Alexander Ringleb, who owns Burgermeister, told the Miami Herald that he and his wife used to stop at Allen Morris Brickell Park for shade on dog walks. The park sits at Southeast 10th Street and Brickell Plaza. It is about a quarter acre of palm, banyan and black olive between the citizenM hotel and the Brickell Flatiron. "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," Ringleb said.
That park has been behind a chain-link fence since the July 4 weekend, nearly three months ago now. The city's parks department didn't close it. The Allen Morris Company, which owns the land, fenced it as it prepares to redevelop the site, and the company owns it because of a clause written in 1974. The same pattern holds across the neighborhood. Brickell's best-known pockets of shade depend on deeds, temporary permits, development orders and construction loans. Right now those documents are keeping several spots closed at once.
A Park That Came With a Condition
Developer L. Allen Morris gave the parcel to the City of Miami in 1974, on the condition that it stay a public park. If the land was used for anything else, ownership went back to the family. Here is how that condition played out over the next half century:
- 1974. The land is donated with the reverter clause attached.
- 1996. Perricone's Marketplace & Cafe opens its original Brickell restaurant next to the park.
- 1999. The city asks to let Perricone's use park space for seating. The Morris company first agrees, and the city later lets the restaurant take over park space without the company's consent.
- 2014. Allen Morris Companies sues the city, arguing the restaurant use broke the deed restrictions.
- 2023. An appeals court rules for the developer. The settlement returns the parcel, rezones it from civic space to T6-48B-O, and lets it reopen as a private park for 18 months.
- July 2026. The fence goes up, and the city issues permits to remove five trees.
The park outlasted Perricone's, which sold its original Brickell location in 2018 and closed its restaurant business in May 2024. The park's public status turned on what happened at the table next door.
What the Fence Is Holding
The near-term plan is Gavina, a 3,000-square-foot restaurant from Stefano Secchi. He is the chef behind Rezdôra, the Michelin-starred New York restaurant. In April the city approved a temporary use permit for a year of food service. It caps occupancy at 132 people, staff included, and allows service from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. The zoning administrator can renew it each year for up to three years. Anything beyond that goes to the city commission.
Renderings show a wooden building with patios set in greenery and built around the lot's mature banyan. Javier Fernández, the developer's attorney and the mayor of South Miami, said the company will plant six new trees to replace the five being removed. No opening date has been announced. The Sierra Club said in August that it planned to appeal the tree permits.
Over the longer term, the zoning carries the most weight. The 2023 rezoning allows 48 stories, plus up to 32 more in exchange for qualifying public benefits. Fernández told The Real Deal that the restaurant should run "the better part of the next five years" and that "the restaurant is not the final plan." One rendering in circulation was labeled "Brickell Park – Future Supertall Sales Center." According to The Real Deal, the developer's lawyer called a sales-center use possible but not imminent.
Some of the paperwork has moved the other way. On August 12, Miami Today reported that county commissioners took the park out of legislation that put two other properties, including Mary Brickell Village, under new county-controlled high-density transit zoning.
Neighbors Read the Same Fence Differently
The Herald found Brickell divided. Elena Kasparis, a community advocate and Brickell resident, started an online petition to save the park that had drawn nearly 2,000 signatures by mid-August. City Commissioner Rolando Escalona represents that part of Brickell. He told the paper he is concerned about tree loss and doesn't support a high-rise on the site: "I don't believe we need more buildings in that area." Residents of the Brickell Flatiron, across Southeast 10th Street, had long complained about trash in the park. Some of them welcomed the prospect of something new there.
Casey Piket, a Miami history blogger and longtime Brickell resident, has a personal stake. He helped move a black olive into the park from the lot that became the citizenM hotel, and that tree is now on the removal list. His concern goes beyond this one lot:
"I look at what we have for green space in Brickell, and it just continues to narrow."
Piket also points out that young replacement trees take years to rebuild a canopy. He worries about flooding as grass and trees give way to hardscape in a flood-prone neighborhood.
The Same Pattern on Two Other Sites
Allen Morris Brickell Park isn't the only green space in Brickell whose status depends on development documents.
