After eight years and multiple attempts at restoring the Miami Marine Stadium, the historic sight will finally begin its journey to its former glory. The stadium was abandoned in August of 1992 after Hurricane Andrew reportedly damaged the facility. Although the stadium hasn’t been open in over twenty years, it has been a graffiti covered home to skateboarders and street artists. The goal now is to raise enough money to finally get the stadium back up and running.
According the Miami New Times, the Friends of Miami Marine Stadium have partnered up with Heineken on a crowdfunding campaign in hopes of finally beginning proper restoration. Jason Lloyd Clement, the director of community outreach at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, says the campaign will launch on Indiegogo in the following month.
“Whoever loves the stadium will be able to give five dollars to bring it back to life,” says Clement. “For so long, people have been like, ‘We need to find huge gifts from major donors, so this is different in that it’s allowing residents directly to bring it back to life, and that’s something that doesn’t happen with a lot of restoration projects.”
The campaign plans to raise a total of $100,000, including the $20,000 Heineken is donating to the project. The $100,000 will be used to cover the cost of removing the stadium’s seats. According to Don Worth, co-founder of the group Friends of Miami Marine Stadium, a complete renovation of the stadium would cost anywhere from $37 million to $40 million in total. Hilario Candela, the original designer of the 1963 structure, is also a part of this team of collaborators.
“For eight and a half years, it’s been a long and winding road, and I’m more optimistic than I’ve ever been,” Worth says. “It’s too great of a project to give up on.”
Will crowdfunding be enough for a project this large? Fingers crossed.