Adler Development Tops Out Miami Civic Center on $193M Permit

• City pulled a $193M construction permit July 1, then topped off the building July 10.
• Adler Development is building it; Moss Construction is the GC; Arquitectonica designed it.
• Full project runs $350M, covered by tax dollars, the sale of Miami Riverside Center, and bonds.
• Move consolidates city government and ends 70-plus years at Coconut Grove's 1931 Pan Am building.

The Permit and the Topping-Off

Miami pulled a $193 million construction permit for its new civic center on July 1. Nine days later, crews topped off the eight-story building at Miami Freedom Park, the mixed-use site built around Inter Miami CF's Nu Stadium near Miami International Airport.

The building runs 257,000 square feet on its own, and past 382,000 square feet once the attached 889-space parking garage is counted in. It sits on a 73-acre parcel carved out of the park's 130 acres, land that the city repositioned in September 2024 when commissioners approved a parcel swap under the Miami Freedom Park special area plan.

Adler Development is the developer, working through an affiliate, Lancelot Miami River LLC, under an agreement the city commission authorized back in 2022. Moss Construction is the general contractor. Arquitectonica designed the building, its first assignment on a Miami government project of this scale. Groundbreaking came in January 2025, with a construction run of about a year and a half to topping off.

"This state-of-the-art facility is designed to meet the evolving needs of our city and serve generations to come."

David Adler said that at the January 2025 groundbreaking, and it's held up: the building is now half finished by the topping-off milestone, on pace for a spring 2028 wrap and a summer 2028 move-in, city officials say.

One Building, Four Addresses Consolidated

The $193 million permit covers construction only. The full civic center is projected to cost $350 million, funded through a mix of taxpayer dollars, proceeds from selling the Miami Riverside Center, and bond financing.

That price buys real consolidation. Miami's mayor and five commissioners currently sit in Coconut Grove's City Hall. Administrative staff work out of the Miami Riverside Center near downtown. Police and fire offices sit in separate buildings near Overtown and Little Havana. All of it moves into the Freedom Park building once it opens.

The Bridge Piece

A separate $20 million piece is riding alongside the main building: a 1,450-foot pedestrian bridge linking the civic center to Miami International Airport's transit hub, tying in Tri-Rail and Metrorail. The U.S. Department of Transportation is funding it through a BUILD grant, with Miami-Dade County covering the non-federal match and handling compliance oversight. The Freedom Park development team runs design and construction under city and county supervision. That piece breaks ground in 2027 and wraps in 2029, after the civic center itself is done.

"A safer, quicker, drier, and less sunny way to get to work."

That's Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins on what the bridge means day to day for the employees who'll staff the new building.

What the Move Ends

The consolidation closes out more than 70 years of city government at 3500 Pan American Drive, the 1931 Art Deco building Miami bought from Pan Am in 1946 and converted into City Hall in 1954. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places a decade later for its role in the city's aviation history. Its future use hasn't been announced.

What's Next

Construction continues toward a spring 2028 finish, with staff moving in that summer. The pedestrian bridge follows a slower track, breaking ground in 2027 and completing in 2029. Freedom Park itself keeps building out around the civic center: the 25,000-seat stadium is already open, with 1 million square feet of planned retail, office, and dining space and 750 hotel keys still to come across the 130-acre site.