Southside Park, on Brickell's west side, is listed by the city as closed until further notice. The Herald reported in August that the developer of the Mercedes-Benz-branded condo tower is using the park as its sales center. The park's future is unclear because the project has stalled. In April 2026, a Cottonwood affiliate filed a foreclosure suit against the JDS affiliate, alleging nearly $100 million due on the project loan. In June, The Real Deal reported that JDS was close to a financing deal of more than $1 billion that would settle the litigation and let work resume. No closing had been reported as of that story. Whether the park reopens depends on how that financing turns out.
The Brickell Key baywalk has been closed to the general public since summer 2025. Miami New Times reported the closure that July, tied to the Mandarin Oriental redevelopment and the bridge repairs. Island residents kept access through their condominium entrances. Swire Properties holds the voting majority in the Brickell Key Master Association, and the development-order language calls for a public waterfront park maintained in perpetuity. The latest association construction bulletin found, covering the week of March 16, 2026, said the "Bay Walk around the construction site remains closed." We found no public reopening notice since then.
Where the Shade Is Open This Fall
The spaces that are open today have their own reasons for being open, and those reasons have held up through this summer.
| Place | Where | Status, late September 2026 | What keeps it open or closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Underline, Brickell Backyard | Miami River to SW 13th Street | Open | County transit corridor beneath Metrorail |
| Mary Brickell Park | 501 Brickell Ave. | No closure notice found | Adjacent seawall and baywalk project listed complete |
| Simpson Park hammock | South of the dense core | Open daily, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. | City preserve |
| Allen Morris Brickell Park | SE 10th St. and Brickell Plaza | Fenced since July | Reverter clause, temporary use permit |
| Southside Park | Brickell's west side | Closed until further notice | Condo sales center, stalled project |
| Brickell Key baywalk | Brickell Key perimeter | No public reopening confirmed | Development order, active construction |
The Brickell Backyard segment of The Underline runs a half mile from the Miami River to SW 13th Street. It has walking and biking paths, an outdoor gym, a flexible basketball and soccer court, butterfly gardens, and places to sit. In July the Underline opened a new 1.2-mile segment, but that one runs from Dadeland South to SW 80th Street, nowhere near Brickell.
Mary Brickell Park is the closest stand-in for what the Morris parcel offered. The Herald describes it as a two-acre bayfront park. The Miami Downtown Development Authority lists it at 501 Brickell Ave., with a tree-lined path from Brickell Avenue to Biscayne Bay. The city lists the neighboring seawall and baywalk project behind First Presbyterian Church as complete.
Simpson Park, the eight-acre hammock preserve south of the dense core, has the deepest canopy of the three. The city lists it as open daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with walking trails, picnic tables and a natural forest. Weekend guided nature walks have resumed. Under those hours, an after-work visit is off the table. The Underline is the option for evenings.
One Block Over, a Lease Changes Hands
The address beside the old park is a reminder of how fast Brickell's streetscape turns over. Piola, the pizza and pasta concept the Carniato brothers founded in 1986, announced in August that it had closed its restaurant at 1250 S. Miami Ave. Granado's, a smash-burger spot from Miami native John Paul "JP" Granado, opens in that space this Friday, October 2. Every burger costs $5 on opening day starting at 11 a.m. The menu includes a Choripan Burger with chorizo and chimichurri. Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday through Sunday. A recurring DJ series called Teeny Tiny Disco is planned for the dining room.
A restaurant space can change hands over one summer. The Morris parcel took a 1974 deed, a 1999 seating arrangement, a 2014 lawsuit and a 2023 settlement before its fence went up in July. Its next step depends on a one-year permit, the Sierra Club's planned tree appeal, and zoning that allows up to 80 stories.
Questions about a Brickell parcel often come down to the terms recorded on it: a reverter clause, a temporary use permit, a development order. Tyler Tuchow and the Fortune | Christie's Las Olas team look at those terms before they look at the list price. If a property you own or are considering sits next to land with open questions like these, Tyler Tuchow can walk you through what the records show. Request a private consultation.
