "challenges," and that "for now, it's Gavina." City Commissioner Rolando Escalona, who represents this part of Brickell, told the Herald he does not support a high-rise on the site.
As of this writing, no opening date for Gavina has been announced. As of the Herald's August 14 report, the Sierra Club was still preparing its appeal of the tree-removal permits. For now, the park is a fence with trees behind it.
Southside Park closed for the same reason
On Brickell's west side, Southside Park closed through the same kind of private arrangement. The Herald reports that the developer of the Mercedes-Benz-branded condo tower has been using the park as its sales center. The Real Deal reported in early August that construction on Mercedes-Benz Places stalled in 2025, that the planned 2027 completion was in doubt, and that the project faced a lender foreclosure while JDS pursued a financing rescue. The city's listing gives no reopening date. The park's return depends on how the tower's finances work out, and nobody has published a schedule for that.
In both cases, Brickell's most central green squares were held on terms that allowed a private use to replace them. Burgermeister owner Alexander Ringleb, who used to stop in Allen Morris park for shade while walking his dog, put the loss simply: "In a city as hot as Miami, you want to have a green space where you could sit down and where you could have some shade in nature."
The shade that is still open, and its rules
The Herald names Mary Brickell Park, a two-acre bayfront park, and Simpson Park Hammock, an eight-acre preserve south of the dense core, as Brickell's other green spaces. Add the Underline's Brickell Backyard, which has run under the Metrorail from the Miami River to SW 13th Street since 2021, and the baywalk behind First Presbyterian Church, and you have most of the neighborhood's open-air options. Each one has its own rules.
| Spot | Where | What it offers | Rules to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simpson Park Hammock | 55 SW 17th Road | Over eight acres of tropical hardwood hammock, walking trails, picnic tables, restrooms | Open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, no dogs, trail closes in severe weather |
| Mary Brickell Park | Bayfront | Two acres on the water | None published in our sources |
| Baywalk behind First Presbyterian | Brickell Avenue bayfront | Lighting, benches, landscaping | None published in our sources |
| Brickell Backyard Urban Gym | Under the Metrorail, SW 7th to 8th Streets | Fenced flex court, mini-pitch soccer, body-weight equipment, running track | Free classes on the Underline calendar |
Simpson Park offers the most real canopy. The city calls it one of the last remnants of the original Brickell Hammock, with more than 162 plant species, at least 96 of them native, including live oak, strangler fig, gumbo limbo and lignum vitae. The hours are its limit. It closes at 3 p.m., so it works for mornings and early afternoons but not for after-work walks. Anyone with a dog will need somewhere else, because dogs are not allowed. The Underline's dedicated Chewy Bark Park is farther south in Coral Gables, near LeJeune Road and Ponce de Leon Boulevard, not in Brickell Backyard.
One October weekend using what's left
The free options on the calendar this month fit together into a weekend:
- Saturday morning, Simpson Park. Park naturalists lead free half-mile walks on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., covering native habitats and the park's rare plants. Each walk takes up to 20 people, first come, first served.
- Saturday afternoon, October 10, the Underline Market. The last date on its current listing runs 2 to 8 p.m. at the Inter Stage, 805 SW 1st Ave., with local produce, prepared food and artisan vendors.
- Saturday, October 17, UYoga at the Urban Gym. On October 18, a free HIIT-and-run class meets at the same spot between SW 7th and 8th Streets.
- Any evening, the bayfront. The baywalk behind First Presbyterian Church has lighting and benches, so it is still usable after Simpson Park's gates close.
The next round of public green space is also on the edges
On September 29, the Brickell Homeowners Association reported on its Breakfast Briefing at DUA Miami. City Commissioner and Miami DDA Chairman Ralph Rosado told the room that funding had been secured for four parks in Brickell, namely Brickell Park, Miami Circle, Fort Dallas Park and Brickell Flatiron Park. The briefing gave no dollar amounts, scopes or delivery dates for those projects. Rosado also announced more than $1 million from the Florida Inland Navigation District for the Baywalk near Pérez Art Museum Miami, running toward the former Miami Herald site. He called it "possibly our biggest grant yet."
Almost every project on that list sits on the water or on land with strong historic protections. The City identifies Brickell Park at 501 Brickell Avenue as an archaeological zone containing Tequesta remains and the Brickell family mausoleum. The city's July 2026 waterfront report describes Miami Circle as an open space with a public waterfront connection designed around its archaeological remains.
Fort Dallas Park is the furthest along. It sits at 64 SE Fourth St. along the Miami River and has been closed for about a decade. The Miami DDA places it next to the Riverwalk Metromover stop. In May, Commissioner Damian Pardo told Local 10 that Phase I adds ground cover and trees and restores public access to the waterfront. Phase II is meant to bring food trucks and resident activities, along with restoration of the Flagler worker cottage, the last of the cottages Henry Flagler built for his railroad crews. Pardo said $2 million of a $13 million district allocation is going to the cottage, and officials expect the restoration to finish by mid-2028. The city's project page, last updated in March 2026, said funding for the Phase II restoration still needed to be identified. Farther south on the bay, the City's Brickell Bay Drive seawall and baywalk project from SE 14th Street to SE 15th Road is scheduled for construction from February 2027 to January 2029.
That leaves the fenced quarter-acre at 10th Street and Brickell Plaza as the green space that matters most to the center of the neighborhood, and its future is in the developer's hands. The city's role is limited to the yearly permit renewals described above.
If you're comparing Brickell buildings and how far each one is from shade, water, or Simpson Park's 8 a.m. opening, Andrea Tavella and the Vella Real Estate team can walk the blocks with you and share what we're watching at 10th Street. Book an appointment when you're ready.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
