There was some reporting earlier today from down in South Florida that the demolition of Lockhart Stadium, where Inter Miami CF will construct a new stadium, is set to begin on or about May 6.

Miami MLS Update: Demolition of Lockhart Stadium should begin the week of May 6, @Jorge__Mas tells me.



He also says the full agreement for them to build new stadium in Ft. Lauderdale is "in process and should be completed in 5-6 weeks." — Andy Slater (@AndySlater) April 23, 2019

There was one issue with that: There was no signed agreement between Inter Miami and the City of Ft. Lauderdale that would allow that to happen. Additionally, there is a pending lawsuit to prevent Inter Miami from demolishing Lockhart, though no motion for an injunction has been filed.

Expect that to change shortly.

I’ve obtained a copy of the signed Interim Agreement, which authorizes Inter Miami to begin demolition of Lockhart while they finalize an agreement with the Ft. Lauderdale. The agreement is signed by Pablo Alvarez, Vice-President and Secretary of Miami Beckham United, and by Ft. Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis and City Manager Christopher Lagerbloom, among other city officials. It looks like this agreement was finalized just yesterday, judging by the date of the notaries.

With this agreement, expect FXE Futbol to head to court to attempt to obtain a preliminary injunction, preventing demolition while the lawsuit continues.





From FXE Futbol’s perspective, if they don’t obtain the injunction and Inter Miami begins demolition, that will preclude them from refurbishing Lockhart in the event the Ft. Lauderdale deal with Inter Miami falls apart. Which would be the irreparable harm they’d be seeking to prevent (can’t refurbish a stadium that is ground to dust, after all).

As for Inter Miami, they remain on a time crunch to get this done, as they are scheduled to begin play in MLS in 2020, and constructing a modular stadium will take between 4-6 months.

I’ll be reaching out to get comments from all of the parties.

Update: The attorney representing FXE Futbol indicates he’ll be heading to court Wednesday morning to file for a preliminary injunction.

Yes, I will be filing my Emergency Motion for Temporary Injunction tomorrow morning asking Court to stop demolition so our claims concerning failure to follow the statutorily required review procedure, and Inter Miami sabotaging FXE's bid with false asbestos claims, can be heard. — Attorney David Winker (@davidjwinker) April 23, 2019

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