Doral is getting ready to stack cars and pickleball players on top of each other, in the most literal way possible. City leaders this week told staff to move ahead with a hybrid parking and recreation project at Doral Central Park: a three-level garage capped with nine pickleball courts and paired with an indoor recreation building. Officials say the roughly $34 million concept is meant to ease event parking headaches and bring in fresh parks revenue without touching property tax rates.
What the plan includes
According to the city’s formal solicitation, the project calls for a three-level, precast parking garage with approximately 532 spaces, two elevators and three stairwells. On the roof, designers are planning nine pickleball courts, shaded spectator seating, and supporting restrooms and storage. A separate two-level recreation and concession building is slated for about 12,000 square feet per floor, for roughly 24,000 square feet in total. The solicitation pegs construction costs at about $33.75 million, according to the City of Doral.
The money math
City staff walked elected officials through early revenue projections that assume roughly 65% parking occupancy. Under that scenario, the garage’s first full year of operation is modeled to bring in about $2.4 million in parking revenue. Annual debt service is estimated near $2 million, with roughly $32 million expected to be financed. Staff told council members that, once everything is up and running, “this facility could be generating upwards of $5 million a year in additional revenue to the city,” and their presentation included a 30-year net revenue estimate of about $63 million. Those figures, and the council’s decision to advance the plan, were reported by Miami Today.
Timeline and procurement
The city has already posted both an RFQ for design teams and an RFP for pre-construction and construction manager at risk services. Procurement materials show public pre-proposal and evaluation dates starting in late 2025, and they outline an anticipated 18-month construction window that keeps Doral Central Park open while the work proceeds. Once selected, the construction manager will be responsible for delivering guaranteed maximum price proposals, detailed cost-control plans, and a master construction schedule. Those schedule and procurement details are spelled out in the city’s solicitation packet.
Where it fits into Doral's park push
The garage is planned for an overflow lot near the park’s amphitheater, which makes it a key piece of Doral’s broader strategy to turn Central Park into a self-sustaining events and recreation hub that leans less on property-tax revenue. Doral Central Park is already home to an amphitheater, an aquatics center, and indoor recreation facilities, and city leaders say the new building is designed to support and expand those uses. Industry bid listings and procurement notices back up the scope and square footage outlined in city documents, with project notice aggregators and local park project pages reflecting the same basic program.
What comes next
From here, staff will use RFQ and RFP responses to shortlist firms, select an architect and a construction manager, then return to the council with contract recommendations and a guaranteed maximum price. City documents and industry listings indicate those procurement steps are already underway and that some funding has been budgeted in the current fiscal year to start design and pre-construction work. Officials say the garage’s first full year of operations is projected to be around 2029, at which point staff expect parking revenues to begin offsetting operating and debt costs.
