Because ten days have passed since the City of South Miami approved the new tax district, and it has officially taken effect.

As a result, the purpose of this petition has shifted. We believe it is important to establish a public record of community opposition to the direction of a complete redevelopment of Sunset Place as opposed to a less wasteful renovation. 

The signers of this petition believe that years of deterioration and underinvestment appear to have contributed to Sunset Place’s decline. Rather than treating that decline as justification for demolition, we ask the South Miami City Commission and Midtown Development to reconsider wholesale demolition and seriously evaluate renovation and adaptive reuse as an alternative.

Please share this petition with others who care about Sunset Place and want to see South Miami consider renovation and adaptive reuse before moving forward with its demolition.

I invite people coming across this petition for the first time to read the reasons outlined below on the previous update for the practical and aesthetic concerns we believe should be considered before moving forward with a total redevelopment of Sunset Place.

======September 2, 2026 ======

Mayor Levine Cava,

On September 1st, the South Miami Commission unanimously approved the Downtown SoMi Community Development District, a governmental financing mechanism intended to facilitate approximately $149 million in infrastructure financing for the redevelopment of Sunset Place. With the ordinance set to take effect September 11 unless vetoed, there is one final opportunity to ask whether demolishing Sunset Place is truly the best path forward.

This is not an argument against development, density, walkability, or creating a lively destination. The proposed redevelopment may accomplish these things. The question is whether those goals require destroying an existing, distinctive community asset to build something new when adaptive reuse could potentially accomplish all of the same goals at a lower cost, with substantially less construction waste or an indeterminate timeline, all while preserving the character and identity that make Sunset Place unique. Sunset Place already has many of the qualities modern developments spend enormous amounts of money trying to create: an open-air, pedestrian-oriented environment, mature landscaping, retail and restaurants, a movie theater, existing infrastructure, and a location directly beside the Metrorail.

 With a willing owner and thoughtful management, it could be renovated, reprogrammed and selectively expanded into something vibrant, walkable and economically successful. The choice should not be between leaving Sunset Place exactly as it is and demolishing it entirely. There is a third option: transform what is already there. That option deserves a serious, independent examination before an irreversible decision is made. At a time when Miami is facing a severe affordability crisis and its middle class is increasingly being priced out, Miami-Dade should also question whether another high-end mixed-use development is the kind of growth the region needs. While more housing is valuable, Miami’s housing market also shows that simply adding more housing does not necessarily make a community more affordable. Despite a major construction boom average rents fell by just 0.01% . And there is a cultural cost to this pattern as well. South Florida is increasingly filled with developments that look and feel alike. There is a real risk that replacing Sunset Place with another polished luxury development will produce something resembling Bal Harbour rather than something serves the broader community. Even the proposed architecture deserves scrutiny: Heatherwick Studio, the firm behind New York's Vessel, has already faced significant controversy surrounding that project over its cost, practicality and serious safety problems. 

Sunset Place does not need to remain unchanged. It needs the opportunity to have its full potential utilized. Miami should be able to grow without destroying everything that gives its neighborhoods their identity, and it should be able to add housing and density without making the region increasingly unaffordable to the middle class. Before Miami-Dade enables the permanent destruction of Sunset Place, please veto the Downtown SoMi Community Development District and require a genuine comparison of adaptive reuse, phased redevelopment and complete demolition.  

Avoid destroying such an optimistic piece of Miami architecture, especially when it holds so much potential as a community center if used wisely.